The Quarterly Publication of Eneractive Solutions
Th Solution ISSUE 05 | April 2014
A quarterly publication highlighting relevant industry and ENERActive news - keeping subscribers ahead on trends, upcoming events, industry leaders, and more.
The Solution | Quarterly | April 2014
this issue P.1 P.2 P.3 P.4 P.5 P.6 P.7 P.8
ENERActive Eye On: Big Data & BMS - How to Make Sense of it All... Featured Projects: Highland Park Properties Featured Projects: RMI Feature Spotlight On EMPOWERactive What’s Next… Now & Then: Volume I1 Ask the Expert
The Solution | Quarterly | April 2014
ENERActive Eye On Big Data & BMS
Common Graphing
Programs EXCEL
PROS
• Simplest and quickest program to graph small sets of data • Can create Macros (programming scripts), using Visual Basic language, to automatically filter & analyze data into graphs • Useful for data sets with predetermined columns such as BMS trending reports
CONS
• Executing Visual Basic Macros with large data sets an be extremely slow • Displaying multiple graphs with large data points will slow down the program • Limited selections and customizable nature of graphs
How to Make Sense of it all... With the increasing sophistication and capability for building management systems and energy modeling programs to measure, monitor, and record set points and HVAC operations for hourly or minute intervals, facility managers are quickly becoming overwhelmed with data and information. However, engineers should take full advantage of this wealth of information, as it provides an unprecedented understanding of how a building operates which engineers in the past did not have access to due to limited capabilities of BMS. There are many situations where large amounts of data, either hourly or minute intervals, are recorded to understand the operation of a building.
Three most common projects in which graphing large data is a necessity are:
1
Measurement and Verification
Hourly sub-metering of specific equipment are necessary to verify
energy savings of implemented projects. If the energy savings do not meet the proposed levels, an analysis of the hourly operation may determine incorrect equipment operation or programmed set points.
Calibration and Troubleshooting of Energy Models
With current energy model programs like eQuest, engineers have the capability to create hourly trending reports for various building set points or operations inputted into the model. This capability is especially useful to diagnose and troubleshoot an energy model when calibrating an energy model with building utility data or modeling proposed energy conservation measures.
3
Retro commissioning Projects
2
Certain RCx projects require monitoring and trending of existing building equipment to understand their operation. For example, HOBO loggers can be used to record fan speed, and HW/CHW valve positions of fan coils to determine proper outdoor air reset operation.
While filtering this big data on a spreadsheet-based platform is the most common method for analysis, graphing the data is a quicker and more effective method for understanding, reviewing, and analyzing. With the increasing amount of information collected and stored by BMS systems, engineers need to keep up with this pace and learn new programs to understand and make sense of this data. Being able to graph and visualize the data is an important step to understanding how a building is operating and can further help building engineers in various projects. The Solution | Quarterly | April | 1
Eye On Graphing
Common Graphing
Programs
R - GRAPHING & DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAM PROS
Table 1 - Visually shows mixed air temperature fluctuating between 20 F to 50 F. This indicates either a faulty mixed air temp setpoint or faulty operation of mixed air dampers, which is an opportunity for energy savings.
Table 2 - Shown above, 45 of 4681 unfiltered data points
Table 1 illustrates the ease in visually spotting patterns or anomalies on plotted graphs, as opposed to a spreadsheet of numbers, as demonstrated in Table 2.
Pictured left, Table 4 shows (with advanced capabilities) the option to plot a third variable or data series as a color gradient or varying point size.
Table 4
• Free open source program with online community and tutorials • Archive of downloadable codes to create graph templates and analyze data • More customizable graph options compared to excel • Faster processing of large data compared to Excel
CONS
• Must learn R language, which is not a standard programming language • No customer support system since it is a free program
The ability to view and compare three different variables on one graph, such as outdoor air temperature, room temperature, and occupied/unoccupied mode, can provide a deeper and more efficient analysis compared to the limited graph options from excel. The Solution | Quarterly | April | 2
Featured Projects Bozzuto Management Company Building Details: • Highland Park I • Built in 2008 • 206,490 square feet • 9 stories • 229 apartment units • 95% occupancy rate • Highland Park II • Completed in 2010 • 63,221 square feet • 9 stories • 69 apartment units • 95% occupancy rate
Project Highlights: • 7 Low Cost Measures (LCMs) identified • 11 Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) identified • Over $56,250 in annual savings • Simple payback: 5.9 years • IRR of 17% (15 years, 3% annual increase for energy costs)
Highland Park Energy Audit Bozzuto Management Company retained the services of Eneractive Solutions to perform an Energy Audit Analysis of the facility at 1400 Irving Street NW in Washington, DC. Highland Park is a 267,711 square foot, multi-family midrise building, divided into two construction phases; Highland Park I and Highland Park II. The building also has a below grade parking garage with approximately 300 spots. As part of this Energy Audit Analysis, Eneractive’s energy engineering team performed a walk-through of the building, conferred with facility staff about current operations, inspected the building systems in place and reviewed recent utility billing histories.
“
Everyone has been impressed with Eneractive’s thoroughness and it seems like the pictures really help, compared to other audits I’ve seen.
“
— PETER ZADORETZKY
Sustainability Project Manager Using industry standard energy engineering Bozzuto Management Company practices and calculations, Eneractive’s team evaluated the existing building systems and found multiple opportunities for energy and operational savings. As a result, several measures were studied and recommended for implementation at the site (see sidebar for project highlights).
Highland Park Apartments Buildings I and II. (Source: Bozzuto website, www.bozzuto.com)
The Solution | Quarterly | April | 3
Featured Projects Building of the Day! On February 26th, 666 Fifth Avenue was listed as Honest Buildings’ Building of the Day! The building was featured on the Honest Buildings website with a brief summary of “why it rocks”. Congratulations to Vornado Realty Trust and 666 Fifth Avenue for achieving and receiving such recognition! We’re honored to have been part of your accomplishments in energy efficiency. Click here to check out the article on the HB website
Honest Buildings is a platform that allows building professionals, building owners, decision makers, and project managers interact on an online commercial real estate “marketplace”. For more information check out their website www.honestbuildings.com
Eneractive Solutions was contracted by Vornado Realty Trust to conduct an ASHRAE Level II Energy Audit in parallel with building-wide RetroCommissioning (RCx) at 666 Fifth Avenue. This effort was initiated to develop, quantify and qualify potential energy conservation projects, and was executed per ASHRAE guidelines. This effort was also executed in fulfillment of New York City’s Local Law 87 Legislation.
Project Highlights: • Local Law 87 Compliance •
1,534,728 square feet
•
39-story building
• Identified 17 energy saving opportunities • Capital projects - 10 • For consideration - 2 • Already in progress - 1 • Required - 4 • Annual cost savings: $843,131 • Reduction of base building energy consumption - 21% Annual Site Energy Reduction: • 1,090,812 kWh • 822 kW • 30,950 Mlbs of steam
This project was completed November 2013.
Please refer to the sidebar to view highlights from this project. Photo Via
The Solution | Quarterly | April | 4
Spotlight On MEET THE GREEN TEAM...
Energy Conservation Success Stories GREEN BAY PACKAGING Since it’s transformation, the plant has increased capacity with the same headcount and over the last six months they’ve had no layoffs.
ACADIA WINDOWS & DOORS With the help of RMI, Acadia seeks to utilize their knowledge of their energy consumption to help them take action to cut back on their energy demand.
MARQUIP WARD UNITED MWU’s committment to the Lean process has helped them to become a “green manufacturer”, in cutting back on energy use, minimizing waste, and their carbon footprint.
GENERAL MOTORS The RMI team and GM’s engineers came together to review existing building operations as well as the building design for the new 100,000 square foot plant.
To read more about these case studies, click here to visit RMI’s website
Eneractive Selected as RMI’s Energy Consultant As part of an extensive search, the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland (RMI) solicited “Request For Proposals for Qualifications” and Bids from energy engineering firms throughout the entire region and they selected Eneractive Solutions as the company of choice to perform comprehensive energy assessments for the manufacturers in the program. RMI recently received a $3 million grant from the Maryland Public Service Commission and is working in partnership with the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) to help target energy efficiency opportunities with Maryland manufacturers throughout BGE Utility Company service territory. The grant was awarded to RMI based on the success of a recently completed energy efficiency project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The RMI program services include a holistic comprehensive approach in helping manufacturers in Maryland to save energy, maximize productivity and promote their success. Eneractive Solutions not only identifies the energy conservation Eneractive’s VP of Sales Jim Nagle & VP of Operations Doug Millar! measures in the RMI program we are also providing the engineering guidance oversight for the project management implementation work. The entire RMI process is structured to assure manufacturers remain on a path to continuous improvement for years going forward.
Congratulations Team! Eneractive Solutions VP Jim Nagle is leading the Marketing and Sales efforts, while Doug Millar, VP of Operations, along with his team, are providing the assessment and project management services. Maryland Manufacturers already enrolled in the program include: General Motors Zentech Maryland Applied Northrup Grumman Maryland Thermoform Physics Corporation Green Bay Packaging Danko Arlington Ellicott Dredging U.S. Gypsum Sun Automation Medifast LAI International
The Solution | Quarterly | April | 5
Spotlight On Introducing... VEM! Eneractive is proud to introduce VEM, or Virtual Energy Management, into their repertoire of services. VEM is an integrated approach to energy program excellence that leverages technology and professional energy management capabilities to monitor, identify and optimize facility performance.
Behind the scenes with CEO Dan Weeden!
Welcome to the Family, Steve! Mr. Guglielmo joined the Eneractive Team this past quarter as Business Development Manager for our Power Plant Solutions Division. We look forward to the wealth of knowledge and expertise Stephen will bring to the PPS Team! Receiving his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University, Steve has been working the last 12 years in the utility power and industrial market. Previously, for the past 2 years, Steve was the Northeast Regional Sales Manager at Hitachi Power Systems, responsible for business development, promoting all of Hitachi’s power products and services to major utility Customers in the Northeast US for. Prior to this role, he spent 6 years as Hitachi’s Product Manager responsible for SCR catalyst sales, service, and product development for the US market. He also has an extensive background in proposal and project execution activities, as Steve started as a Project Engineer for major utility retrofit projects at Foster Wheeler in Clinton, NJ. Steve’s versatile skill set and exposure to varying sectors – as he also brings with him some experience in construction from his time at Conti Construction – will prove invaluable to our diverse project portfolio. We are thrilled to have Steve on board!! He is also an avid runner (just in time for our third annual triathlon!) and a Red Sox fan... but we chose to overlook this, and hire him anyway!
Stay tuned
for some exciting news featuring VEM, coming in the near future!
Eneractive’s biggest Yankee Fan!
The Solution | Quarterly | April | 6
Empoweractive Our 3rd Annual Event!
Presenting: The Special Olympics USA Summer Games! Not only will this year’s Special Olympics Summer Games be held in New Jersey, but they will be holding an Inaugural Triathlon event! The event will be held at Mercer County Park in Hamilton Township, NJ and will offer a sprint triathlon for Special Olympic Athletes. To learn more about the event, click here!
or
Registration for our annual triathlon event, One More Tri, is now open! Join us for this year’s event on September 13, 2014 in Asbury Park, NJ. This year’s event will also be introducing a mini sprint triathlon. Distances for each event are listed below: MINI SPRINT RACE DISTANCES:
SPRINT RACE DISTANCES: TRIATHLON
DUATHLON
AQUAVELO
TRIATHLON
DUATHLON
AQUAVELO
.25 MILE SWIM
3 MILE RUN
.25 MILE SWIM
.11 MILE SWIM
.5 MILE RUN
.11 MILE SWIM
12 MILE BIKE
12 MILE BIKE
12 MILE BIKE
≈6 MILE BIKE
≈6 MILE BIKE
≈6 MILE BIKE
3 MILE RUN
3 MILE RUN
1.5 MILE RUN
1.5 MILE RUN
Click here to learn how you can get involved with the Special Olympics
To find out how you can sign up and get involved, please visit the One More Tri website by clicking the button below. Or email Sarah Tritini at: stritini@eneractivesolutions.com One More Tri’s Website
Eneractive Team Members at the 2013 One More Tri event!
The Solution | Quarterly | April | 7
What’s Next...
Event Reminders: Director of Engineering, Thomas Szarawarski, will be presenting on “Retro-Cx in Today’s Energy Market” at this year’s Globalcon Conference and Expo being held April 9-10 in Atlantic City, NJ. Be sure to listen in on Tom’s presentation at 10:30am on Thursday, April 10th and stop by our Booth # 443 Globalcon is presented by the Association of Energy Engineers and is a worldrenowned industry event that brings colleagues together to help shape the energy field. For more information about this year’s event, visit Globalcon’s website by clicking the button below: Globalcon 2014
Eneractive’s Power Plant Solutions division will be exhibiting at the Combustion Turbine Open Technical Forum (CTOTF) Spring 2014 Conference & Trade Show on April 7th in West Palm Beach, FL. If you are attending the event (April 6-10), be sure to check out our booth (#30)! Visit CTOTF’s website for more info
Eneractive’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Dave Klockner, will be speaking at a seminar at Delaware Technical Community College on May 7th on Savings Opportunities for Wastewater Facilities. The seminar is offered by the Delaware Water/Wastewater Energy Efficiency Partnership: “For Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators and managers who want to learn how to save money through energy conservation and energy efficiency opportunities”.
• April 3rd, ASHRAE Event, — Con Edison, 4 Irving Place, NYC Comfort Vs. Energy
Register on ASHRAE’s website!
• April 9th, Urban Green Council, Technical Roundtable — NYC
Money Vs. Power: Hosted by Cushman & Wakefield For more info, and to register, click here!
• April 11th, NYEW Steering Meeting — NYC
Location available to members only Register to become a member!
• May 19th - 21st, 2014 National Conference on Building Commissioning — Hartford, CT Presentation by VP, Saverio Grosso
The seminar will take place from 9:00-12:30, and the cost is FREE! However, seating is limited so call (302) 259-6329 to reserve your spot! The Solution | Quarterly | April | 8
Back in the Day Volume 2 Our marketing manager approached me and asked if I would like to take a crack at another edition of “Back in the Day”, which debuted in the 4th Eneractive Newsletter. Initially, I was having some trouble in developing a theme – but by sheer luck, I was listening to some music a few nights ago, when a certain record that I was spinning (yes, I still use turntables) stuck in my mind. The song I was listening to was a Doo Wop classic from 1956, recorded by a Los Angeles group called The Six Teens. The title of the song is “A Casual Look” (check out the 45 and 78 rpm label scans from my personal collection). Almost instantly, I realized that I had my theme… “casual”. Today for the most part we all enjoy a casual atmosphere in the offices where we work. The term “business casual” has become the norm in many, if not most cases. Except for occasions when we may meet with clients, or participate in presentations/seminars, etc. we are not required to wear suits/dress shirts/ties. That wasn’t always the case. When I was starting out in the engineering profession, dress shirt and tie was an absolute necessity, even if our day to day activities did not include dealing face to face with clients. Most places actually did not have a documented dress code – simply because it wasn’t needed. It was understood that you WILL wear a dress shirt and tie in the office at ALL times…no exceptions. The concept of “Dress Down Friday” or something similar was decades away from being on the radar screen. During the so-called energy crisis of the mid 70’s, federal energy guidelines mandated that public office buildings maintain air conditioning set points at a few degrees higher than in previous summers. To no one’s surprise, our management was only too eager to comply - they suggested that we all drink more liquids and wear light colored clothing to help cope with the higher temperatures in the office. Management was approached with the suggestion that perhaps we could work in the office without wearing ties. No chance!!! Some 60 – 65 years ago, my Dad worked as a senior designer/draftsman in an office located on Vesey Street…ironically, only a short walk from our New York Office at 150 Broadway. Of course this was back in the days of the old drafting tables (not in their wildest dreams could anyone have even imagined anything like CADD). Picture wearing a shirt and tie on a 98° afternoon with sweltering humidity, with only a few fans in the room to slightly move stagnant air around. For the draftsmen, keeping the drawings on their boards dry and free of sweat was a major accomplishment. I’m may be dating myself again, but did anyone ever have the “privilege” of working with an old Leroy Lettering Set? Working with that apparatus on a blistering summer day was a real joy! Today we don’t think anything of yelling out to co-workers in the office, “I’m going downstairs for a soda, or a coffee, etc…does anyone want anything?” In years past, there wasn’t any such thing. We had a designated “break time” that was strictly adhered to – 15 minutes in the afternoon to get a drink, or maybe take a walk around the parking lot to stretch and get some air on a nice day. Other than that, work. The term “business casual” has become the norm in many, if not most we were expected to be at our desks or cubicles, with the only exceptions being a trip to the water cooler or to the restrooms. It’s only basic human nature to sometimes think that we have it rough these days, and to air out our gripes from time to time. But every now and then it doesn’t hurt to take a look back at what the previous generation had to deal with – it can really put in all in perspective. “Casual” has come a long way in the working environment!
— Fred
De Poalo, Senior Commissioning Agent
The Solution | Quarterly | April | 9
Ask the Expert
Q A
Is it possible to incorporate present day, state of the art, data center energy efficiency features into existing data centers in order to achieve energy and cost savings, as well as reductions in emissions?
Issue: Energy Efficiency in the Data Center
The “clear” and concise answer to this question is YES and NO.
First, the bad news. It is much easier to incorporate energy efficiency best practices on a “clean sheet” in greenfield data centers as compared with older data centers. The potential for disruption and associated cost is very high in the implementation of certain measures in existing data centers that may impact the basic configuration and architecture of the IT equipment. For instance, implementation of optimal hot/cold aisle depends on integrating IT rack design with the HVAC equipment, which is very difficult and disruptive to implement after the fact. A very careful risk assessment needs to be conducted on any measure. The good news, however, is that depending on each site’s configuration, there will typically be several measures that can be fairly easily implemented. We have found that it is typically possible to improve the site’s PUE (power utilization effectiveness) to in the range of 1.4 to 1.7. PUE is in basic terms the ratio of total data center energy efficiency to the power drawn by the IT equipment, so a lower PUE is better. Although this is worse than can be expected in an optimal new design, it is often times about half the way there as compared with the existing data center operation.
A
Q
What are some of the typical opportunities in existing data centers?
Electrical Consumption in America’s composite Data Center stock is in the range of 2% of the total electrical consumption in the country (according to the EPA), and is rising rapidly as the IT and mobile computing industries continue to expand. It is not unusual to see the power density in a company’s data center to be over 25 times as great in the data center, as compared with their offices. Great strides have been made in data center energy efficiency over the last ten years, based on a focus and collaboration from several key organizations, the major of which includes: • •
It is critical to carefully evaluate all measures for potential adverse impact to the data center, and particular measures are highly site specific.
•
Here are some of the measures that we have successfully identified and implemented in the sites that we have worked with:
•
• • • • • •
Implement a type of economizer (free-cooling) if it does not exist Optimize existing economizer operation Air-flow management (in all its various forms) Controls upgrades to optimally manage redundancy and diversity, and control set points UPS efficiency upgrades Lighting efficiency upgrades and lighting controls (often overlooked)
•
Energy Star (“EPA Report on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency”, et. al.) The Green Grid (PUE, A comprehensive Examination of the Metric, et. al.) The Uptime Institute (author or the Tier Certification for the data center industry) The electronics manufacturing industry (ECIA) The data center cooling and redundant power industries This issue’s Q&A was brought to you by Eneractive’s Data Center Specialist, Jim Coyle.
Do you have a question? You can send any energy questions you have to info@enerativesolutions.com or tweet questions to @ENERACTIVE! Keep an eye out for our spotlight email or next issue, in which we will be sure to answer your submitted questions!
info@eneractivesolutions.com
Tweet us @ENERACTIVE! The Solution | Quarterly | April | 10
About Us ENERActive is an independent energy consulting and engineering firm specializing in the analysis, development, and implementation of energy conservation projects. Staffed with highly tenured professionals from the energy engineering and energy project development fields, we have the capability to not only identify energy conservation measures, but our history of bringing these projects full circle to completion has given us a track record of performance that ensures all projects are assessed, developed, and implemented in a manner which consistently exceeds the expectations of our clients.
HEADQUARTERS 700 Mattison Avenue, Suite A | Asbury Park, NJ 07712 t: 732-988-8850 | f: 732-988-9596 NEW YORK 150 Broadway, 8th Fl,. Suite 802 | New York, NY 10038 t: 212-269-2302 | f: 917-460-7365 MARYLAND 7051 Muirkirk Meadows Drive, Suite C | Beltsville, MD 20705 t: 301-210-9560 | f: 301-210-9561 POWER PLANT SOLUTIONS 8 West Main Street | Clinton, NJ 08809 t: 732-988-8850 www.eneractivesolutions.com | info@eneractivesolutions.com
The Solution | Quarterly | April 2014