1. Chris Plum, Mark Hancock
Center for Energy and Environment
Results from Minnesota’s Existing
Building Commissioning Program
21st National Conference on Building Commissioning

2. AIA Quality Assurance
The Building Commissioning Association is a Registered Provider with The
American Institute of Architects Continuing Education Systems (AIA/CES).
Credit(s) earned on completion of this program will be reported to
AIA/CES for AIA members. Certificates of Completion for both AIA
members and non-AIA members are available upon request.
This program is registered with AIA/CES for continuing professional
education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or
construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material
of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing,
or dealing in any material or product.
Questions related to specific materials, methods, and services will be
addressed at the conclusion of this presentation.
21st NCBC Conference

3. Presentation Description
CEE administers the state program to perform existing building
commissioning (EBCx) on state government buildings in
Minnesota.
Investigations of 227 buildings containing nearly 19 million square
feet located on 50 sites throughout the state were performed.
The participation rate in the program is very high, which provides
a useful measure of the potential for broadly implemented EBCx
programs.
Several best practices for program managers were identified.
We included a rigorous quality assurance process which resulted
in a number of lessons learned, especially the need for a
meaningful provider certification if customers are to receive
consistent, high quality EBCx projects.
21st NCBC Conference

4. At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Identify several best practices for Existing Building Commissioning
1. Requires specialized training
2. Would benefit from a rigorous certification process
2. Understand how to identify buildings where EBCx can be effective
1. Cost effectiveness of the investigation must be considered
3. See how quality assurance improves customer outcomes
Learning Objectives
21st NCBC Conference

5. PBEEEP
 Created in 2008 by MN State Legislature
 Meet two important needs:
 Access to technical services that will identify savings
 Access to funding to implement identified savings
 Designed in partnership with PECI
 Providers were selected before program development
21st NCBC Conference
PROGRAM BACKGROUND
“Public Buildings Enhanced Energy Efficiency Program” = PBEEEP

6. Standard Process
 Application
 Screening
 Investigation
 Implementation
 Verification
21st NCBC Conference
PROGRAM BACKGROUND
“Public Buildings Enhanced Energy Efficiency Program” = PBEEEP
Apply Screen Investigate Implement Verify

7. Unique features of a State Sponsored program
 Competitively Bid Phases
 Scope of work was well defined
 List of typical measure had to be checked
 Equipment was listed in detail
 All energy consuming equipment
 Anything that affected the energy consuming equipment
 State statute limited measures to 15 year payback or less
21st NCBC Conference
PROGRAM BACKGROUND
“Public Buildings Enhanced Energy Efficiency Program” = PBEEEP

8. Distinctive Uses
 Community Colleges
 Prisons
 Laboratories
 Armories
 Museums
 State Offices
 Parking Garages
21st NCBC Conference
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BUILDINGS
State Government Buildings

9. State Government Buildings CBECS Estimates for MN
 825 buildings over 50,000
square feet
 45 buildings can be rated by
Energy Star
 9 State Agencies
 Distance:10 to 300 miles
21st NCBC Conference
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BUILDINGS
State Government Buildings
 4,600 buildings over 50,000
square feet
 1,800 over 100,000 sq. ft.
 542 ENERGY STAR labeled
buildings with 102,873,953
square feet
 1.8% of US Building stock

10. 21st NCBC Conference
SELECTION FOR INVESTIGATION
Self- selection followed by screening
> 50,000 sq ft Applied and Screened InvestigatedAll State Government Buildings
51.4 million sq ft
3,047 buildings
1,428 sites
4,860 MMBTU
18.3
227
50
2,087
34.3
550 bldgs
71 sites
3,000MMBtu
44 million sq ft
825 buildings
145 sites
4,345 MMBtu
Processed thru PBEEEP
90%
11%
44% of all of all energy

11. Key attributes Need one or more of these
 Building Automation with
DDC capable of trending
 Trend 1,000 or more points at
a time
 15 minute interval
 Memory for several hundred
thousand points
 Remote access highly
desirable
 Observed potential for
optimization
 Motors > 10 HP
 Variable Occupancy
Schedule
 EUI >80 kBtu/ft2yr
21st NCBC Conference
SCREENING CRITERIA
Developed over the course of the program

12. Period 2010-2012 for both programs
 PBEEEP
 Results of Studies
 17,800,000 kWh found
 95,000 Dt found
 $21.07 per MMBtu
 Large MN Utility
 Results of Implementation
 29,600,000 kWh saved
 58,000 Dt saved
 $23.65 per MMBtu
21st NCBC Conference
PBEEEP IS A UTILITY SCALE PROGRAM
Comparison with large state utility program

13. 21st NCBC Conference
PBEEEP WORKED ACROSS MANY UTILITY
TERRITORIES
 37 different utility companies
 3 offer study rebates
 27 of 71 sites had one utility for electric and gas
 Means 2/3 have two utility companies
 All sites had both electrical and gas (or district)
savings
 Coordination of programs is uncommon

14. 21st NCBC Conference
Summary of Most Commonly Identified
Energy Savings Measures
Number Finding Type
Payback
(years)
Affected
area (%)
Site energy
savings
(kBtu/ft2
yr)
135 Time of day enabling is excessive 1.1 66% 3.3
97 Economizer operation not optimal 4.4 71% 2.0
88 Excess enabling of equipment 0.7 68% 2.1
88 Retrofit - Efficient Lighting 8.2 33% 1.2
44 Zone setup/setback 0.9 16% 2.6
23 Other controls 11.3 14% 3.1
21 Lighting on more hours than necessary 4.7 12% 1.1
21 Other retrofit (mostly faucet aerators) 1.9 10% 0.8
17 Deferred maintenance 2.9 12% 1.2
14 Leaky/stuck valve 1.9 4% 3.9
116 All others 6.7 107% 1.7
664 Total 3.9 412% 2.1
Note that an affected area of 412% means there
were 4.1 measures per building, on average

15. 21st NCBC Conference
HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL OVERALL
EXCELLENT SAVINGS AND HIGH PARTICIPATION
 Program Wide Savings of 7.2%
 Could we do even better?
Source # Projects Savings/project
2010 NCBC (PECI) 122 3.0 kBtu/ft2
PBEEEP 50 8.1 kBtu/ft2
Building Population Energy used in Bldgs
>50,000 ft2
Participation
All MN (CBECS) 47,600 MMBtu ?
Minnesota Government 4,345 MMBtu 2,087 MMBtu = 48%

16. 21st NCBC Conference
QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCESS RESULTS
Meeting the base standard for a final report
Expected Process Actual Process
 Investigation
 Mid Point Review
 Investigation
 Final Review
 6-9 month process
 Midpoint review only
submitted 50% of time
 4.1 total review cycles
 18 month process
 Final reviews required
significant rework
QA Process found many issues to address

17. 21st NCBC Conference
Investigation payback is the payback period based only on
the investigation cost;
Implementation payback is based only on the cost of
implementation
PROJECT PORTFOLIOS
Provider Sites Buildings Area
Investigation
Cost Savings $
Million BTU
Saved
Investigation
Payback
Implementation
Payback kbtu/sft
A 8 34 2,706,030 520,500$ 270,803$ 32,946 1.9 5.0 12.2
B 7 29 2,546,229 458,813$ 247,497$ 24,976 1.9 3.5 9.8
C 9 36 2,534,193 442,158$ 239,668$ 22,129 1.8 5.3 8.7
D 7 39 3,555,996 556,810$ 292,120$ 25,983 1.9 4.3 7.3
E 4 15 1,964,321 296,000$ 150,075$ 13,555 2.0 1.4 6.9
F 5 23 2,098,880 323,777$ 126,350$ 12,070 2.6 1.6 5.8
G 9 42 3,083,884 582,111$ 224,689$ 15,903 2.6 2.6 5.2
Total 49 218 18,489,533 3,180,169$ 1,551,202$ 147,562 2.1 3.7 8.0

18. 21st NCBC Conference
Results of Calculation Reviews
SAVINGS CALCULATIONS REQUIRED
REVISION MOST OF THE TIME
Initial submitted savings calculations were reduced by an average of 34%
 14% of submitted results were within 2% of
approved value
 20% were below the approved value and the
reported savings were INCREASED
 66% were above the approved value and the
reported savings were DECREASED

19. 21st NCBC Conference
The unequal distribution of savings due to measures associated with economizer
operations is seen as one of the strongest signs that not all providers were equally well
prepared to do EBCx work
COMPARING SCHEDULING AND
ECONOMIZER MEASURES
Degree of difficulty shows need for certification
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
A B C D E F G
kBtu/sq.ft.
Provider
Scheduling

20. 21st NCBC Conference
The scale for all the reported savings graphs is the same.
Controls includes adjustments and strategies including all reset
schedules (HW, CHW, SAT, DSP), controls hunting, and all VFD issues
SAVINGS FROM CONTROLS MODIFICATIONS
WERE DISAPPOINTING (7% of total)
Again, almost no findings from three providers
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
A B C D E F G
kBtu/sq.ft.
Provider
Controls

21. 21st NCBC Conference
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING, WHAT
WOULD IT BE?
Have a method for selecting previously trained providers
A recognized certification process would deliver this

22. 21st NCBC Conference
The cost of screening, investigation and administration (including
quality control) were near the expected value, but the cost of
implementation was lower.
The cost of implementation is consistent with other EBCx programs
PROGRAM CAME IN UNDER BUDGET
Even the rigorous QA process did not exceed its target cost and it helped
lower total program costs
ActualBudget
Screening
Investigation
Admin/QA
Implementation

23. 21st NCBC Conference
The number of long (> 3 year) payback items that were
selected for implementation was encouraging as it affirmed
the idea of bundling high and low payback items for
increased total savings.
PROGRAM SUCCESS:
RATE OF IMPLEMENTATION IS HIGH
Due to fast payback and confidence that savings will be realized

24. 21st NCBC Conference
Qualified providers who understand the specialty of
existing building commissioning are essential to identify
all the potential savings
A good customer relationship will increase the rate of
implementation
Programs should address all energy sources at a site
Careful selection of buildings is necessary for a cost-
effective program; some buildings have minimal savings
opportunities.
BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED
Without a quality assurance process, we would not have known….

25. 21st NCBC Conference
Center for Energy and Environment
Gustav Brandstrom, PE Tim Ellingson, PE
Neal Ray Angela Vreeland, PE
Russ Landry, PE Christie Traczyk
Pam Klocek
State of Minnesota
Department of Administration, Real Estate and Construction Services
Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources
US Department of Energy
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds
THANK YOU
To the entire team

26. THANK YOU
Mark Hancock, PE mhancock@mncee.org
Christopher Plum cplum@mncee.org
Center for Energy and Environment

27. Poster child site
 MN History Center
 20 Years old
 Museum, 490,000 ft2
 Site EUI dropped from 159
in 2009 to 78 in 2012
 3.2 year payback
21st NCBC Conference
EXISTING BUILDING COMMISSIONING
Case Study of Success

28. Major BAS upgrade 2 years before
Lighting study rejected by client
 Used waste heat from chiller to
eliminate need for summer boiler
 Revised schedule at the space,
not building, level (12 AHU’s)
 Added VFDs
 Cafeteria grill ventilation interlock
 Low flow faucets (300 kids per
day)
21st NCBC Conference
Scheduling: Not just reading the hours posted on
the front door
Minnesota History Center
Energy Saving Opportunities