Building automation system (BAS) technology arrived on the scene in the 1980s, promising to revolutionize the way facility managers control critical mechanical systems and improve building performance. More than two decades have passed and it is clear that building automation has largely lived up to its promise, creating a new standard of “smarter,” safer, more energy-efficient buildings.

BAS capabilities have advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years, thanks to the emergence of direct digital control (DDC) technologies and the adoption of industry-wide interoperability standards. These advances let facility managers control an ever-expanding set of once independent mechanical and lighting systems in multiple buildings from central locations.

Conducting a critical system audit is a good investment that
almost always pays for itself many times over in energy
savings, improved reliability, reduced maintenance and
more efficient use of today’s lean facilities department staffs.

As BAS capabilities have expanded, so have the ways that facility managers use them. No longer is the system simply a convenient way to manage humidity and airflow in an intensive care unit or crank up the temperature in the school gym before Saturday’s big game. Today’s highly capable automation systems are also knowledge tools that give facility managers the power to really manage building performance – and a lot more. Empowered by BAS technology, they also can impact their organization’s bottom line and its ability to achieve its most important operational objectives.

Dashboard Systems Deliver Powerful Features
New innovations include web-enabled “dashboard” systems that can turn a BAS into a powerful reporting and tracking tool. Nowhere have these systems proved more effective than in a healthcare setting. In addition to controlling a hospital’s heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, security and other systems, advanced dashboards let hospital staff members view, monitor, track, trend and report environmental conditions. Dashboard reports can be used to validate Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) compliance.

Dashboard capabilities are also widely used by educational institutions. Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) made a centralized BAS a priority when it launched a multiyear expansion program that ultimately increased the size of the campus’ footprint by about 30 percent.

OCCC installed a centralized BAS to handle system scheduling, control and diagnostics for building operators. The system allows operators remote access and more efficient, upgraded controls enable system-wide communication. New digital controllers offer an easy-touse graphical interface and the system automatically generates reports on building performance. Together with other HVAC system upgrades, the BAS is helping to improve the college’s learning environment while reducing energy use per square foot by more than one-third.

Other game-changing technologies include automated HVAC fault detection and diagnostics (FDD), which detect and report significant faults in air handlers, chillers, boilers, cooling towers and other critical HVAC components. FDD applications help facility managers find and isolate problems that waste energy. They also provide early warning of potential equipment problems, enabling facilities departments to better manage their preventive maintenance and repair tasks and avert system failures. The New Buildings Institute projects that the use of FDD can yield annual energy and service-contract savings of as much as $1 per square foot in a typical facility.

Facilities Fail to Use Full Potential of Automation Systems
Given the breakneck speed of technological advance and the pressures placed on understaffed and under- unded facilities management departments, it is not surprising that building automation systems are under utilized at many healthcare facilities and schools.

After interviewing facilities and maintenance people from 54 large organizations in 2004, researchers from the Platts division of McGraw Hill, a leading provider of energy information and research, concluded that most facilities departments do not have the time, training or experience to use the full potential of their BAS. The Platts study went on to say that more efficient use of building automation systems could deliver significant improvements in building performance and energy savings.

Recognizing the untapped potential of their BAS, healthcare and education facility managers across the country are looking for ways to put this powerful technology to better use. Many choose to call in an independent engineer or energy service company (ESCO) to help them understand and apply more of their system’s capabilities.

Others launch an HVAC critical system audit to help them better understand how energy is being used, and probably wasted, at their facility. The audit is a detailed inspection of the HVAC system and its components, designed to identify reliability and efficiency problems. The BAS is a critical tool in the first phase of an audit, which includes gathering as much information as possible about the system and performance. The automatic reporting and tracking features of dashboard systems are ideal for this purpose.

Building Audits Offer Substantial Savings, Benefits
According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), facility managers can identify opportunities to reduce energy costs in a typical building by at least 30 percent when they conduct an audit that includes benchmarking their energy use against that of comparable buildings.

While designing a new dance complex, Point Park University in Pittsburgh benchmarked leading dance studios throughout the country to identify best practices, including ways to create a comfortable, energy-efficient indoor environment for performers, faculty and audience members. As a result, systems selected for the complex are expected to use 36% less energy than ASHRAE standards for buildings of this type. In addition, the complex was the first building of its kind to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction (LEED-NC) Gold certification, one of the highest levels of distinction in the U.S. Green Building Council’s building performance program.

Advanced audits often go beyond the scope of the traditional HVAC critical system audit with impact on an organization’s very reason for existing. Passavant Area Hospital in Illinois wanted to improve the environment of care for patients and staff, which would ultimately lead to better patient outcomes.

The study, which included staff and management interviews, identified several priorities including the need to improve temperature controls, reduce noise levels and address problems caused by aging HVAC systems. The findings helped validate the need for $2.3 million in improvements that will positively affect the environment of care and save more than $313,000 per year in energy and operating costs. Improvements were completed this spring and funded by a performance contract that uses guaranteed savings to pay for the upgrades.

Risk Analysis Uncovers, Predicts Potential Problems
A risk analysis is one of the most important, useful and valuable outcomes of a thorough system audit. Many ESCOs offer “intelligent services” that include the use of such emerging technologies as predictive modeling. By using sophisticated algorithms that compare the operating characteristics of a particular system to benchmark data from many similar systems, specialists are able to look deep inside HVAC components, uncover potential problems and predict when components will fail, sooner and with greater accuracy than ever before. With this information, facility managers can be more proactive in their preventive maintenance and repair efforts and make sure that they have the right replacement parts on hand.

Conducting a critical system audit is a good investment that almost always pays for itself many times over in energy savings, improved reliability, reduced maintenance and more efficient use of today’s lean facilities department staffs.

But in the case of the Tonganoxie (Kansas) Unified School District, educators were able to combine a unique hands-on learning experience with improvements that will save the district an estimated $217,000 in annual energy, operations and maintenance costs.

As part of an energy-efficiency curriculum sponsored by a leading indoor comfort solutions provider, district sixth graders conducted a preliminary energy audit of their school, analyzed the results and gained community and legislative support for a $2.1 million infrastructure and energy improvement effort. The project was funded using a performance contract that pays for improvements by leveraging future savings.

With today’s highly capable building automation systems, emerging diagnostic technologies and regular system audits, facility managers have more tools at their disposal than ever before. The key is in how these tools are used, not just to control the temperature and turn off the lights, but to affect an organization’s bottom line and its ability to accomplish its primary mission.

Bill Harris is the vertical market leader responsible for Trane’s K-12 and higher education business segments. He specializes in working with Trane customers to develop HVACR solutions to improve energy-efficiency and indoor environment, reduce organizations’ environmental impact and improve the learning environment in America’s schools.

Laura Rygielski Preston, FACHE, is director of the healthcare market for Trane. She is responsible for customer satisfaction, market growth and expansion of offerings to meet the evolving needs of the healthcare industry. She is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and is Board Certified in Healthcare Management.