Proving Results of Energy Management Projects

Originally created for BOMA International.

Energy represents about 20 percent of total operating costs in a typical commercial building. Commercial real estate is expensive to maintain, and everyone wants to find an edge — or the newest solutions to improve the operation.

But how do you know you’re making the right improvements?

Implementing building energy management solutions is only the first step. Taking the next step and measuring progress and validating results ensures your investment is paying off.

Where to start?

The good news is results can be achieved by starting small. It doesn’t require large, expensive projects to make a difference. Substantial savings can be uncovered by adjusting setpoints on heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, installing energy efficient lighting, or turning off office equipment when it’s not in use.

Also take into consideration the effectiveness of your building automation system (BAS). Does it offer the right technology to help you achieve your goals? If not, updating your BAS may be the answer.

New BAS technologies provide web-enabled access so you can remotely monitor and manage your building or entire enterprise from almost anywhere. And you can manage multiple systems such as HVAC, lighting and security using a single, easy-to-use interface. New systems also use wireless communication, eliminating the need to install and maintain wires between controllers and devices.

Linking projects to sustainability

When sustainability is important, conducting energy analysis and building modeling provides benchmarks for measuring progress. Equipment upgrades, optimized building controls and predictive maintenance are steps that can improve building sustainability.

Your BAS can also provide the link to intelligent building services that help improve efficiency and sustainability by ensuring your building is operating as it should. Energy modeling programs and analytics tools measure energy usage and help you monitor, track and analyze the information your building provides.

Validating results

To see continuous improvement in your building’s performance, it’s not just the tools that matter. The right partner offers ongoing support to help you evaluate and analyze the data your building provides — to ensure your energy management projects are making a difference.

You can measure results around the business impacts, but also around other indicators such as progress toward sustainability goals, occupant comfort and efficiency.

The solutions available from Trane — coupled with the expertise and support we provide — make it easier than ever to measure performance and verify results. The bottom line is improved building performance.

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The Trane Station

Historically a train station was central to many communities and thus a gathering place for people (and ideas) and existed at the crossroads of different communities.  On this basis, we thought that the Trane Station was an apt name for a compilation of online articles we will be sharing every two weeks, as we will be helping move and share out knowledge between different communities in our business.

What will you learn while you are here? Hopefully something to help with your building’s heating and/or cooling needs, your company’s sustainability objectives, or just growing your own knowledge base about Trane products and services. We aim for something from each of those columns.  We already have a strong collection of articles from our Vendor Partners which we will be sharing as well. This will be reinforced by articles from us, so please let us know what you want to learn or read about.

Today’s account begins with simply an introduction to Trane.  In case you don’t know then, here are some fun facts from our district:

  • We have over 2,000 years of experience (at Trane!) across Western Canada.
  • Our most seasoned associate has been with the company for 45 years.
  • We have over 40 complementary lines of HVAC products to help you choose the best system for your application.
  • We have LEED® and Passive House ® certified engineers
  • We know energy savings.  If you flip through our Case Studies, you will see we often save our customers 50% or more in energy through building design, retrofit, and system upgrades.

Is there anything specific you want to know about? Leave it in the comments section below OR email us and we will do our best to create content suited to your needs.

 

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