Technology
A ‘powerful’ component for commercial R buildings
ecent major advancements in technology, provides endless opportunities for the conservation of energy and resources in commercial facilities.
Over the last decade, technology has infiltrated every facet of our lives from the way we communicate to how we live, work and design buildings.
12 Prairie Business
December 2011
The most powerful component designed into commercial buildings has been a Direct Digital Control (DDC) system. The DDC system revolves around a desktop computer with an advanced software program, which can monitor and control just about every power-consuming device in a building. With the ability to monitor lights, motors, space temperatures and even human movement, the DDC system can react to changes in these parameters to conserve energy. In the Upper Midwest temperatures can range from -30°F in the winter to 100 °F in the summer. With this extreme temperature ranges the DDC system can adjust heating and cooling plants to perform at its maximum efficiencies at any outside air temperature. The ability to monitor the outside air temperatures and adjust everything from room temperature set points to hydronic water temperatures for heating and cooling systems has provided a leap forward in energy conservation in our industry. Another technological advancement is the occupancy sensor. Through the use of occupancy sensors the DDC system can monitor each individual room to see if it is being occupied. If not, the DDC system will shut off the lights, reset the space temperature and reduce the ventilation air into the room all in order to reduce the energy consumption in each individual room and also collectively for the entire