The Nevada State Public Works Board contracted Automated Temperature Controls to install Kaizen from CopperTree Analytics in the government’s 130,000 ft2 State Library and Archives building in Carson City, Nevada.
In less than two months, CopperTree’s Kaizen analytics software was able to discover enough inefficiencies and problems to justify its cost four-fold.
Findings and Insights
- 52% of the occupied spaces in the building did not maintain temperature set point, despite running at full capacity 24/7
- 40% of the occupied spaces did not maintain airflow accurately
- Multiple fans were manually overriden to “on”
- The boilers were not alternating lead/lag, and had been manually set to “on”
- The chiller’s compressors were not alternating lead/lag and had been manually set to “on”
After a successful demand-limiting pilot project at the Nevada State Government’s Lakes Crossing facility, the Nevada State Public Works Board contracted Automated Temperature Controls to install Kaizen from CopperTree Analytics in the government’s 130,000 ft2 State Library and Archives building in Carson City, Nevada.
The entire building automation system was manually enabled as if the building were occupied 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the past two years.
Kaizen discovered that equipment schedules had been manually overridden, and that the system was not taking advantage of nature/free cooling and heating options during the day. Kaizen also discovered that some equipment was short-cycling, adding additional maintenance costs and decreasing the life expectancy of the equipment.
Early results show that total electrical consumption has been reduced by 24%. All told, the improvements made from the recommendations of CopperTree’s Kaizen software should save the Library almost $250,000 over the next four years.
- ATC configured the BMS to work on demand, reducing energy use and saving an estimated $180,000 over four years.
- Inefficiencies in the cooling system were corrected, saving as much as $39,000 annually.
- The boiler was optimized to stop short-cycling, increasing equipment life expectancy and saving approximately $43,000.
- Prior to Kaizen’s implementation, only 48% of spaces maintained the temperature set point. After Kaizen, it has risen to 79%.
