Improving Building Energy System Performance by Continuous Commissioning

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Date

1996

Journal Title

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Publisher

Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu), Texas A&M University
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University

Abstract

The term Continuous Commissioning (CC) was first used by engineers at the Energy Systems Lab (ESL) at Texas A&M University to describe an ongoing process which improves the operation of buildings using measured hourly energy use and environmental data. The first buildings to undergo a continuous commissioning process were in the Texas LoanSTAR program [Liu, et al, 1994, Claridge, et al, 1994]. These buildings had been retrofitted with various energy efficiency improvements, and measured hourly data were available to verify that the retrofits were performing as desired, and to analyze the overall building performance. The ESL engineers, using hourly data, site visits, and ESL-developed software [Liu and Claridge 1995], then worked with the facility engineers to fine-tune the building operation. These efforts were so successful that another 15 to 30% of the annual building energy cost was saved ~ and these were in buildings that supposedly had all cost effective retrofits and operating improvements already implemented [Liu 1996].

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Keywords

Continuous Commissioning, CC, measured hourly energy use, LoanSTAR, retrofits

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