USGBC Virginia - The Role of Real Time Data in Energy Savings

The Role of Real Time Data in Energy Savings

This course will be approved for 1 GBCI and AIA CE

Building owners are always looking for creative ways to reduce their energy consumption. The first step in an energy reduction strategy is an Energy Audit. This first step is very effective at determining the most cost effective strategies for saving energy in a building, but there are drawbacks. The Audit provides an excellent snapshot of the buildings operations, but not the full picture of variations throughout the year. Also, savings calculations for ECMs are based on assumptions for inputs such as runtimes, temperature setpoints, and use of override schedules. If these assumptions are not accurate, the savings may be underpredicted, or overpredicted. To achieve the maximum energy savings with the most accurate calculations, it would be essential to survey the building over all seasons, with accurate data for all energy consuming systems, using “Continuous Auditing”.

With Continuous Auditing, an auditor performs an initial building assessment and gathers data relating to all energy consuming systems. Then, the Owner installs a comprehensive Real Time Monitoring (RTM) system. This data is fed to a dashboard in real time, where the auditor can analyze trend data continuously over the year, and look for spikes and anomalies indicating energy waste. The auditor works with the facilities operators to mitigate energy waste and reduce energy consumption based on observations from the data. The net result is a building operating at its peak efficiency, over the course of all seasons.

Speaker:

Eric Oliver, P.E., CEM, LEED AP, Director, Energy Solutions

Eric Oliver is the Director of Energy Solutions at 2RW Consultants. A passionate energy conservationist, Eric Oliver started his career with the federal government in EPA’s Energy Star Buildings Program. Prior to joining 2RW in 2018, Eric founded EMO Energy Solutions in 1998 to address the growing need for energy efficiency services and ran the Company for 20 years. With EMO, Eric was among the earliest practitioners of the LEED program, providing energy modeling, commissioning, and LEED consulting services in addition to energy auditing capabilities. Mr. Oliver has conducted several dozen energy-training seminars, created energy awareness and education campaigns, and presented and moderated at several energy conferences.

Mr. Oliver holds a Master’s degree in Building Technology and a Bachelor of Architecture from MIT. A licensed professional engineer in Virginia and Maryland, he is a former President of the National Capitol Chapter and national Secretary of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), has served on the Board of Directors of the National Capitol Region Chapter of the US Green Buildings Council (USGBC-NCR), and is a former Board Chairman of the Virginia Sustainable Building Network (VSBN).

Our meeting space is generously donated by the City of Charlottesville.