On the acceptance of EBOM: Having just returned from the National Conference on Building & Facility Operations in Vancouver BC, it was identified that building owners feel that existing building commissioning isn't worth the cost when it is promoted as a 'greening' or energy-saving project. Since existing buildings consume so much energy, there is a lot of room for positive change and the industry needs to find better, broader ways to promote the optimization of existing buildings. This is a service that owners and operators should be jumping on but we are failing to communicate to them why EBCx would be so beneficial to them specifically.
We need to show owners the direct financial benefits first, and the benefits to society and the future after.
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David Eldridge
Energy Efficiency NinjaGrumman/Butkus Associates
68 thumbs up
October 20, 2014 - 4:24 pm
When you refer to EBCx, are you including retro-commissioning? We are seeing great demand for this from building owners.
A portion of EBCx includes on-going commissioning through use of a software system...this market is ramping up as well, having gotten off to a slower start.
Several of the vendors may be able to include attractive features to the installation including prioritization of fixes based on real-time calculated savings, automated dispatch, and other O&M functions. MBCx also generally includes some features to track performance over time, so that the persistence of the implementation is for a longer period of time.
MBCx often has a higher upfront cost though, if the building doesn't already have the necessary metering installed. Certainly an obstacle to adoption.
Brian Salazar
President, LEED AP, WELL APEntegra Development & Investment, LLC
56 thumbs up
October 20, 2014 - 4:50 pm
Hi Shevaun - I have to disagree with your assessment of commissioning. I have seen considerable growth in commissioning in my work, where the effort is directly tied to value-add improvements and financial incentives. In fact, we introduced our own internal commissioning services last year to meet our clients' demands. My cautionary tale is that more often than not, my clients want commissioning and the savings that go with it, but they don't want LEED and all of LEED's political hurdles.
Shevaun Barrie
Inland Technical Services Ltd.97 thumbs up
October 20, 2014 - 6:48 pm
I'm referring to commissioning systems that were either never commissioned, were commissioned years ago, or for buildings that have changed uses. Either way, I'm happy to hear you're seeing this type commissioning becoming more popular.
The value of commissioning new systems (LEED or not) is established but we aren't seeing the same demand for existing buildings. I agree that the FFD/M&V software being introduced is really valuable with real-time actionable data provided to operations personnel. Maybe many owners are going for this optimization by software? (We aren't vendors of software so wouldn't see this).