Full Title: Hot Mess or Cool Tech? Secrets to Success for Advanced Building Controls Integration
Author(s): Nathan Hinkle, Randy Mead, and Brandon Kirlin
Publisher(s): Cadmus
Publication Date: October 15, 2022
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Description (excerpt):
Integrating controls between lighting and HVAC systems has significant untapped potential for improving commercial building energy efficiency and occupant comfort, but effective integration is much more challenging than marketing might imply. Cadmus evaluated controls integration projects in five commercial buildings that included university, health care, municipal government, and commercial office uses. Each project installed a new networked lighting control system and integrated that system with the existing HVAC building management systems and new plug-load receptacle controls. Savings were driven by modifying control sequences and setpoints in response to luminaire-level lighting control sensors.
The authors used a combination of traditional temporary data loggers and novel smart data sources integral to the control systems to collect lighting, plug load, occupancy, HVAC, and building performance data for over one year through baseline, installation, commissioning, and post-installation periods. We used these data sources to develop weather-normalized models of controls savings for each project. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities presented by Big Data in this project, including the innovative techniques we used to analyze millions of datapoints collected over this multiyear study and the issues to be aware of when using control system data for evaluation.