Retrotec USACE - Manual (Page 80)

58 ENERGY & PROCESS ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL
In summary, continuous commissioning is a systematic procedure, the purpose
of which is to evaluate existing energy consumption on a daily basis to identify the
savings gained from changes in building use and use behavior and to
Detect and diagnose faults in an early stage ■
Report the fi ndings in quarterly energy reports (limited to existing build- ■
ings/sites/objects)
7.2 Why Ongoing/Continuous Commissioning?
Users request a comfortable and healthy indoor environment, but they no longer
accept the excessive use of natural resources or pollution of the outdoor envi-
ronment. The heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) industry seeks
solutions to fulfi ll these higher requirements. One tendency is to leave the time
of low-effi ciency stand-alone products and enter a period of high-effi ciency in-
tegrated systems. Moving from simple products to large systems enables one to
develop more effi cient and fl exible solutions, but it also leads to a higher level of
complexity. Continuous commissioning is one of the new approaches to manage
the complexity of today’s building and HVAC systems. The primary obstacles
that impede the adoption of commissioning as a routine process for all buildings
are lack of awareness, lack of time, and high perceived costs.
The major tasks in a continuous commissioning process are fault detection
and diagnosis (FDD) and optimization of operation to meet the changing user
demands for comfort with a minimum of primary energy. FDD in the fi eld of
building operation is still in its infancy. The fi rst attempts of systematic FDD
in buildings go back to the late 1980s. Many different approaches have been
tested theoretically or in the lab, but the systematization is missing. Further-
more, the wealth of different models and approaches, which have been tested
positively by the scientifi c community, has not yet made it to the fi eld. The
number of commercial FDD tools that are available on the market is quite low,
and many of the tools are still under development. However, recent research
efforts have developed promising solutions.
The situation with optimization is similar. We have learned to understand
very well the optimization of stand-alone components, but we lack experience
in how to optimize the whole building system; therefore, with many building
energy management systems (BEMS)—especially if they are part of a facility
management system—questions arise, such as
How should one consider the instrumentation level and location of ■
essential measuring points?
What can one do with the existing level of instrumentation, and what is
■
needed for short-term measurements?
What is the validity and performance of existing meters?
■
Do they operate properly? ■
Consequently, we have a need for energy assessment during operation.