Energy Efficiency with Building Automation Systems Part I – Building Automation Systems Training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvU5GXJpWic
This is the first course to energy efficiency with building automation systems part one this is the first course in a two-part series once you have completed this course please move on to take energy efficiency with building automation systems part two.
At the completion of this course you will be able to define what a building automation system is review the main terminology and components of a building automation system and an HVAC system and list the most common HVAC strategies that may be controlled by a building automation system.
A building automation system also referred to as a bas can be set up to automate a building to make work more efficient for facility managers and more effective for occupants an energy management system or EMS is a subset of that it performs like a building automation system but it also focuses to automate the building to run as energy efficiently as possible the energy conservation measures implemented bring utility bill savings without compromising the comfort or safety of building occupants.
It will still optimize indoor air quality temperature control and lighting the amount of global energy used in 2004 was approximately 447 quadrillion Btu that equates to almost 80 million barrels of oil per day global energy consumption is expected to double in the next 25 years the World Business Council for sustainable development says that buildings today account for 40% of energy consumption in developed countries their goal by 2050 is for new buildings to be built that will consume zero net energy and produce zero net carbon dioxide emissions and an overall reduction of buildings carbon footprint.
They also report that global energy consumption for buildings is expected to grow 45% from 2002 to 2025 and global carbon emissions is expected to increase 92% the WBC SD shows by modeling that energy use in buildings can be cut 60% by 2050 to make that happen they are suggesting the following first to strengthen building codes and energy labeling for increased transparency second to encourage integrated design approaches and innovations and third to develop and use advanced technology to enable energy-saving behavior.
It’s a common misconception that energy conservation measures won’t generate much savings on a building that already has a building automation system however just because a building has a building automation system does not guarantee that it is running efficiently.
In this course we will focus on what a building automation system is as well as some of the commonly used terminology we will also look at some of the HVAC strategies used in building automation systems in part 2 of this series we will focus on some of the energy conservation measures used within a BAS.
A building automation system is a type of control system the goal of a BAS incorporating energy management is to maintain comfort and safety while minimizing energy consumption and facility management effort control systems are composed of three basic types of components something to measure data something to take those measurements and compare them with defined parameters and something causing an action to bring about a change in a building some examples of parameters that might be measured are temperature humidity pressure or flow rate once these measurements are taken and processed an adjustment may need to be made.
Examples of devices which could be used to make those adjustments are fans and pumps within the HVAC system building automation systems can be scalable to control specific floors or zones within a building. They can manage single buildings or entire campuses sharing the same equipment such as a chiller or boiler now that we understand.
What a BAS system is let’s talk about its functions building automation systems can be applied in various ways the most well known function of a BAS is to adjust lighting and HVAC equipment for occupant comfort an energy management system or EMS is a more focused version of a BAS in that it looks at occupant comfort and energy efficiency. We’ll see a variety of techniques in part two of this series including demand limiting resets and schedules another function is monitoring and surveillance. A building automation system can be used to support security functions such as access control this can be linked to other functions for example using occupancy sensors to detect when someone is in a room and adjusting HVAC accordingly. The system knows who is where and can use that information to automate the building based upon where people are. Maintenance can also be supported by a control system, maintenance schedules can be supported by reminder alarms from the system or highlighting declining equipment performance to trigger maintenance actions finally generating records is a great proactive application that can be implemented with a control system.
If there is a zone that is suspected to have problems or subject to occupant complaints a record could be started to record readings on several sensors within that zone. This is a great way to begin troubleshooting efforts to find a solution let’s discuss the parts of the BAS. A BAS measures data such as temperature feeds that to a controller that compares the measurements to a standard such as a targeted temperature set point and when needed makes any necessary changes with a control device.