Ongoing Commissioning (Emerging Technologies) (Evaluating the Performance of Building Systems ‪)‬

Although most building HVAC systems maintain basic levels of functionality, many suffer from a departure from intended performance due to a range of "faults" that compromise their effectiveness, degrade climate control, and increase building energy consumption. Building commissioning can effectively address these issues. It is the process of measuring, observing and evaluating the performance of building systems to identify substandard function of equipment, sensors and systems. Commissioning also can include tuning equipment and systems, including their controls, to enhance performance above and beyond "as-intended" levels. New and existing buildings can be commissioned, but energy savings from commissioning may not persist over time as new problems arise due to equipment aging, changes in use, alteration in control settings, etc. For example, a study of 52 economizers at 22 sites that had been commissioned when built found that 29 had stopped working after "a year or two." (1) However, it appears that hardware-based commissioning measures persist more often than controls-based measures. (2,3)