Improve your building’s performance with controls
Sponsored by Enbridge Gas
If you are an affordable housing provider looking for ways to lower operating and maintenance costs, improve resident comfort, and free up budget for other priorities, implementing controls upgrades may be right for your building. Here is what to know about this energy-efficient solution.
Benefits of Controls Technologies
Controls are for managing, monitoring, and optimizing the performance of building systems. This involves a combination of sensors, controllers, and actuators to ensure that building performance is optimized through a single user-friendly interface. Some common examples of controls include building automation systems and ventilation controls.
First, data is exchanged between different components, such as sensors, controllers, and actuators. The data is then transmitted to a controller. Then the controller can make energy-saving1 adjustments.
For example, controllers can be set to keep a building’s indoor climate within a certain temperature range. Smart heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controls:
- limit energy use in unoccupied building areas
- detect and diagnose faults
- reduce HVAC usage overall, particularly during times of peak energy demand
- help eliminate human intervention
Controls can improve comfort, lower your operating costs, and have the potential of extending the lifetime of your equipment. Controls are also easy to implement, with minimal shutdown during commissioning.
BAS: Preventative Maintenance Tool
There is a lot you can do remotely with a building automation system (BAS). You are not just waiting until someone complains that there is no heat. You can use the BAS as a preventative maintenance tool and actually start diagnosing what’s wrong.
A recent project with a not-for-profit housing provider involved a 15-storey mid-rise, multi-residential building of 150 units. The HVAC systems included space heating and domestic hot water boilers, make-up air units, and a chiller.
Through a series of joint building walkthroughs and a subsequent energy assessment – which was partially funded – Enbridge Gas identified that the mechanical systems were operating on stand-alone controls with minimal focus on optimization.
With the implementation of a new BAS, the provider was able to integrate all major mechanical systems into a single platform. This upgrade enabled centralized control, improved system performance, and provided enhanced monitoring and analytics tools to support ongoing operational efficiency and future energy management strategies.
Maximize Incentives
Enbridge Gas offers technical expertise and funding to make your capital improvement projects easier and more affordable, helping to:
- save energy
- lower operating and maintenance costs
- keep your building running optimally
- free up budget for other priorities
Start early in the project planning process to maximize incentives available to you. If you have not worked with an energy solutions advisor, you will be provided with one for support every step, at no additional cost.
To learn more about how to maximize these incentives, visit enbridgegas.com/affordable. MW
Note: Any references to energy savings is based on the assumption that the participant is reducing their natural gas consumption through participation in the Affordable Housing Multi-Residential program.
✯ Municipal World Executive and Essentials Plus Members: You might also be interested in Jo-Anne St. Godard’s article: Advancing Canada’s circular economy and fighting climate change.
Eduardo Romero is an energy solutions advisor and certified engineer in training at Enbridge Gas.
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