Most commercial buildings use some form of time of day control for the heating and cooling systems. Larger buildings are often equipped with centralized building management systems (BMS); however, the vast majority of buildings that are not large enough to justify these often costly systems must rely upon programmable thermostats.
Programmable Thermostats come with a very wide variety of features, ease-of-use and functionality. Their price range varies, starting anywhere from $50 for a simple unit to $500 for “fully loaded” models. Almost all of them are able to accept unique programs for each day of the week. Some thermostats even allow for extraordinary events such as holidays.
The newest generation of programmable thermostats are called “smart thermostats” and include features such as electric meter communicability, remote access control via a computer or cell phone, and in some cases they may even learn and adapt to occupancy profiles. Although growing in popularity, smart thermostats represent only a very small fraction of the installed base in commercial buildings. Many of the more popular ones still have somewhat limited applicability to commercial HVAC systems.
So what’s the problem with programmable thermostats? It’s basically this: rarely are they properly programmed or fully utilized. Almost universally, their utilization isn’t optimized. There are a variety of reasons for this, so let’s explore a few.
If you have ever had teenagers living in your house, you know how maddening it can be to find lights illuminating an empty room, doors ajar, computers and televisions left on and even windows open while your heater or air conditioner is running. This isn’t because they are bad people; it’s just that the month’s utility bill doesn’t come from their allowance.
The same problems usually exist in commercial buildings. The occupants most directly affected by the HVAC systems don’t see them, and are very rarely the ones to pay the bills. Those of us who are “comfort professionals” can attest that there are many varying opinions as to what the “right” temperature is.
We certainly all have seen this: an occupant sneaks by the thermostat, cranking the temperature up to where only inhabitants near the equator might find it comfortable. A few minutes later, another staggers over, and before mass dehydration sets in, drops the temperature to where the windows begin to frost.
This causes building owners and managers to resort to imprison thermostats in silly looking cages, which often exacerbates the frustration that occupants feel over their comfort control. Some occupants become very creative, and find clever ways to trick and open these thermostat covers, or trick the thermostat’s thermometer. So, at minimum, there is often a conflict between the interests of the occupants, and those who foot the bill.
Let’s examine another major—yet simple—reason why programmable thermostats don’t work well to save energy: the person with the vested interest in the energy costs isn’t the one programming the thermostats. Well-intentioned owners, managers and maintenance staff usually will input a basic program at the time of installation, but rarely is there someone to regularly review these programs, which is necessary to tweak them to reflect the current schedule and usage of the building. As the saying goes, “out of sight out of mind.”
Unfortunately, many programmable controls aren’t intuitive to use, let alone program. Documentation gets misplaced, and the previously trained operators forget, get transferred, or simply aren’t available. Service providers typically don’t have access to the key person who can make decide on the necessary programming parameters of daily, weekly and annual schedules, let alone what the “appropriate” temperature levels are.
When I write my memoirs, there will be at least one large—and very amusing—chapter devoted to the many “thermostat wars;” creative approaches to tricking controls (i.e. car keys, lighters and bags of ice) and occasional outlandish requests for set points or systems performance, “Madam, we sympathize over your hot flashes, but please understand, your air conditioning systems isn’t designed to hold your office at 55 degrees; the industry considers that refrigeration.”
It’s extraordinarily uncomfortable for the service provider and or installer, such as us, to be asked to install a “dummy thermostat.” Simply, these are thermostats that are placed for the occupants to fiddle with, yet don’t control anything except, often their perceptions. Thankfully we very rarely get these requests.
Some of the newest smart thermostats are relatively inexpensive and accept basic time-of-day programming, yet will automatically reduce HVAC system operation when there is no activity observed. We call these occupancy based smart thermostats. They allow the occupant to easily adjust the temperature and override a setback program (i.e. working late or on weekends) while still allowing the building manager to pre-program set point limits to reasonable levels. They can be networked via innovative wireless networks, have remote accessibility, can be connected to the HVAC unit with wireless connections, track energy utilization and consumption, and even look attractive.
A lack of maintenance, faulty installation and poor designs are often the cause of discomfort within a building. Thorough and comprehensive maintenance will identify and eliminate many of these maladies, but the newest generations of occupancy-based smart thermostats are useful tools in minimizing wasteful operation and delivering optimal occupant comfort. Most of them compile and display information about current and historical usage enabling owners and occupants to make more informed decisions about system usage. Allegedly it was this type of occupant activity and usage that attracted Google to recently buy Nest for a whopping $3.2 Billion.
Call one of our personal energy conservation and comfort specialists here at Thayer today for an evaluation of your building. Additionally, send us your favorite picture of an antiquated, “user-modified,” interesting, worst location and/or downright wacky thermostat for a chance to win a free iPad Mini!
It’s a strange time to be traveling in Europe, and no stranger was a visit to Berlin, which is becoming the new epicenter for what a local paper coined today, “Cold War Two.” Germany has accused Russia of tearing Europe apart (read more here). Yesterday I visited Friedrichstraße, or as it’s better known, “Checkpoint Charlie.” that, along with the Berlin Wall, symbolized the divisiveness and threat of tensions between Russia and the world. Following Putin’s fabricated “crisis,” the Russian invasion, and soon-to-be annexation of Crimea, the west once again finds itself asking itself collectivity, “how could this be?” If you look beyond the media hype and blame games, the reasons are quite evident and implications chilling.
The original Cold War rose along lines of political ideology. Today, it’s more about Russia’s most valuable currency: energy. Like the US, Europe has a thirst for cheap energy, the opiate of modern economies. Putin has skillfully leveraged Russia’s vast energy reserves to make much of eastern Europe dependent on Russian energy, mostly natural gas. For example, approximately 90 percent of Bulgaria’s gas comes from Russia, 70 percent in both Hungary and Poland, 35 percent in Germany and 25 percent in Romania. As we can now see, the strategy has been very steady and highly effective.
The mainstream press hasn’t covered much about what may be the biggest reason for the Russian annexation of Crimea: the South Stream Pipeline Project. For approximately seven years, Putin has been negotiating a path from southern Russia south-easterly to eastern Europe extending Russia’s influence, control and income from gas. A main spur of this pipeline was blocked by the Ukraine from passing over their Exclusive Economic Zone in the Black Sea without a large scale environmental impact study and Ukrainian permits possibly allowing the competitive White Stream Pipeline Project from neighboring Georgia to beat them to the prize. Although the South Stream pipeline could be re-routed around the Ukrainian continental shelf, it would be far more expensive and take longer to complete. This is just my left-field theory, but control of Crimea and the Ukrainian Navy could now allow Putin a prize that’s far more valuable than Crimea: access to more wealth and influence. That’s how “petrodictators” gain and maintain control.
EU leaders are meeting now discussing ways to reduce their energy dependence on Putin. The most favored strategy is to accelerate importation of relatively cheap American shale gas. Today, Germany is paying approximately 300% more for gas than US consumers pay. The US gas industry is ready to leap on this opportunity for significant and profitable gas trade to Europe, but investment and infrastructure are being held up by Washington lawmakers. This trade would benefit not only producers but also the many pipeline owners, shippers and refiners. Natural gas would need to be pressurized and converted to LNG for shipping. This is a an energy intensive process.
There are those in Washington that feel that cheap American gas should be reserved for the US market while opposing views favor profitable, sustainable US foreign trade. This is also likely one of the best strategies for diminishing Russia’s influence and overt power plays that is destabilizing all of Europe. This, along with significant banking sanctions could break the choke-hold Putin has on the region. Without a steady flow of income from energy, petrodictators seldom retain power. Just ask Gaddafi, Chavez and Ahmadinejad.
So what does this all mean to Thayer and our customers? Expect gas prices to rise steadily and relatively quickly. Natural gas is still a great choice for buildings, but shouldn’t be favored over you best investment; comprehensive preventive maintenance: the “lowest hanging fruit” of your conservation program.
Grab a strand of hair from your head, and examine it. Now imagine if that strand were 10,000 times thinner, and what you’ll be holding will be the equivalent size of future light emitting diode (LED) lights. At the thickness of only three atoms, Scientists Xiaodong Xu and Jason Ross at the University of Washington have developed the thinnest possible LED lights.
LEDs have been around for many years, though only recently has their usage become widespread in exterior vehicle lighting, traffic lights, signs, seasonal and interior lighting. LEDs create light by electroluminescence, which is the phenomenon of material emitting light when electricity passes through it. Electroluminescence was discovered in 1907 independently by scientists H. J. Round and Oleg Losev. In addition to light-emitting applications, this technology could open doors for using light as “interconnects,” to run nano-scale computer chips instead of standard devices that operate off the movement of electrons, or electricity. The latter process creates a lot of heat and wastes power, whereas sending light through a chip to achieve the same purpose would be highly efficient.
As the size and price of LEDs decreases, new applications are arriving to the marketplace in the construction industry. Lights can be more easily integrated directly into building materials such as paneling, moldings, ceiling tiles and even flexible carpets. Some very interesting uses are being experimented with using portable rugs and carpets for children with neurological disorders such as autism. When affected children are experiencing extreme mood changes such as tantrums, multicolored LEDs can be activated within a carpet remotely to produce calming effects. Cutting edge research is attempting to correlate the impact of light color and pulsation on brainwave activity. Different patterns of light can also be used to evoke stimulating brain activity as well. One can only imagine what possibilities lay ahead in the medical arena.
In another more novel application, two global leaders in lighting and carpeting recently announced a partnership to develop “light transmissive carpets,” capable of turning floors into displays. The key was to replace the traditional rubber carpet backing with something that could transmit light and stand up to the heavy wear and tear of foot traffic. The result was a thin steel screen containing an array of ultrathin LEDs.
One of the first applications for the new floor covering will be for animated signage on the floors of airports, theaters, hotels and other public areas, not only to guide people to their destination but also to facilitate efficient evacuation in the case of an emergency. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the lighted carpet could not only enhance ambience but declutter busy areas making information visible only when it’s needed. From there, it’s only a matter of time before we’ll see it incorporated into interactive gaming technologies.
These new applications stretch the imagination and get us excited about the future but here at Thayer Corp we are integrating new LED features into buildings today. Unlike incandescent or fluorescent lights, LEDs have linear dimming characteristics, meaning that light levels and power consumption is directly proportional to the setting 0-100%. Combined with Smart control features, we can program light levels to follow daylight patterns, time-of-day usage patterns, occupancy and security needs. A wireless controller such as a smart phone, tablet or PC can be used to adjust programming. In an occasionally used room, such as a conference room, light can be set at 5-10% levels yet immediately jump to 100% upon occupancy via integrated motion detection and return to the user selected unoccupied levels during normal working hours and completely off during unoccupied, non-working hours. The motion of forklifts in warehouses can immediately activate lighting without warm-up delays and return them to preprogrammed ambient light level minimums for life safety requirements once the activity passes.
We often forget the impact of after-hours housekeeping on energy consumption. It’s quite normal for housekeeping to flip on all the lights for six to eight hours at night while a very small crew moves within large buildings cleaning. Smart controls could be programmed to allow the light to “follow” their movement, greatly reducing energy use without compromising their effectiveness or safety.
Parking lot lights can be dimmed to some preset level such as 30-40% after evening hours, yet immediately all come up to 100% the moment any motion is detected anywhere in the lot. Would-be vandals and burglars might be a bit startled!
Dimmability, smart controllability, and steadily declining prices are making LED lighting a more cost-effective choice while we wait for the more innovative and cutting-edge applications to become commercialized. Ask our experts for an audit today and how you might qualify for incentives from Efficiency Maine.
This winter season has set many records for severity across the entire US and Canada. One record it’s unlikely you’ll find data on is freeze-ups and frozen pipes within buildings. Anecdotally, there are a record number of these unfortunate disasters this heating season. Frozen pipes often burst, causing severe building damage and loss of use, and are extraordinarily difficult to thaw. Not only have we experienced severely cold weather, but the coincident wind has made the “chill factor” of buildings much colder than usual.
Often there are conflicting views on protecting hydronic heating systems with antifreeze. Practitioners such as plumbers and heating technicians are often poorly informed, relying upon wholesalers for information. Even system designers are frequently misinformed. The debate is often emotional and illogical, so here are a few facts to help you make a good decision about its use.
The type of antifreeze used in HVAC systems is typically glycol. Most of the glycol used for these applications has added corrosion inhibitors. Some benefits of adding inhibited glycol to a system include:
Prevention of system freeze-ups and bursting pipes and coils when properly applied.
Allows for deeper temperature setbacks without a freeze risk resulting in reduced energy usage.
Reduced corrosion within piping, boilers, coils and valves leading to longer life.
Reduced scaling in boilers and heat exchangers thus maintaining higher efficiencies.
Minimal issues with toxicity (if propylene glycol is used).
All of these benefits presume that the glycol solution is properly maintained annually.
Some of the risks or disadvantages are:
Initial cost of adding and maintaining solution.
Slightly higher pumping power required.
Reduced heat transfer from coils, heat exchangers and boilers.
Larger expansion volume necessary.
More difficult air elimination from system.
System flushing and clean-up might be required on “dirty” systems before the addition of glycol.
Let’s explore these a bit more. First, it’s necessary to determine which protection level you need. Some prefer to protect to a very low temperature point by adding more glycol, say to as low as 0-10°F. It’s also possible to protect the system to “burst point,” which is approximately 30° lower than the freeze point, say -30 to -20°F. At the freezing point, the solution won’t flow, but the pipes and coils won’t rupture. Once heat and/or pumping are restored, the “slushy-like” solution melts and becomes fully liquid again. The higher the concentration of glycol, the higher the first cost and negative impact on heat transfer and pumping power. Generally, it makes sense to protect to the higher burst temperature criteria. For example, a 20% solution of propylene glycol by volume would yield a freezing point of 17°F, a burst temperature of approximately -10°F, require 3% more pump power for equivalent flow, and impede heat transfer by 3%. This alone cannot be the total answer as to system performance.
The glycol used for heat transfer applications is generally propylene glycol (P/G) with corrosion inhibitors. Ethylene glycol also has good performance characteristics, but due to toxicity concerns, we don’t recommend its use. P/G is very different from automotive antifreeze, which contains silicates which tends to gel, impeding flow and causing problems especially in flow control valves. P/G is not toxic and is widely used in many applications such as a solvent and carrier of flavor or color in the food and beverage manufacturing processes, to make drinks, biscuits, cakes, sweets, as a thickener, clarifier and stabilizer in consumables such as beer, salad dressings and baking mixtures. P/G is also used to keep tobacco semi- moist. Ever wonder what keeps Twinkies soft for so long?
The maximum working temperature of the P/G solution is 250°F. For ordinary heating applications, this isn’t at all a problem, but care must be taken on closed-loop solar heating systems. It is quite possible for the fluid flow to become stagnant in the collector plates if the controls aren’t properly working. Temperatures can easily reach this upper limit causing the P/G to break down and become acidic.
Occasionally, P/G is added to hydronic systems that provide cooling (i.e. ice arenas). Obviously the working temperature for cooling is much lower than heating which results in a much higher solution viscosity. This more viscous solution is harder to pump and impedes heat transfer more than at higher temperatures. Both of these disadvantages must be planned for.
The corrosion inhibiting properties of glycol reduces scale build up, especially in boilers. Scaling is quite common and reduces heat transfer significantly; for example, a 1/8” scale build up in a boiler results in 30% more fuel usage overshadowing the minor heat transfer loss from the addition of antifreeze. As the performance and efficiency of boilers and heat exchangers has steadily increased over the past two decades, the surfaces have become greater and passages smaller making them much more difficult, if not impossible, to clean this scale buildup.
Many of the strong opinions about glycol in HVAC systems from designers, installers and service technicians are a reaction to some of the challenges working with the solution. A few of the major challenges are:
A water/glycol (aqueous/glycol) solution has a lower surface tension than water alone and will leak where water doesn’t. This is especially true on automatic air bleeding valves, causing “weeping.”
Glycol is an “oxygen scavenger,” making air elimination much more difficult during the initial system fill. It can take several days to bleed all of the air out of a system.
Annual maintenance is required to assure that the concentration, pH and general fluid quality are acceptable. Deficiencies generally can be corrected by adding more glycol, corrosion inhibitors and/or pH correction. Neglected systems can turn acidic and deteriorate pipes, valves, fittings and equipment.
Care must be taken not to isolate sections of piping or equipment such as a valve; the solution needs to be able to expand into the expansion tank upon a system freeze event such as power outage.
The expansion tank needs to be slightly larger than a water only system.
Automatic fill valves should be eliminated to prevent inadvertent concentration dilution in case of a small leak. These lists aren’t intended to be a complete list of do’s and don’ts or design considerations, but hopefully provide more information to help guide your decision. If interested, consult one of the professionals at Thayer to determine the feasibility for you system. There’s nothing worse than the expense, damage and the “coulda, shoulda, woulda” that often follows a catastrophe such as a building freeze up. Act now, and “Call in the Experts.”
After months of negotiation, Congress passed a comprehensive farm bill Tuesday on a vote of 68-32. It was a rare display of bipartisanship and a hopeful sign proving that Congress can find common ground on key legislative activities. The bill approved allocates a whopping $1 trillion dollars although there were significant cuts to many agricultural subsidies. Of keen interest to us here at Thayer is the funding for alternative fuels. While some argue that the free market should be used to determine what fuels are best, it’s one of the few tools available providing parity for biomass heating fuels and technologies outside of comprehensive tax reform. The oil and natural gas industries receive huge subsidies in the form of tax incentives and direct subsidies from both the Federal government and States.
The bill’s energy title provides mandatory funding for programs including:
Rural Energy for America Program (REAP): Provides resources to business owners to help finance the installation of renewable energy systems or upgrade existing systems, including those utilizing biomass. Mandatory funding of $50 million per year has been designated and the application process has been simplified and streamlined.
Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels: Provides direct payments to advanced biofuel producers, including those manufacturing pellets. Mandatory funding of $15 million per year has been designated.
Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP): Provides financial assistance to owners and operators of agricultural and non-industrial private forest land who wish to establish, produce, and deliver biomass feedstock. This program was allotted $25 million in mandatory funds annually, and the collection, harvest, storage and transportation (CHST) payments will resume, with limitations.
Community Wood Energy Program (CWEP): The program was altered to allow for grants of up to $50,000 establishing or expanding biomass consumer cooperatives to facilitate purchase of biomass heating systems or products (including their delivery and storage). This program was authorized at $5 million annually, though no mandatory funds were allotted.
The BCAP program could help jumpstart diversification of biofuels used for heating such as fuel crops that could be planted and harvested with little environmental impact. Maine is well suited to grow a majority of the fuel needed for its growing pellet business allowing for alternatives to the harvest of wood. Northern Maine is especially well suited for fuel crops.
The president has expressed his support of the bill and his signature is expected later this week. This bill will boost utilization of biomass heating systems in Maine and across the US.
This winter season has been one of the worst in recent history. Gelid temperatures and widespread power outages have been recorded in many parts of the country due to crushing winter storms and bitter, dangerous wind chill factors. But that isn’t the entire story; unprecedented demands have been placed on electrical and gas distribution systems and infrastructure. Although lately we’ve experienced a nice January thaw, the next wave of the pain will be sharply escalating energy costs. Maine has experienced shortages of natural gas. That, paired with the recent ice storm, has created high premiums for the power produced and distributed by electric utility companies. As regulated utility companies, they are allowed to pass all of these costs to consumers (read more here).
Nationally and especially in the Northeast, both gas and electric infrastructures are in dire straits. Vastly overdue improvements, replacements and capital spending have been deferred for decades. Although the gas industry boasts that newly-tapped gas fields will serve energy needs for decades, gas distribution from well heads to end-users will be problematic and expensive, which means increased future energy cost.
Hoards of manufacturers and vendors boast that you should buy their silver bullet. It’s hard to choose the best vendor, since they all promise you the most savings. The best way to stretch your dollar is with a proactive and comprehensive preventative maintenance program. On average we save clients 10 to 20% of energy costs on allegedly “adequately” maintained systems. The common business model in the HVAC Service industry is to price the preventive maintenance agreements as “loss leaders;” perform absolutely minimal maintenance and make money from repairs. We offer many types of preventive maintenance agreements and will tailor one for you to achieve your desired savings. All have verifiable tasks and some offer full guarantees. Put the “monkey” on our back, and don’t be left outside during this cold winter. Call in the experts for an audit on your system.
