Many building owners and operators are now tasked with temporarily winding down building operations and associated costs in response to reduced occupancy in their buildings as a result of COVID-19. At the same time, ensuring a safe and healthy working environment for remaining tenants, visitors and staff is of paramount importance. So how can facility managers or building operations teams quickly adapt to this challenge and meet their new objectives?HVAC energy consumes up to 65% of the landlord energy bill and as such presents the greatest opportunity for savings during partial loads. However, understanding how to best scale back an HVAC system is not straightforward and requires careful planning and management.There are some smart, simple measures that building owners and operators can take to limit HVAC energy consumption in response to partial occupancy. Some of these measures include:
- Reviewing operating schedules to reflect occupancy
- Locking-out zones, tenancies and floors that are unoccupied
- Limiting chiller or boiler operation through lock-outs, staging or widening setpoints
- Widening internal temperature setpoint deadbands
- Trimming car park exhaust fan schedules
- Reviewing operating schedules for given retail tenancies
- Preserving operation and conditions of critical areas such as data or server rooms.
Understanding how best to implement these strategies requires a deep understanding of the building and regular feedback from onsite teams. CIM is helping our clients make better, data-driven decisions on how best to scale back their operations by working closely with them to provide regular reporting, monitoring and advice.CIM is committed to supporting our customers and other real estate owners and operators during COVID19. Read our response strategy for measures you can implement today, or get in touch with us if you need more help maintaining building operations remotely.
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