Retrocommissioning Quickly Pays for Itself in Energy Savings
Building automation, energy efficiency, HVAC, controls April 6, 2010
Today's topic is payback for retrocommissioning.
Problems with controls &emdash; HVAC controls in particular &emdash; can waste energy and raise operating costs significantly. The way to find and fix those problems is well-established but too rarely used. Retrocommissioning applies the principles of commissioning to existing buildings rather than to new ones. Studies have shown retrocommissioning to be a cost effective way to improve the performance of controls and to remedy other problems within a building.
Retrocommissioning takes a relatively modest upfront investment. According to a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the average cost for retrocommissioning is $.30 per square foot. But the return on that investment comes quickly: The median payback time is a little more than a year. That's not surprising considering that the median energy savings is 16 percent. And those savings last, says LBNL: "Energy savings tend to persist well over at least a 3-to-5 year timeframe." Savings may last longer than that, but the study didn’t have data for longer periods.
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