HVAC 360 - Built environment podcasts by Matt Nelson

Check out the VirtualCx podcast on HVAC 360, sponsored by the Building X website. In this interview by Building X/HVAC 360 owner Matt Nelson, we discuss some of the features and benefits of cloud-based commissioning.

Matt has assembled an impressive pool of commissioning and HVAC resources through podcasts, that are both informative and educational. Give Matt a visit on his site, or follow him on Twitter.

6 Easy Tips for Completing Commissioning on Schedule

Commissioning is often compressed at the end of the project, lumped in with start-up, TAB and move-in. How do you avoid schedule compression? Well, it's not always easy but we have found that the best way to get a team on schedule is to:

1. Promote the Pre-Requisites: Help them understand the pre-requisites required before Cx can start. This can range from things like power to the BMS panel, TAB being complete, programming being finished.
2. Set Priorities Together: Help the team prioritize. For example, if most of the HVAC equipment is in the basement - then ask the GC and the electrician to coordinate getting power to that part of the building first. If you do this right, you will likely improve team relationships. 
3. Sooner not Later: Help them understand that BMS control panels need power sooner, not later. If the panels are late getting power, then a lot of check-out and validation tasks get delayed. If you can't get permanent power, ask for temporary power.
4. Program Ahead: Require the BMS contractor to prove that their programming is done ahead of time - versus they don't start working on it until they show up for start-up and commissioning.
5. Program per SOO: Verify with the BMS contractor - ahead of time - that they are programming the job per the APPROVED control sequences of operation (SOO), versus 'the programmer is doing it the way he always does."
6. Phase the Cx: Try not to be overly insistent that EVERYthing is ready before the Cx guy shows up. Be willing to work in phases, particularly when a job is behind schedule. You'll be seen as a team player, and will tend to get far better cooperation.

Commissioning domestic water: waterless faucets have MORE germs!

Hands-free faucets harbor germs, Johns Hopkins study says

LA TIMES: Hands-free electronic faucets can save a lot of water -- and because you don't have to touch them with your grubby fingers to turn them on, have widely been assumed to help fight the spread of germs, too.  

But a team at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has discovered that at their facility, electronic faucets were more likely to be contaminated with Legionella bacteria than the old-fashioned manual type.  

So much more likely that the hospital actually ripped out the new-fangled plumbing in patient care areas, and elected to purchase traditional fixtures for new clinical buildings that are set to open in 2012.

"Newer is not necessarily better when it comes to infection control in hospitals," said Johns Hopkins infectious disease expert Dr. Lisa Maragakis, in a statement.  Maragakis was the senior investigator on the research.  

Initially, the team wasn't seeking to compare traditional and automatic faucets. Rather, it planned to test new faucets to see how often they needed to be flushed out with the treated water hospitals use to combat waterborne bacterial infestations.  

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Commissioning Report: Solar at Googleplex

Solar panels cover carport-like parking spaces.

Links to Commissioning Resources - courtesy of the National Institute of Building Sciences

Here's some good building commissioning resources. CHECK IT OUT (scroll down)

"Whole Building Commissioning Process Manual" - Department of Veteran's Affairs. Updated 2010

From the Manual - "Commissioning and acceptance testing is integral to the design and 

construction process, not additive."

Download the Manual

The Certified Building Commissioning Firm (CBCF) Certification Program - NEW from AEE

Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) announces The Certified Building Commissioning Firm (CBCF) program. 

Objectives

To raise the professional standards of firms engaging in building commissioning.

To improve the practice of building commissioning by encouraging professionals in a firm to engage in a continuing education program of professional development related to commissioning.

To identify firms with acceptable knowledge of the principles and practices of building commissioning through completing an application and fulfilling prescribed standards of performance and conduct.

To award special recognition to those firms who have demonstrated a high level of competence and ethical fitness for building commissioning.

READ MORE

Development of a Knowledge-Based System to Improve Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Coordination

ABSTRACT - CIFE: Center for Integrated Facility Engineering

Thomas M. Korman and C.B. Tatum

CIFE Technical Report #129

July, 2001

STANFORD UNIVERSITY - Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) coordination is a major challenge for complex buildings and industrial plants.  It involves locating equipment and routing connecting elements for each system using a process of sequentially comparing and overlaying transparent drawings of MEP systems on a light table to detect spatial interferences.  This multi-discipline effort is time-consuming, expensive, and requires knowledge regarding each system over the project life.

Currently, designers and constructors use tailored computer tools to design and fabricate MEP systems, but no knowledge-based computer technology exists to assist in the multidiscipline MEP coordination effort.  Effective MEP coordination requires recalling and integrating knowledge regarding design, construction, operations, and maintenance of each MEP system.

The research investigators believed that the use information technology could significantly improve the current process.  Hence, the purpose of this research was to develop a technology that integrates a number of knowledge bases – design criteria, construction, operations, and maintenance – into a knowledge-based system that is able to provide valuable insight to engineers and construction personnel, as well as assist them in resolving coordination problems for multiple MEP systems.

READ THE PAPER

YouTube: U.S. Greenbuild: "Fueling generational change around the globe"

AEE Commissioning Survey - please contribute your opinion

The Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) has been awarded a DOE grant to expand our existing industry recognized building commissioning training program.  We are asking industry professionals to complete a survey on building commissioning training as part of the project.

Would you please assist us by completing the short survey?  The survey is available at http://www.aeecenter.org/i4a/survey/survey.cfm?id=11.