Reduce Energy Costs In Your Commercial Real Estate
Building operators have faced expensive, complicated solutions to attempt to reduce peak electrical demand, which can often comprise 25-50% of a warm month’s utility bill. Conventional building automation systems attempt to deal with this problem is by using custom-tailored, brute-force “all or nothing” load-limiting strategies on loads. These strategies, while effective in controlling peak demand, result in dramatically uncomfortable occupant conditions (never mind are complex and therefore costly engineering and software customization exercises).
There is a new method emerging to manage demand using a dramatically simpler, cost-effective solution: distributed intelligence, whereby loads effectively communicate and coordinate amongst themselves how to manage demand while maintaining occupant comfort.
EnviroGrid™, a combined controller and portal solution, leverages distributed intelligence to allow large electrical loads, for example, rooftop packaged HVAC units, to:
- Monitor how much power each load draws, sampled on a 7×24 basis
- Broadcast this information wirelessly with other loads in the facility
- Make effective decisions every few minutes to allow the load to operator, or selectively curtail cooling compressors and/or heating coils temporarily, all in the name of smoothing out the total electrical demand of all HVAC units at that time
EnviroGrid Demand Controller
The decision-making process, using REGEN Energy’s patented swarm logic methodology, allows loads continue to operate at their usual duty cycles yet have their runtimes adjusted slightly in real-time, all in the name of avoiding dramatic coincident spikes in demand. For example, if on a hot summer afternoon, an HVAC unit’s cooling compressors run 2/3rds of the time, an EnviroGrid controller will continue to allow those compressors to run 2 out of every 3 hours. The controller will select 4 15-minute “off times” across every 3 hours based on information it hears from other controllers in the facility. Using this method, occupant comfort is maintained as the same amount of power is consumed in the same period for each load to perform its function.
The net effect is a reduction in peak demand of 10-25% for loads under control, verified through case studies in a variety of buildings in the U.S. and Canada including:
- Big-box stores
- Office buildings
- Food processing plants
- Multi-cinema complexes
- Sports clubs / recreation centers
The EnviroGrid solution includes a secure web portal, whereby facility operators and authorized third parties (e.g. HVAC service firms, utility incentive M&V auditors) can see, in near real-time how much energy each load consumes 7×24. This way, they can gain insight into inefficient use of power and answer questions such as:
- “How much power is each load consuming when the building is unoccupied?”
- “Which are the top 3 consumers of power on my rooftop?”
- “Which loads are running all the time – or almost never at all?”
This allows facility operators to make quantitative decisions based on concrete evidence of what loads are actually doing rather than what they suspect is occurring. For example, in all but one facility with EnviroGrid controllers, facility operators have identified at least some – if not all – HVAC units operating off-hours more than expected. Using EnviroGrid’s Portal Scheduling feature, facility operators have quickly identified and rapidly implemented scheduling changes that have reduced consumption by 10-25%, and in some cases, even as much as 45%.
An additional benefit of implementing such technology is that due to its simple installation procedure, buildings can be commissioned in 1-2 days, providing immediate feedback to property managers with no disruption to their operations.
Typical controller installation inside RTU cabinet
For more information about facility operators’ experiences using EnviroGrid, please contact REGEN Energy at www.REGENenergy.com.
About the Author: Mark Kerbel is president and co-founder of REGEN Energy, a Toronto-based firm committed to providing innovative, cost-effective, and practical energy solutions to energy consumers. He is a key member of the research team that developed REGEN’s unique EnviroGrid controllers, and together with co-founder Roman Kulyk, CTO, authored REGEN’s patented swarm logic method to control the peak energy demand. Mark is a frequent speaker to property managers, building equipment service providers and utilities on the topic of innovation in energy efficiency and building controls, and has been quoted in media outlets such as the CTV’s BNN, Global TV, Business Week, MIT Technology Review, and the Toronto Star.
Tags: building automation systems, controlling peak demand, EnviroGrid, Intelligent Building Technology, manage energy demand, Reduce Energy Costs, Regen Energy, Smart Controllers, swarm logic
