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A blueprint for developing energy strategies for facilities and case study were offered to members and guests of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter April 11 at the Fawcett Center at the Ohio State University.
The blueprint was unrolled by Karen D. Huttsell, design consultant for Mid-Central District Siemens Building Technologies, and supported with a case study of energy savings measures in the former Bank One (now Chase) facility on Polaris Parkway presented by Ken Staats, account director for ENCOR Facility Services.
Siemens is a major supplier of building controls, fire safety and security system solutions to make buildings comfortable, safe, productive, and less costly to operate. ENCOR is the world's leading provider of mechanical and electrical construction, and facilities services, including planning, consulting, and operations and maintenance. The companies worked together on the Polaris project.
Staats said the two- and one-half million–square-foot facility was originally designed to run “24/7 with 31 air handlers running at 225,000 cubic feet per minute, and six chillers running off of flow versus demand. So, we did a project to implement several (energy and cost-saving) things.
“The first thing we brought in was start/stop time optimization (SSTO) which accounted for about 71 percent of our savings. We were able to put some air handlers on scheduling and shut them down earlier at night so we weren’t running them 24/7…. “Basically, we were able to put 25 of the air handlers on set-back, which helped us to save money right off the bat. Another piece of the program was to maximize free cooling to bring in as much outside air as we could, especially in the spring and fall months to slow down chiller starts.”
Staats said they also installed additional CO2 sensing devices and variable air volume (VAV) boxes in “typically unoccupied spaces like conference rooms. When the (unacceptable air) levels reached a certain point, the VAV would come on and start pumping air into the room. Downside of this is if don’t have folks in there and pile them in all at once, it takes a little bit to catch it up.”
Installation of other equipment for production of hot water during the summer months enabled Chase to keep the building’s two major boilers from running at “high fire” from May to November, and the company recorded a considerable savings of natural gas usage.
Staats said the project cost Chase about $300,000 but the estimated payback of 18 months was cut in half because of the natural gas savings. Electric usage savings weren’t as strong as anticipated because the number of employees in the facility increased by about 1,500, creating additional cooling demands. Nevertheless, they are continuing to improve, he said.
Huttsell said companies seeking to reduce energy use and costs should first perform a building audit by reviewing such items as monthly energy bills, energy supply contracts, and building data, including size, age, number of occupants and occupancy schedule.
She said the next steps are to:
Patti Childers received the $25 Kroger gift certificate when her business card was drawn from the chapter fishbowl.