ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 32

TECHNICAL FEATURE
Getting Buildings to Operate How
They Should, According to Design,
And Keeping Them There
BY LARRY J. BRACKNEY, PH.D., MEMBER ASHRAE
The thermostat at right illustrates the gap that often
exists between design intent and operational reality
better than I could describe in mere words. A full 30%
of a building's energy performance is related to occupant
behavior and simply can't be ignored as we envision
a path to a better built environment.
Helping occupants understand their role in achieving
and sustaining performance goals and arming
facility managers with the tools they need to proactively
maintain increasingly complex systems are
requirements for persistently efficient buildings.
Evolutionary software technologies allow the sector to
move beyond passive signage and lackluster alarms,
trendlogs, and dashboards that have remained largely
unchanged for decades. Human-centric interface
designs available on desktop and mobile devices that
provide transactional value for all stakeholders are
key to meaningful engagement with occupants and
decision-makers alike.
For example, in NREL's Research Support Facility
(RSF), new applications establish "conversations"
between building and occupants, and provide energy
performance feedback that appeals to a range of personalities.
Spatially registered comfort feedback is
combined with measured data to provide a view into
how well the building is meeting comfort objectives.
This enables facility managers to address occupant
complaints proactively, and with the context needed
approximately 60% with half of that gain since 2004.
This is significant for a minimum standard when commercial
buildings account for about 20% of national
energy use. So what are the next steps? What will be the
concepts that shape future versions of Standard 90.1,
and what might we expect in the 2031 or 2034 versions?
SSPC 90.1 is actually working on that right now as
part of the Standard 90.1-2016 work plan. While the
proposed short-term goal for the 2016 version is a 40%
improvement in whole building energy use (compared
to 2004), the long term strategic direction is to
publish a Zero Net Energy (ZNE) standard in the 2030
32
A SHR A E J O U RNA L
ashrae.org JAN UARY 2014
BELOW Thermostat setpoint at Denver business.
BOTTOM Spatially registered comfort and performance
data helps facility managers quickly
assess RSF operations.
RIGHT NREL's Building Agent application
enables collection of occupant comfort data
and communication of building performance.
for fault diagnosis and human-in-loop whole building
optimization. These software solutions are proving
to be an important component of an overall set
of strategies that are helping the RSF achieve aggressive
net zero energy performance targets.
Industry development of open communications
standards and application program interfaces
will also contribute to the accelerated development
and adoption of new interfaces that will
help ensure buildings are operated as they were
designed.
Larry J. Brackney, Ph.D., is section manager for Commercial Buildings Sensors, Controls, and Analysis
Tools at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colo.
timeframe-about six or seven Standard 90.1 development
cycles from now. There is a growing consensus
among policy makers, design professionals and code
developers that this is the right goal to meet national
needs, and it is a view supported by ASHRAE leadership.
One step along the path to a ZNE standard is to expand
the scope of what is covered in Standard 90.1 so that
whole building energy use is truly considered. Recent
updates to the Title, Purpose and Scope of the Standard
allow the SSPC to include previously unregulated loads,
on-site renewable energy use, new equipment or building
systems that are part of industrial or manufacturing
NICHOLAS LONG/NREL
MARJORIE SCHOTT/NREL

ASHRAE Journal - January 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - January 2014