Q: Do you have any feedback on building occupants and their energy-related behaviours once a competition closes? Do they experience a proverbial competition ‘hangover’ and revert to their original energy practices?

A: Extreme measures used to conserve energy like extremely low lighting levels, or turning off hot water or the coffee maker are usually abandoned once the competition ends.  However, competitions often reveal sustainable practices that can continue year round; for example after a competition we have seen our clients turn off under-used refrigerators, remove lights in areas that don’t require them, naturally ventilate a server room by opening a door, and turn off unused computers and lights.

Q: Of the 9 competitions that Pulse was involved in, what was the average savings over the long run?

A: We saw savings up to 7% over a 6 month period, but many of the competitions completed just recently, so we don’t have average, long term savings for all of them.  Some of the buildings that did well during the competition due to extreme actions that were not sustainable over the long term, and therefore they experienced little to no persistent savings.

Chart showing persistent savings after the end of a competition in October. Click image for larger view.

Q: Do the 7% (over 6 months) savings include HVAC tuning and HVAC operational savings, or is it attributed solely to behaviour change savings?

A: For both of the buildings that saw a 7% reduction over 6 months, the majority of the savings were attributable to operational changes that were made during the competition period.

Q: Can you please elaborate on the handicaps used to normalize buildings? What do these look like?

A: We use the five factors for assessing energy savings potential (total consumption, efficiency, control, influence, commitment) as feedback to attempt to figure out what an appropriate set of handicaps should be.  The goal is to make it so that each building has approximately the same potential of energy savings in order to keep the competition and race close, because that’s when people are most engaged.

Q: We have run a week long electricity (not gas) competition in dorms on campus twice.  Unfortunately, half of our dorms use electric heat and half use natural gas, so the residents in the dorms with electric heat have more ability to reduce electricity usage.  However, if the weather is unusually cold that week it hurts them.  Can you explain how your competition methodology deals with this and how it would factor into the handicap?

A: We have two approaches for dealing with this problem. First, the baseline that we build for determining savings will normalize for temperature. So the baseline will incorporate knowledge of how each building has historically performed at similar temperatures. Second, we can account for the higher level of occupancy control by assigning a slightly larger handicap to the dorms with electric heat. We can also dynamically adapt the handicap during the competition to account for changing circumstances. The only caveat is that adjusting a handicap during the competition may affect the perceived fairness of the results. Ideally the handicaps are correctly selected at the start of the competition and the five factors that we listed for assessing energy savings potential are one key mechanism for determining this.

Q: How can you measure energy savings accurately when the baselines are changing year to year, often due to additions of square footage, additional energy consuming equipment, etc?

A: The persistent savings results that I mentioned during the webinar were based on buildings that have remained relatively consistent over the 6 or more months since the competition. Accounting for changes in occupancy, square footage and equipment definitely complicates persistent savings calculation. Our approach has been to model and factor out the impact of these changes against the actual consumption in order to determine savings.

Q: According to your poll, one of the biggest challenges associated with running a competitions is measuring the results – if buildings are metered very broadly and perhaps include a dining section, how can you measure separately or isolate?

A: Many of the buildings that have participated in our energy savings competitions have only had aggregate building-level consumption monitoring. That said, buildings with more granular measurement have had an easier time correlating energy savings actions with their associated impacts (especially for large buildings). Often the top performing building in a competition has more granular metering, but we can’t say if the result is causal or just correlated.

Q: Is it possible to monitor individual computers, printers etc for a competition?

A: Yes, one of our partners installed plug meters at work stations to measure the consumption and savings of each occupant.  They were then able to get detailed assessments of energy savings once occupants were encouraged to manage the power at their stations more efficiently.

Q: What are plug meters? Recommended brands?

A: Plug meters are used to track the power draw through an outlet based on the devices plugged into it. There are a number of plug meter products available. The one that we have worked with a fair bit is the Killawatt.

Q: Have you found it is important to communicate how much of the savings are attributed to occupant behaviour versus mechanical tweaking (HVAC etc) or are people just happy to see the curve going down and feel like they’ve contributed?

A: It is important, so that occupants can understand what the impact is of optimizing or turning off different systems in their building, for example knowing how much energy was saved by adjusting air conditioning set points vs turning off the lights.

Q: Is there more peer pressure and commitment to competitions in smaller buildings?

A: Absolutely. It is certainly easier to organize participation when there are fewer people involved. Also, with smaller buildings, turning off or optimizing a few things can have a larger proportional impact.

Q: Have you worked with anyone who has implemented monetary incentives by returning the savings to the employees as part of their energy reduction competition?

A: No. I’m not sure that it would provide much incentive. For most commercial buildings, the monetary savings from a short competition is unlikely to be that lucrative. We have found that participants are more motivated by intrinsic rewards – like bragging rights over their colleagues in a different office. A symbolic prize, like a trophy, is often reward enough.

Q: Have you considered using the Energy Star baseline for a building?

A: We do use Energy Star to help baseline buildings. An Energy Star rating (or other benchmark) can help indicate the potential for energy savings for a specific building. We have found benchmark information to be a useful additional data point when determining an appropriate savings handicap.

The first one was posted in mid-February on CNET, but perhaps you missed it then just like we did.  It’s an update of an on-going study conducted by Oklahoma Gas & Electric in conjunction with the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory.  The study results so far indicate that people will significantly conserve electricity during peak demand if given price incentives and tools to modify usage: http://cnet.co/gY1HcJ.  The article states that:

“The first collection of data, taken from June through September, found that on average customers who were offered peak pricing, but no smart tools, reduced electricity use during peak periods by 33 percent. Customers using smart thermostats and offered peak pricing, reduced electricity use during peak times by as much as 57 percent.”

While this study is tracking the usage patterns of small businesses and residences, the underlying hypothesis that more control over energy usage will reduce consumption also appears to apply to larger commercial buildings, as evidenced by the results of an occupant engagement experiment that we helped one of our clients conduct.

The second article comes from greentechmedia.com, about a utility in California that will be rolling out smart meters in the future, but in the meantime is giving the city free Wi-Fi (http://bit.ly/eiz6U5):

“The meters would obviously get one of the 16 different channels available on the Wi-Fi network. Other city departments, including the police, fire and parks and recreation departments saw the advantages of having Wi-Fi networks, as well. But one channel would go directly to the people in the way it was intended: free Wi-Fi blanketing the city.”

The main benefit of keeping things simple is that it’s the least complicated projects that are the most likely to get approved and leas likely to fail in the long term.  Craig recommends putting yourself in the shoes of the staff that will have to install and maintain a new energy saving retrofit.  As an example of what not to do, he tells the story of a complex automated lighting control system that failed in the “on” mode.  Three different contractors were needed to asses and fix the problem over a period of four days, while in the meantime the lights were on 24/7 and environmentally conscious occupants were frustrated at not being able to simply flick a light switch off.  Technology just for the sake of technology does not tend to add up.

It’s also important to ask the maintenance and project management teams for feedback, for two reasons.  First of all, they may have already seen some energy saving solutions tried out in their organization and they may have feedback on how and why they failed, and how they could be better implemented the next time.  And secondly, asking for feedback will reduce the likelihood that the new energy retrofit becomes a big headache for the facilities and management teams.

1. The rise of Energy Efficiency Resource Standards (EERS) in US states. EnergyBoom details the latest efficiency policy trend in the US.

http://www.energyboom.com/efficiency/more-half-us-states-now-have-energy-efficiency-resource-standards

2. CEO of a major US utility talks about changes in the energy market.

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/30/dominion-ceo-patience-and-policy-on-the-path-to-renewable-energy/

3. Cnet’s Martin LaMonica highlights the importance of building energy efficiency software and the increased interest in the space from investors and major IT players like google and Microsoft.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20025316-54.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=GreenTech ]]> http://blog.pulseenergy.com/2011/02/february-suggested-reading/feed/ 0 http://blog.pulseenergy.com/2011/02/new-people-at-the-heart-of-pulse-twitter-energy-managers-and-user-experience-design/ http://blog.pulseenergy.com/2011/02/new-people-at-the-heart-of-pulse-twitter-energy-managers-and-user-experience-design/#comments Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:59:26 +0000 Alexi http://blog.pulseenergy.com/?p=244 The Pulse team has more than doubled in size in the last year.  Two recent hires highlight the diversity of experience and passion for energy efficiency software at Pulse Energy. Alina Podkolinska is the newest member of the user experience design team. Craig Handley brings insight into the needs and day-to-day experience of the energy managers, one of Pulse’s most important users.

Alina’s route into Pulse was a real sign of the times. She applied for her position after following one of the UX team members on twitter and applied to Pulse after he had tweeted about a new opening on the team. Much of Alina’s past experience in UX design came at start-up companies.  At Pulse she looks forward to working on a project she can see through to fruition.  “One of the challenges of working in a start-up environment is that most start-ups fail, meaning you don’t often get to finish the work you start.  Working at Pulse is a great opportunity for me to spread my wings and design something from start to finish” said Alina.

2011 is the Year of the Energy Manager at Pulse Energy so it is fitting that the team now includes someone who has significant experience in this role.  Craig spent several years at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia working with facility managers, executives and energy service providers to ensure the energy efficiency of the campus buildings. Many energy managers are new additions to their organizations and Craig’s past experience and success in this role brings meaningful insight to a Pulse team intent on supporting these important users.

In the past several years ‘Design Thinking’ has become an increasingly popular way for businesses to find solutions to their challenges. Authors, artists, inventors, academics and even business leaders have written books and blogged about how design thinking can help businesses by increasing creativity and encouraging new approaches to problem solving. Some of the world’s best companies are now using design thinking as part of their business strategy. Nike, Apple, and even ‘old-school’ organizations like GE have embraced design thinking as part of leadership training.

The Sauder School of Business recently incorporated design thinking into the commerce curriculum at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Under the direction of Moura Quayle and Ronald Kellett undergraduate commerce students now have the opportunity to learn and apply design thinking in the newly launched Sauder d.studio.

In its inaugural year, students in the new program worked closely with Moura and Ron on semester-long projects using Design Thinking to solve real-world business problems. Moura tapped Pulse Energy’s Chris Stone to provide guidance to the d.studio and the students as they developed their projects. Chris is Pulse Energy’s Senior Interaction Designer and he is responsible for creating the user interface for our software.

Chris worked closely with a group of young scholars on a behaviour change project. Knowing that energy and food issues are becoming increasingly intertwined, Moura, Ron & Chris identified an opportunity to partner Pulse Energy with the UBC Alma Mater Society Catering department. The idea was to challenge the students to capture the attention of the transient student population that frequents the UBC campus student union building on a daily basis. How could they slow lunch-goers down just enough to affect their buying behaviour around food decisions?

When interviewed, Chris said he avoided providing any specific design insight as it pertained to the project; instead he wanted to let the students come their own solutions using a Design Thinking framework. He focused on giving students information on the process embodied in design thinking, some tools around project scoping and constructive feedback on their course of action.

According to Stone, experienced designers seek an insider’s perspective on the problems they face. So it was important for him to encourage the students to think about the issues involved in food preparation and consumption from a user’s point of view. The students were asked to consider questions like: ‘how do people think about the ecological impact of the food they eat?’, ‘how can energy information about food be presented in story form?’ and ‘what does energy mean to people?’.

With these types of questions to frame their project, the students designed an interactive, touch-screen menu. The menu-board, much like a giant iPad, displays food items in different ways to each user, ordering choices differently, increasing text size or highlighting certain food items based on their ecological footprint and the preferences of the user. By collecting data on the individual consumers, their past menu choices, the season, energy required for preparation and a host of other preferences the menu-board tailors the presentation of the items to the individual’s particular wants, while ensuring the most ecological and energy efficient choice possible.

While the giant touch screen won’t be implemented in the cafeteria any time soon, this thought experiment gave the students in the d.studio a new implement for their business toolkit. Pulse Energy was on hand to engage with future business graduates and foster a creative approach to solving real-world challenges. Design thinking will likely continue to permeate businesses at all levels and the students graduating from Sauder and the d.studio will be prepared to apply this approach to the challenges they face as they launch their careers.

The 5 tips included mechanical maintenance and controls optimization procedures that can be performed by in-house staff or by outside contractors:

1. Inspect Air Handling Unit (AHU) heating and cooling valves annually, to prevent simultaneous heating and cooling.
2. Inspect, clean, and lubricate mixing dampers seasonally to protect against simultaneous heating and cooling, frozen coils, and incorrect building pressure.
3. Calculate fresh air requirements automatically to protect against excess heating or cooling.
4. Calculate demand from zone devices to set the AHU temperature to eliminate over-cooling.
5. Reset boiler and chiller temperatures based on AHU valve positions to protect against excessively hot or cold water and to prevent unnecessary machine cycling.

James also explained why the effects of these energy wasting problems that these tips are meant to fix can be hidden and not easily detected without an inspection or other direct action.  Anyone who works with HVAC and BAS systems, as well as anyone who wants an interesting insight into the mechanical workings of their building will likely find this presentation interesting; check out the webinar recording for more details on each tip as well as a bonus tip.

We concluded the webinar with a Q&A session, and as is often the case we had a very engaged audience asking us lots of questions that we couldn’t answer in the time allotted.  James’ responses to most of the unanswered questions are below and we encourage you to join the discussion with new or follow-up questions or comments by adding a comment to this blog posting:

Michael: Could you use average space temperature vs. valve positions for Demand Reset on a boiler or chiller?

James: I would not be inclined to use averages.  They tend not to indicate a demand zone but rather a general demand where the extremes cancel each other out.  Zone temperature may just indicate who likes it warmer or cooler whereas individual temperature deviation from set point will indicate which zone does not have enough cooling or heating to meet requirements.  The more direct method is to look at valve position as it clearly indicates where all available energy is been used.

Question from Rey: Can fresh air requirements be accommodated simply through letting outside air in through an open door?

James:  Yes natural ventilation is an acceptable method of introducing fresh air in buildings that are designed to do this.  ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2010 sets minimum ventilation rates and procedures for different types of facilities and typically refers to minimum cfm per occupant.  Ensuring and controlling this is the real consideration.

Michael: Could you use average space temperature vs. valve positions for Demand Reset on a boiler or chiller?

James: I would not be inclined to use averages.  They tend not to indicate a demand zone but rather a general demand where the extremes cancel each other out.  Zone temperature may just indicate who likes it warmer or cooler whereas individual temperature deviation from set point will indicate which zone does not have enough cooling or heating to meet requirements.  The more direct method is to look at valve position as it clearly indicates where all available energy is been used.

Myra: Have you ever added some simple programming to automatically check things like valve leak-by and damper positions given a certain set conditions, and send an alarm to notify the operator?

James: No, but these sort of algorithms do exist.  I do recommend that they be considered for implementation, especially when the number of systems outweighs the operator’s ability to manually check them all.  Due to the different capabilities of control systems it may make more sense to implement this as an external software service rather than as part of your existing control system.

Faris: Do you change the fresh air requirements with different seasons? What type of correction factor you use due to changes of temperature?

James: Ventilation requirements have to do with volume of fresh air per person as per ASHRAE standards.  Temperature is not usually considered in setting the minimum requirements although it can be used in calculating percentages.  Requirements do not change with season but they may change with occupancy or use of space.

Bill: In Variable Air Volume (VAV) systems, as you raise supply air temperature, won’t you use more air since the VAV boxes will open further to meet the load? In the same way, more pump energy can be used if chilled water temperature is set up.  (VAV’s are mainly for cooling so you trade Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) electrical consumption when you raise the SAT feeding them).  Please discuss the magnitude of these tradeoffs.

James:  We wish to maintain occupant comfort spending the least energy that we can.  Since zone reheats, radiator panels and the ever present plug in heater in northern climates will compensate for any overcooling due to supply temperature, we want to set that supply temperature as high as the demand will allow.

VAV systems are cooling systems modulating the volume of air to meeting cooling requirements.  As the spaces warm up the VAV’s tend to open up in response to increase the cooling.  When a box is at maximum flow (assuming the maximum has been set appropriately) and the space continues to rise in temperature, this is an indication of insufficient cooling from source.  That box becomes the demand box and can be used to reset the supply cooler, just enough using a PID controller, to an appropriate set point.  Yes, as cooling requirements increase the supply VFD will increase in speed using more energy.  This is expected.  Always, the concept here is providing “just enough” cooling (or heating) to meet the demand.

As for efficiency of the fan or pump, we would like to run them on that sweet spot on the efficiency curve but that cannot be the overriding consideration without extensive programming considering the relative cost of fan energy vs. water energy vs. occupant comfort, an unlikely implementation.  We simply hope that they were sized correctly for the expected load.

Marc: What frequency do you recommend recalibration of digital sensors?

James:  I have debated this one often.  Averaging sensors are difficult to calibrate.  Single point sensors are easier.  I have not seen these devices drift; only fail.  Typically the calibration factor is a reflection of the resistive properties of the sensor installed, the length of wire and the board on which it is installed.  These do not change so the calibration should not.  I believe they should be carefully and accurately set once and then quickly checked annually for failure, which more often than not is in the wiring.

Garry: What would you recommend as a max CO2 level in ppm.

James: ASRAE has standards for this as well and I do not know if there are varying local requirements.  In my area the local compensation board is required to investigate IAQ concerns where the indoor CO2 level is greater than 650 ppm above ambient levels, locally around 350ppm.  Control systems here typically respond to levels above 800ppm, increasing the ventilation rate accordingly to minimize further increases.

Last month, Cisco’s TelePresence technology enabled Wim Elfrink, VP of S+CC, David Helliwell, CEO of Pulse Energy, and Vancouver Mayor, Gregor Robertson to announce the latest S+CC initiative to the world. Efrink was in Amsterdam, while David and the Mayor were in Cisco’s Shanghai Expo Pavilion where Pulse Energy is featured as the domain of Building Energy Management. Other constituents from the City of Vancouver, Cisco and Pulse Energy and various members of the media tuned in via Telepresence to hear the announcement. At home in Vancouver, the importance of smart, connected cities who manage their energy performance is well known. The 2010 Winter Olympics saw the launch of Pulse Energy’s Venue Energy Tracker-a first for an Olympic Games

Pulse Energy’s team landed in the UK in the spring of 2010, and have been developing Cisco relationships that extend out to Cisco Partners and customers. David Helliwell commented that, “The UK market is ahead of most of the world in terms of having a regulatory imperative to monitor and manage energy use in buildings. This is a great opportunity for Cisco and Pulse Energy to accelerate the deployment of our joint energy management offering.”

Pulse Energy has built their domain knowledge around Building Energy Management with early adopters: Utilities, Hospitals, Universities, Government and portfolio management companies.

Former Cisco executive, Dean Rockwell, recently joined the Pulse Energy team as Chief Operating Officer. In discussing the go-to-market strategy with Cisco in the UK, he stated, “We’ve had a very positive reception in the UK, and Pulse Energy and Cisco are being positioned as the last mile of the Smart Grid.” As customers in the UK begin to use Pulse Energy to determine their demand curve for energy on a real-time basis, Cisco can leverage this information using the Mediator and EnergyWise to build out the bigger picture around an Enterprise’s energy footprint.

At the end of the day, the network is more than just connecting people in Vancouver, Shanghai, and Amsterdam, the network can connect all kinds of things, and these end points can be pulled into Pulse Energy to tell a story around sustainment that is compelling and leads to changes in how people see and respond to energy information.

Once again, the Q&A session was just as interesting as the presentation itself, and you can read it right here:

Q: How often do you calibrate your temperature sensors and outside air sensors?

Nancy Myers- When we do our end to ends check twice a year we look at all the zones, if a sensor is out more than 2 degrees then we replace it. A sensor is 20 bucks, cheap. We look at outside air often because the DX cooling is often on when it’s not hot out. We don’t change outside air sensors that often, maybe every 5 years. Its’ very important to understand where they’re located in the building because they are often installed at odd or inappropriate locations.

How big is your team and is it the same team across the whole health authority or does each hospital have its own team?

NM- It varies across the Island. In the south island we have one DDC controls technician. We have another DDC tech that does a few sites, but the continuous controls optimization that is being done at a few sites in the south island is being shopped out to a mechanical consultant and he’s brought in his own contractors to work on the program.  Up island we are unique in that we are doing it in house. I have one controls tech that works with me and at different sites staff work at the various locations. Some areas are central and there is one guy for the whole area, like a floater, but it definitely varies depending on the site and its characteristics.

Who does the energy manager report to? How much executive participation do you have? What were the keys to executive buy in?

NM- Because of the climate action plan, carbon neutrality, we have a lot of attention from the CEO down on this issue.  I now work with several other staff who work on this issue. All people on the management team from the executives down are very much involved in the energy management strategy. We basically get buy-in from all our execs, including our VP of operations.

The kilowatt hour data you presented is excellent, is all data from hospitals 24/7 or are some 8 hour clinics?

NM- There is a real variety of different facilities. Some are open nine to five, some are 24 hour facilities, there is a wide variety across the island.

Can you please comment on duct leakage?

Nancy Myers- We wouldn’t normally look at that, it was just a fluke.  We had an air handling unit that was out of whack. It was the middle of the summer and a cooling unit wasn’t working properly. What was happening was one of the access doors was left open on the unit and a bunch of warm air from the outside was getting sucked into where the temperature sensor for the cooling unit was. As a result the DX cooling was staying on much longer than actually necessary to cool the building.  We learned that it’s very important to keep the sensors sealed off from the outside.

Is the software monitoring each AHU (air handling unit) or is it based on the whole building? How much time do you spend bugging the trends each day?

NM- For us the software is based on the complete building.  For the issues we tracked down we actually had the staff stop what they were doing so we could identify things by shutting them off individually. The logging is done at different intervals depending on the equipment. Depending on the control system you have and the trending capabilities we’ll usually do a 5 minute interval or a 5 minute change of IU.

Julius Walczynski- Pulse software can also monitor at the individual equipment level if required by the client, it can be set up at varying resolutions. Anything we can sub meter can be measured separately.

What do you meter?

NM- Through Pulse Energy’s software we’re doing our main electrical meters, plus in some facilities we are monitoring electric boilers and natural gas use. In some hospitals we do have some load metering.  Anything that moves really, pumps, fans, we put analogue current sensors on there so we can keep up with how they are supposed to be working. There are some other sites where Pulse software is being deployed to measure individual loads as well as water and steam loads where we have multi-building use.

How many trades report to you? How is your relationship with the other facility managers?

NM- One facility manager reports directly to me. As with working with other staff, some relationships are good, some not so good, but most are positive.  We try not to go in there like we own the place, we try to build a team atmosphere. Normally we work really well together. Usually we are able to make people feel like part of a team when you give them ownership over the energy use and the site.

JW-The human element and buy in is extremely important in all of this.

NM- That’s the number one message that I give out in all of this. It is very important especially if you’re bringing in contractors to involve all of the staff in this process if you want to be successful.