Whole building design and commissioning takes a holistic approach to ensure proper operation, maintenance and performance of building systems. It involves integrated design of building envelope and mechanical systems using a multi-disciplinary team. Commissioning identifies deficiencies, ensures systems meet design intent, and provides risk management by detecting and correcting problems early. It results in lower operating costs, increased productivity and reduced liability.
Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) Methodologies for School FacilitiesMarcel Harmon
Using the post occupancy evaluation (POE) case study for the V. Sue Cleveland High School (VSCHS) in Rio Rancho, New Mexico as a primary example, presenters from the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority (NMPSFA) and M.E. GROUP, the evaluators, will conduct a workshop on selecting and implementing the proper tools for measuring school building performance. The presenters will illustrate various examples of building side methodologies and describe those that actively engage the teachers/staff, students, parents and relevant community stakeholders via traditional ethnographic evaluation and focus groups.
Building tune ups for commercial buildingsBetterBricks
A building tune-up is a periodic (every 2-3 years) process intended to identify and implement cost effective operational improvements that will improve a building’s energy performance, given current operating conditions and occupant needs. Changes resulting from a building tune-up usually require minimal investments and can be accomplished through simple equipment adjustments or reprogramming of controls
A holistic framework for the post occupancy evaluation of campus residential ...Muizz Anibire
A Holistic Framework for the Post Occupancy Evaluation
of Campus Residential Housing Facilities
– a case study of AlMarooj Courts at KFUPM
Muizz O. Sanni-Anibire
Architectural Engineering Department
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
muizzanibire10@gmail.com
+966501296203
Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) Methodologies for School FacilitiesMarcel Harmon
Using the post occupancy evaluation (POE) case study for the V. Sue Cleveland High School (VSCHS) in Rio Rancho, New Mexico as a primary example, presenters from the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority (NMPSFA) and M.E. GROUP, the evaluators, will conduct a workshop on selecting and implementing the proper tools for measuring school building performance. The presenters will illustrate various examples of building side methodologies and describe those that actively engage the teachers/staff, students, parents and relevant community stakeholders via traditional ethnographic evaluation and focus groups.
Building tune ups for commercial buildingsBetterBricks
A building tune-up is a periodic (every 2-3 years) process intended to identify and implement cost effective operational improvements that will improve a building’s energy performance, given current operating conditions and occupant needs. Changes resulting from a building tune-up usually require minimal investments and can be accomplished through simple equipment adjustments or reprogramming of controls
A holistic framework for the post occupancy evaluation of campus residential ...Muizz Anibire
A Holistic Framework for the Post Occupancy Evaluation
of Campus Residential Housing Facilities
– a case study of AlMarooj Courts at KFUPM
Muizz O. Sanni-Anibire
Architectural Engineering Department
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
muizzanibire10@gmail.com
+966501296203
The role of commissioning in closing the gap BSRIA
To ensure design objectives are met the industry must embed a circular approach where building evaluation is used to measure and optimize asset performance and feed the lessons learnt back into design. Building performance data will identify the 'gap' and inform subsequent projects resulting in the conclusion of one project leading to the beginning of the next. This session will provide practical lessons learnt from the performance gap and show how improvements can be applied to future projects
Project Controls Expo - 31st Oct 2012 - The Practical use of Earned Value for...Project Controls Expo
EVM - APM Guidelines Forward
Good decisions require good informa@on.
To deliver a complex project to @me and cost requires a proper understanding, at regular stages and at an appropriate level of detail, of the rela@onships between: work done, progress against plan, cost incurred against budget, cash spent and cost to come.
Combining this data leads to an understanding of the actual value of what has been achieved and prevents managers from being either too op@mis@c or unduly pessimis@c about the situa@on. It enables them to make appropriate judgements as to what correc@ve ac@ons need to be taken in good @me.
Visit for more details and webinar recording: http://bit.ly/frankenenergyforum
More than 100 Minnesota local government officials and business leaders gathered recently at the University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus--along with more than 50 on a live webinar--to talk about retrofitting buildings. The event was officially called the _Forum on Energy Savings: Retrofitting Programs for Minnesota Cities, Counties, and Businesses.
According to Senator Al Franken, who convened the event, renovating buildings to make them more energy-efficient--called retrofitting--saves money, improves real-estate values, strengthens our infrastructure--and could be the next big thing for Minnesota's economy. Energy-efficient retrofits will also create badly-needed jobs in both the construction and manufacturing industries.
Senator Al Franken joined with a number of Minnesota partners to hold this forum, including the Clean Energy Resource Teams, University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, MN Chapter of the Energy Services Coalition, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Urban Land Institute, Minnesota Waste Wise, and the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Deputy Secretary Daniel B. Poneman with the U.S. Department of Energy was a guest speaker.
Digital access to all sources of information continues to expand at an accelerating rate, and academic libraries are working to transform themselves in response to a generation of students entering the university having embraced online, mobile, anytime, anywhere access to information. In an academic community that increasingly values intellectual collaboration among faculty and students, and learning in and out of the classroom, the twenty-first century academic library must continually recreate itself as a place that fosters curiosity, engagement, collaboration, and lifelong learning.
Typical twentieth-century capital investment cycles in academic libraries are characterized by large-scale once-a-generation investments. In the first decade of the twenty first century the drive to transform is greater than ever before, but there is less capital funding available, increasing the pressure on institutions to reduce capital investment cycle times in order to remain responsive to rapid changes in technology, pedagogy, scholarship, and user expectations.
The end of any project is the start of evaluation and planning for the next. This presentation explores and discusses efforts in the Emory University Libraries to develop new ways to evaluate library spaces, services, and operations. It highlights initiatives intended to operationalize capital investment, shorten cycle times and provide incremental interventions, within a general framework of planning big and implementing small. Exit counts, occupancy rates, and peer comparisons are used to address user needs, program innovation, and facilities enhancement, with the aim of continually refreshing and renewing library spaces to enhance learning, inspire scholarship, and foster community.
Presented at GaCOMO12 (as part of the GLA Academic Papers session) by Charles Forrest.
IKM Architects: Case Study Higher Education Renovation-2012IKM Incorporated
IKM Architects presentation of a Case Study for the design, renovation and addition of an historic building on the Grove City College Campus for new use as an Alumni Center.
The latest IES Faculty event took place in London on 24th September, 2014. The seminar, which was part of World Green Building Week, focused on the issue of the Performance Gap, with our aim being to engage and work with the industry to diminish the difference between the expected and actual energy performance of buildings.
Half-day workshop on high-performance green building design for USGBC Nevada chapter, Las Vegas, 1/8/13, using case studies from Jerry Yudelson's new book, The World's Greenest Buildings: Promise vs Performance in Sustainable Design, published January 2013.
The role of commissioning in closing the gap BSRIA
To ensure design objectives are met the industry must embed a circular approach where building evaluation is used to measure and optimize asset performance and feed the lessons learnt back into design. Building performance data will identify the 'gap' and inform subsequent projects resulting in the conclusion of one project leading to the beginning of the next. This session will provide practical lessons learnt from the performance gap and show how improvements can be applied to future projects
Project Controls Expo - 31st Oct 2012 - The Practical use of Earned Value for...Project Controls Expo
EVM - APM Guidelines Forward
Good decisions require good informa@on.
To deliver a complex project to @me and cost requires a proper understanding, at regular stages and at an appropriate level of detail, of the rela@onships between: work done, progress against plan, cost incurred against budget, cash spent and cost to come.
Combining this data leads to an understanding of the actual value of what has been achieved and prevents managers from being either too op@mis@c or unduly pessimis@c about the situa@on. It enables them to make appropriate judgements as to what correc@ve ac@ons need to be taken in good @me.
Visit for more details and webinar recording: http://bit.ly/frankenenergyforum
More than 100 Minnesota local government officials and business leaders gathered recently at the University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus--along with more than 50 on a live webinar--to talk about retrofitting buildings. The event was officially called the _Forum on Energy Savings: Retrofitting Programs for Minnesota Cities, Counties, and Businesses.
According to Senator Al Franken, who convened the event, renovating buildings to make them more energy-efficient--called retrofitting--saves money, improves real-estate values, strengthens our infrastructure--and could be the next big thing for Minnesota's economy. Energy-efficient retrofits will also create badly-needed jobs in both the construction and manufacturing industries.
Senator Al Franken joined with a number of Minnesota partners to hold this forum, including the Clean Energy Resource Teams, University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, MN Chapter of the Energy Services Coalition, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Urban Land Institute, Minnesota Waste Wise, and the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Deputy Secretary Daniel B. Poneman with the U.S. Department of Energy was a guest speaker.
Digital access to all sources of information continues to expand at an accelerating rate, and academic libraries are working to transform themselves in response to a generation of students entering the university having embraced online, mobile, anytime, anywhere access to information. In an academic community that increasingly values intellectual collaboration among faculty and students, and learning in and out of the classroom, the twenty-first century academic library must continually recreate itself as a place that fosters curiosity, engagement, collaboration, and lifelong learning.
Typical twentieth-century capital investment cycles in academic libraries are characterized by large-scale once-a-generation investments. In the first decade of the twenty first century the drive to transform is greater than ever before, but there is less capital funding available, increasing the pressure on institutions to reduce capital investment cycle times in order to remain responsive to rapid changes in technology, pedagogy, scholarship, and user expectations.
The end of any project is the start of evaluation and planning for the next. This presentation explores and discusses efforts in the Emory University Libraries to develop new ways to evaluate library spaces, services, and operations. It highlights initiatives intended to operationalize capital investment, shorten cycle times and provide incremental interventions, within a general framework of planning big and implementing small. Exit counts, occupancy rates, and peer comparisons are used to address user needs, program innovation, and facilities enhancement, with the aim of continually refreshing and renewing library spaces to enhance learning, inspire scholarship, and foster community.
Presented at GaCOMO12 (as part of the GLA Academic Papers session) by Charles Forrest.
IKM Architects: Case Study Higher Education Renovation-2012IKM Incorporated
IKM Architects presentation of a Case Study for the design, renovation and addition of an historic building on the Grove City College Campus for new use as an Alumni Center.
The latest IES Faculty event took place in London on 24th September, 2014. The seminar, which was part of World Green Building Week, focused on the issue of the Performance Gap, with our aim being to engage and work with the industry to diminish the difference between the expected and actual energy performance of buildings.
Half-day workshop on high-performance green building design for USGBC Nevada chapter, Las Vegas, 1/8/13, using case studies from Jerry Yudelson's new book, The World's Greenest Buildings: Promise vs Performance in Sustainable Design, published January 2013.
Presentation given at the 2014 BuildingChicago - Greening the Heartland conference by Judi Cooper, Shanna Olson, Carey Nagle, and Scott Bowman. Using the Iowa Utility Board / Office of Consumer Advocate as a case study, the group demonstrates the power of the integrated design process as a tool to reach extremely high performance (and extremely low energy use) in buildings.
Blake Lapthorn's green breakfast with guest speaker Keeran Jugdoyal, Faithful...Blake Morgan
On Wednesday 13 November 2013, Blake Lapthorn's climate change team hosted a green breakfast seminar. Guest speaker Keeran Jugdoyal, Mechanical Engineering Manager at Faithful+Gould, talked about the lessons his company has learnt about the end use of sustainable buildings.
SEAI EXEED (Excellence in Energy Efficient Design) is a certification program. It helps businesses achieve the best energy performance. It applies an approach to project design and implementation for new or upgraded buildings and processes.
The SEAI EXEED program provides grant support. It also provides a structured approach to energy efficient design management. This maximises the lifecycle of energy and carbon performance.
The grant provides support of up to €1,000,000 per project. This goes to help businesses embed energy efficient design in their investment projects. It is open to private businesses and public sector organisations who are planning an investment project.
It is relevant to:
Brand new buildings and facilities
Upgrades or re-purposing of existing buildings and facilities
Manufacturing processes
This session will give an overview of the SEAI EXEED programme. It will provide case study examples from organisations. These organisation have all implemented these Energy Efficient Design principles within project investments.
Commissioning is a process by which a building, facility, or plant and its associated equipment and systems are tested to verify they function according to their design objectives or specifications. As the name implies, EB Cx applies essentially the same process to an existing facility’s systems and equipment, with a particular focus on “investigating, analyzing, and optimizing the performance of building systems through the identification and implementation of low/no-cost and capital-intensive Facility Improvement Measures” to ensure their continued performance.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI support
Cli Grp
1. Whole Building Design
& Cx Issues
The “holistic” approach to operating,
maintaining & commissioning a facility
2. Opportunity
“Commissioning America” in a decade is an ambitious
goal, but achievable and consistent with this
country’s aspirations to simultaneously address
energy and environmental issues while creating jobs
and stimulating sustainable economic activity.
(These benefits can only be realized through integrated
approach to designing and commissioning buildings)
3. Our Philosophy
• Buildings are made up of numerous components which should create
an integrated, efficient and easily maintainable whole. This integration
and the attention paid to achieving it is what makes buildings perform
as designed.
• We believe that it takes a “multi-disciplined” team to achieve this goal.
A complete understanding of how all of the components of a building
operate as a whole is critical to achieving a building that works.
• Our team consists of engineers, architects, test & balance personnel
and indoor air quality, building envelope, roof and other component
specialists. This allows us to practice strict quality control from the
design phase to final occupancy on both new and existing buildings.
5. Commissioning as Risk Management
• Commissioning is more than “just another pretty energy-saving
measure.”
• It is a risk-management strategy that should be integral to any
systematic approach to garnering energy savings or emissions
reductions.
- Ensures that a building owners get what they pay for when
constructing or retrofitting buildings
- Provides insurance for policymakers and program managers
that their initiatives actually meet targets
- Detects and corrects problems that would eventually surface as
far more costly maintenance or safety issues.
6. Green Building Solutions
• Whether your goal is LEED, Energy Star, Green Globes or
simply having a building which is safe, durable, energy efficient
and environmentally responsible, we can help. Our staff
includes:
– L.E.E.D. Accredited Professionals (NC & EB)
– Energy Star Partners
– Certified TAB Professionals
– Board Certified Indoor Air Quality Professionals
– Building Enclosure Specialists
– Engineering & Architectural Support
7. What Is LEED-EB
• LEED for Existing Buildings maximizes operational efficiency
while minimizing environmental impacts. It provides a
recognized, performance-based benchmark for building owners
and operators to measure operations, improvements and
maintenance on a consistent scale. LEED for Existing Buildings
is a road map for delivering economically profitable,
environmentally responsible, healthy, productive places to live
and work.
• Our specialty is measuring and documenting building
performance. Our consultants are LEED AP’s with experience in
LEED-NC and LEED-EB
8. Why Commission?
Is There a Need?
Building problems (a.k.a. “deficiencies”) are pervasive
• Design flaws; Construction defects; Malfunctioning equipment;
Deferred maintenance
• Don’t shoot the messenger: problems a combined result of
fragmentation/specialization of trades, “value” engineering,
,increasingly complex building design and operation
requirements, lack of clear design-intent documentation and
performance targets, etc.
• Not attending to problems can cause:
– Discomfort --> Eroded productivity, absenteeism
– Indoor air quality problems
– Premature equipment failure
– Litigation
– Excessive energy and construction costs
9. Typical Approach to LEED and Building
Cx
• Most A/E firms approach LEED program and Cx from
an office based perspective
• Design, Submittal, O&M Review, electronic
submission of info to USGBC
• All of this is necessary and a valuable function.
• Typically done very efficiently by A/E groups.
10. Typical Void
• A/E groups typically leave field services to other
groups – Installing contractors, TAB group, ATC
group, CxA.
• Lack of field experience with installed systems and
most importantly, interaction of building envelope and
mechanical systems.
• Hidden problems typically STAY hidden until years
down the road.
11. Hidden Problems
• Long term problems that arise from seemingly small
items that go undetected for many years – envelope
air leakage adding unnecessary and unplanned loads
to HVAC systems, leading to condensation problems,
and eventually mold.
• May occur in buildings that have had LEED
certification
12. TAB Problems
• Many TAB reports that are
false – conflict of interest for
TAB specialist to work for
mechanical contractor
• TAB reports that are
accurate, but building
envelope has been
overlooked.
13. Potential Problems/Unresolved Issues
• Control systems don’t realize their full potential or
even design intent.
• Building Degradation & HVAC Systems premature
failure and underperformance.
• Nuisance repairs in year 1 warranty period that
typically address symptom and not cause.
• Chronic, long term enclosure degradation, moisture
problems, litigation, increased maintenance costs.
14. Save a Little Now, Pay A lot Later
A recent study of an
elementary school showed
that if $8,140 had been
spent over 22 years on
preventive maintenance,
$1.5 million in repairs could
have been avoided.
-Minnesota Dept. of
Education
15. Oversights Cost $$
• The cost of oversights during
and after construction can add
significant costs to the operation
& maintenance of the building.
• This image shows poor thermal
boundary (open to conditioned
space) A 2 mph draft was
measured in attic coming from
conditioned space. This adds to
energy inefficiency and also
creates building degradation
and IAQ issues.
16. HVAC & The Building Envelope
• Fundamental understanding of each of these
systems is critical
• Knowledge of how they should, can, and do interact
with each other.
• Knowledge of how to test their performance,
individually and interactively.
18. Skill Sets
• Mechanical systems are wide ranging in terms of
types and can be very complex.
• Designers and contractors typically have areas of
specific expertise.
• Many projects do not have their project requirements
matched with designers and /or contractors who have
specific expertise in those skill sets.
• This makes field performance testing a good value
for owner as it identifies inadequacies early.
19. HVAC Underperformance
• Various national studies by EPA, DOE, ASHRAE, NCI, BPI,
LBNL, and USGBC show staggering statistics on building
performance.
• Residential and Light Commercial HVAC systems perform within
10% of their design intent in less than 1% of American buildings
(when including impact of building envelope).
• Many operate at below 50% of design intent.
• Many installations have not considered indoor air quality.
20. You Can’t See Air
• Airflow problems in buildings are the single largest
contributor to HVAC system underperformance.
• Often times, even in Cx’d buildings, HVAC systems
do not achieve their potential because the building
envelope deficiencies go undetected.
• Airflows must FIRST be identified. Airflows cannot be
successfully controlled until they have been
successfully identified. This is a common failure in
TAB reports.
21. Commissioning Scope: Existing
Buildings
• Develop or update design intent documentation
• Plan
• Utility analysis, benchmarking
• Trend analysis
• Building modeling
• Findings
• Estimate benefits from interventions
• Update system documentation (e.g. control sequences)
• O&M improvements
• Capital improvements (grey zone)
• Monitor fixes
• Measure impacts
• Systems manual/re-commissioning manual
22. Cx Costs
Existing Buildings
• Cost: $0.27/ft2 • Median NEBs: $0.18/ft2
• Deficiencies: 11 per building
• Energy Savings: 15%
• Payback: 8.5 months
New Construction
• Cost: $1.00/ft2 • Median NEBs: $1.24/ft2
• Deficiencies: 28 per building
• Payback: 4.8 years
• Cost-effective over range of energy intensities, bldg types, sizes, locations
• Most successful: energy-intensive buildings
• Cost-effective outcomes harder in small buildings
• Energy savings rise with more thorough commissioning
– Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
23. Commissioning Provides Proper
Diagnosis
Avoid the “Quick Fix” Fixing
the symptoms of a building or
system problem without
determining and addressing the
root causes may provide
dramatic and immediate
savings, but these savings are
not likely to persist, and the
symptoms may reappear
24. Benefits of Total Commissioning
• Design intent met & • Entities are fully
documented accountable for quality
• Lower overall operating of their work
& maintenance costs • Meet owners project
• Reduced liability requirements through
• Increased productivity testing & verification
26. New Construction
• Don’t Assume!!
• This design allowed roof water
to runoff at wall. The lower roof
was designed to abut parapet
from larger roof. No kick-out
flashing was used to direct
water away from parapet.
• Result – damaged parapet
membrane, interior damage,
mold, litigation potential.
• This could have easily been
avoided.
27. Poor Design
• Staining in interstitial space
shows stains from moisture
running down sheathing and
steel stud framing.
N ! !!
• This exterior wall consisted of
brick exterior, 7/8” airspace, ½”
DE SIG
OR
gypsum sheathing, steel stud
framing with paper faced
fiberglass batts and ½ interior
PO
gypsum wallboard.
28. Poor Design
• Enclosure design allowed for
excessive air leakage, poor
thermal performance, no drying
capacity.
• Result – condensation damage,
structural degradation, mold,
indoor air quality problems.
• A plan review found inadequate
capacity of this wall system to
dry properly.
• This building showed everything
building science has found
causes problems.
29. Is There Help for Bad Design?
YES…Good Field Oversight
30. Envelope Commissioning Pays for Itself
A recent study (June 2005) by the US Department of
Commerce and US Department of Energy showed
the energy impact of improving envelope airtightness
in U.S. commercial buildings.
It predicted potential annual and cooling energy cost
savings ranging between 3% to 36% with the higher
savings in the heating dominated climates with
potential gas savings of greater than 40% and
electrical savings of grater than 25%.
31. Humidity Control
Architect and Owner should
recognize that the foundation of
humidity control is a tight
building. Without that
foundation, humidity control will
be very difficult and costly to
achieve, no matter how well-
designed the HVAC system
might be.
Humidity Control Design Guide for Commercial and Institutional Buildings. Harriman, Brundrett, and Kittler. American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers. ISBN 1-883413-98-2.
32. The Missing Link?
The HVAC designer has a pivotal role in avoiding infiltration of
unconditioned air through the building envelope. Avoiding such
leakage is essential to preventing moisture damage to the
building, and essential to maintaining control of humidity in
occupied spaces
Humidity Control Design Guide for Commercial and Institutional Buildings. Harriman, Brundrett, and Kittler. American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers. ISBN 1-883413-98-2.
33. What Is IAQ?
• Introduction and distribution of adequate ventilation air
• Control of airborne contaminants
• Maintenance of acceptable temperature and relative humidity
For IAQ Problems, Four Factors Are Needed…
• A source of contaminants
• A person(s) affected by this source
• A pathway for the transport of the contaminant(s)
• A driving source (e.g. air movement) to transport the contaminant from source to
host
The HVAC System Plays a Critical Role in Three of The Four Requirements
34. How Does IAQ Affect You?
Failure to respond promptly and effectively to IAQ problems can have
consequences such as:
• increasing health problems such as cough, eye irritation, headache,
and allergic reactions, and, in some rare cases, resulting in life-
threatening conditions (e.g., Legionnaire’s disease, carbon monoxide
poisoning)
• reducing productivity due to discomfort or increased absenteeism
• accelerating deterioration of furnishings and equipment
• straining relations between landlords and tenants, employers and
employees
• creating negative publicity that could put rental properties at a
competitive disadvantage
• opening potential liability problems (Note: Insurance policies tend to
exclude pollution-related claims)
36. One Change; Affects Many Systems
Indoor air quality in a large
building is the product of
multiple influences, and
attempts to bring problems
under control do not always
produce the expected result.
38. HVAC Design IS AFFECTED by
Envelope Leakage
Measured leakage rates in 70 commercial buildings (Cummings et al.1996)
Cummings, J. B. C. B. Withers,C.B, N. Moyer, P. Fairey, B. McKendry.1996. “Uncontrolled air flow in non-residential buildings.” Final Report of FSEC, FSEC-
CR-878-96. Florida Solar Energy Center, Cocoa, Fla.
42. Poor Design
• Roof draining directly into cast
stone façade.
• Added kick-out flashing to direct
water away from the cast stone
facing.
• This is one of the problems
when excessive roof lines are
used in design.
• Pay attention to the small
details!!
43. Poor Design
• Protrusions and gaps. This is
not good when it comes to
keeping moisture out of your
building.
• Water loves to enter buildings
from ledges where it can sit until
it gains access.
• The next slide shows the result
of such building practices.
44. Poor Design
• Infrared thermography used to
locate leakage before opening
wall.
• The O.S.B. sheathing was
found to be saturated, mold
covered and structurally
damaged as a result of water
penetrating from protrusion at
window trim.
• Costly design.
46. Understanding The Problems
• Why Buildings Leak
– Changes-in-plane
– Changes in materials
– Poor design
– Good workmanship based on poor design
– Poor workmanship based on good design
– Time weighted demise of critical components in the presence of
minimal maintenance
– Inappropriate material selection
– Value engineering (This is becoming all too common in Cleveland
Market)
47. Avoid Waste (Save Our Trees)
• Wasted dollars on wasted
materials
• Thermal bridging issues
(condensation)
• Convective heat losses
• Reduced whole wall R values
• This particular job was framed
in this manner throughout
• This IS NOT GREEN Building
technique!!!!
48. Understand The Problems
• Profit over Performance is the
precedent.
• Poorly trained technicians
• Poor oversight on the jobsite
• More difficult designs, less
qualified installers = poor
performing buildings
• Using the right materials and
trained installers could alleviate
many building problems
53. Air Leakage Is a Priority
• Many designers and inspectors
pay more attention to vapor
diffusion than to air leakage.
• Diffusion of moisture is small
compared to the amount of
moisture carried by air leakage.
• Air leakage is one of the
costliest deficiencies in
buildings.
• Results of excessive air leakage
are lost energy, building
degradation, mold and other iaq
issues.
56. Moisture Management
• “Moisture Damage Contributes to 90% of All Building and
Building Material Failures” (ASHRAE)
• “Moisture Leading Cause of Building Problems Costing More
Than $9 Billion Annually in U.S.” (ASTM)
• “Moisture Will Replace Asbestos as the Most Frequently
Mentioned Topic in Building Litigation” (C. Gaal, NJ
Investigation Commission Counsel)
– Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (U.S.DOE)
57. Conception through Occupancy
• Moisture issues must be considered from the building
conception stage
• This consideration must continue through design, construction
and O & M phases
• Model building conditions and construction at design phase to
spot potential problem areas
• All flashings, laps, drainage planes, slopes, drip edges must be
clearly detailed and dimensioned in drawings
• Project oversight is critical during the installation of these critical
details (third party is best)
58. Don’t Rely on Prescriptive Methods
• Without third party verification of the performance of the building
enclosure there will likely be problems later on
• Don’t assume that items complying with the code will properly
function in the field
• Always assume that mistakes will be made during installations
(this is the reason for third party verification)
• Finding problems during commissioning is much more cost
effective that finding them after building is completed and much
cheaper to correct
• Pay special attention to the air barrier (this can reduce many
moisture and energy related concerns)
95. Tying It All Together
• BAS Systems today can do
much more than controlling
HVAC systems
• Often plagued by problems
which lead to under utilization
and under performance
• Control issues lead the list of
systems found deficient during
commissioning
• A BAS can make
commissioning more precise,
can also aid in LEED issues
96. FACP Systems
• Fire Alarm Controls may
either be tied to BAS or
operate independently
• Additional layer of controls
which require commissioning
• Linked to HVAC system
operation, damper control,
elevator recall, etc.
• Problems here can also lead
to problems elsewhere
97. Daylighting & Controls
• Lighting control
commissioning is
critical to energy
savings
• Lighting control
failures are often
related to lack of
proper commissioning
• May or may not be
tied to BAS
98. Motor Alignment
• Poor energy
performance
• Premature wear
• Poor life-cycle
performance
• Excessive
maintenance costs
99. Why Are Buildings Failing?
• There are no easy answers to that question. Our experience indicates
that some of the more important reasons include:
– More difficult systems, less qualified installers
– Poor understanding of holistic building functions
– Single System approaches to energy, moisture problems, comfort,
etc.
– Poor understanding of building automation & controls
– Lack of Whole Building Commissioning Agents
– Limited building science and enclosure specialists
– First Cost mentality of many building owners
– Not fully grasping potential problems, costs and liabilities