Summary
Greensborough Plaza Management employed CarbonetiX through the mechanical services contractor TCM Solutions from November 2010 to 2014. CarbonetiX delivered cost and energy savings by optimising the Building Management System (BMS) and Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC). Monthly site visits were conducted to improve the control and automation of HVAC plant equipment.
Objectives
Understand the present HVAC plant operation and controlling strategies
- Improve control strategies to maximize the utility cost savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- HVAC reviews for energy efficiency upgrades
- Improve thermal comfort throughout the building
Results
Optimisation of BMS and HVAC systems provided a number of long-term economic, environmental and thermal comfort benefits, including:
- Improved occupant thermal comfort
- Reduced chiller maintenance costs
- Reduced energy utility bills
- Improved environmental credentials
Opportunities
A range of opportunities for optimisation were identified during the on-site assessments.
Inefficient Chiller Staging Logic
Due to incorrect placement of a pressure sensing device, chillers in one of the chiller plants were short cycling. This operation over stressed the power supply and significantly reduced the economic life of the chillers, as well as increasing utility costs.
Solution
Change the time delays between chiller staging and relocate pressure sensor, resulting in a significant reduction of short cycling of the chillers
Provide an advanced control strategy for chiller staging
High variability in temperature settings across facility & narrow temperature dead-band (comfort zone)
Temperature settings between the Air Handling Units (AHU) were greater than 2°C to 3°C. This resulted in some of the AHU’s fighting against each other to maintain the zone temperatures. There were also very narrow dead bands within the zones which made the AHU cycle between heating and cooling modes too frequently.
Solution
CarbonetiX changed the temperature settings across all AHU’s to operate with a minimum 2.5°C temperature dead-band at a pre-agreed threshold
“Since 2009 CarbonetiX has provided energy efficiency sub-consulting services to our company, who has a mechanical services contract for the Greensborough Plaza. Through onsite investigation, documentation review and data analysis, they have identified many opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of the mechanical plant. Opportunities have included both quick wins for the end client through BMS tuning and optimisation and other opportunities have allowed for improved forward planning for more costly capital works upgrades. CarbonetiX are a niche team that are excellent to work with and I highly recommend their expert services in identifying energy reduction opportunities within the building services sector.” Peter Keating, TCM Solutions