Existing Building Commissioning Scoping Resources
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The Information on this page is intended to complement the information on the EBCx Skills Guidebook page and in the on-demand video about benchmarking, utility consumption analysis and scoping by providing support for the initial phases of the project, which generally involve applying the first two key commissioning skills described in the Guide Book;
You will find a number of blog posts that discuss benchmarking or benchmarking applications in these blog posts.
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Once you have gathered the utility data to do your benchmark and average daily consumption analysis, there is a technique that you can use that leverages that data along with the LBNL Cost and Benefit of Commissioning report metrics, and the Owner's financial perspective (the ROI/simple payback they will support for an energy conservation project) to project the savings potential and budget for the project. I discuss that technique in this blog post, and the spreadsheet below is the one I use to do the analysis.
| cost_benefit_assessment__vweb.xlsx |
At some point, you will need to go visit the facility and start looking for opportunities, things like selector switches in "Hand" or throttled valves on the discharge of pumps or trends on the flow or amps for a variable flow system that show that the system is not actually varying flow at all. Each of the things that you discover or "find" is called a "finding" in the industry.
When you discover something, you should start a findings list. In other words, you should write it down because that is going to become the driver for making improvements. Initially the findings list will just be a list of ideas. But it is actually a living document and becomes a way to present ideas to an Owner and track your progress. The cost benefit assessment tool above includes a tab that is a template for a findings list.
When you discover something, you should start a findings list. In other words, you should write it down because that is going to become the driver for making improvements. Initially the findings list will just be a list of ideas. But it is actually a living document and becomes a way to present ideas to an Owner and track your progress. The cost benefit assessment tool above includes a tab that is a template for a findings list.
Finally, the folks behind the RCxU YouTube Channel developed developed a "cheat sheet" to help guide folks to opportunities as they scope a facility. And they have been kind enough to share it with me and thus with you and you will find a download that contains it below.
| rcx_findings_targets.pdf |
It is important to realize that this is a guidance document that includes common targets, but certainly is not all-inclusive. So, please do not use it as an excuse to "take off your thinking cap" when you are out there poking around in a building. I have been doing this for a while, but several times a year I discover something I have not seen before.
In addition, there are a number of blog posts that I have written that explore and/or illustrate scoping, identifying, and developing existing building commissioning finding. Note that I am always adding things on this topic so you may also want to simply pick "Retrocommissioning" from the categories drop down to get the complete list. In any case, reading these posts will not only expose you to the specific topic they cover, it will also expose you how to think about the process, which is the real trick.
In addition, there are a number of blog posts that I have written that explore and/or illustrate scoping, identifying, and developing existing building commissioning finding. Note that I am always adding things on this topic so you may also want to simply pick "Retrocommissioning" from the categories drop down to get the complete list. In any case, reading these posts will not only expose you to the specific topic they cover, it will also expose you how to think about the process, which is the real trick.
