ASHRAE’s first-of-its-kind headquarters in Atlanta, GA was designed as a living showcase of what’s possible through technology integration to increase efficiency and enhance the occupant experience. The project aimed to demonstrate how to transform an older building from a dated workplace to a high-performance work environment by optimizing the building’s overall performance.
As a contribution to the sustainable design and construction of this ASHRAE project, we donated our building analytics AI software-as-a-service (SaaS), Kaizen, and managed services offering to provide energy, demand, and environmental data to improve occupant comfort and increase capacity in the building. The data from our SaaS found that there were several humidity issues including poor humidity controls. Kaizen identified that the exhaust fans in the Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS), the Energy Recovery Wheel (ERW), and its bypass dampers were not operating in sync to keep dry air inside the facility. Our managed services team also realized that the return air temperatures were cycling temperatures between 74F to 84F and humidity was cycling from 50% RH to 70% RH daily. Average space temperatures in the facility were changing very slowly particularly in large open spaces, estimated at only 1 to 2 degrees every two hours.
Our SaaS, Kaizen, was able to identify energy-saving opportunities as the heat extraction at the exhaust point was not being maximized with higher exhaust airflow, especially on weekends and weeknights. Our engineers came up with a comprehensive plan using algorithms to tag, group, and contextualize all of the data points from the Building Automation System (BAS) to fix energy faults while optimizing the building’s performance. Our team recommended running exhaust fans on weekends and weeknights with a higher maximum speed on weekdays while adding an ERW temperature requirement in the BAS between the wheel and the coils. We also recommended using a variable speed energy recovery wheel in conjunction with prioritization metrics to optimize the building’s performance and provide better humidity control at the same time. Our Kaizen Energy dashboard was then used to show the estimated saving amount if these faults recommended by Kaizen were implemented. Notwithstanding the building’s efficient design and the thorough work completed in the construction and commissioning of the project, CopperTree’s contribution demonstrated that even very well designed and operated buildings can still benefit from the power of analytics software to uncover hidden optimization measures.
After project completion, our team worked closely with the ASHRAE team to make sure they were fully satisfied with the outcomes of Kaizen, and to ensure that their goals set at the beginning of the project were achieved. As a thank you for our time and dedication, ASHRAE included CopperTree Analytics on the donor display in the building’s lobby and also generously named one of their main meeting rooms the ‘Coppertree Analytics Conference Room’.
