Siemens Smart Building Commissioning Program

The Smart Building Commissioning Program (SBCx) is a comprehensive building performance energy and energy optimization program designed to improve our client’s facility operation.

What is SBCx? Smart Building Commissioning, a Siemens approach to Existing Building Commissioning (EBCx), enables optimization of building systems and equipment to enhance performance and efficiencies. In fact, SBCx projects are capable of producing energy savings between 10 and 20%, and typically pay for themselves in about two years. Today, we recognize that all building systems and components can generate and process massive amounts of data; but data is only useful if it’s transformed into action. What makes SBCx especially cost effective is its ability to harness facility data to drive the commissioning process.

1. Smart Building Assessment

A data-driven approach to the beginning your commissioning project:

Remote/On-site Data Analysis
Identification of CFRs
Development of the commissioning plan
Initial walk-trough of building
Identification of commissioning corrective actions (CCAs) and hypothetical commissioning conservation measures (CCMs)

2. Investigation

The analysis phase of the project including:

Analyses of vetted CCMs
Identification of Facility Improvement Measures (FIMs) that may require future CAPEX funding for implementation

3. Implementation

The change phase of the project including:

Implementation of vetted CCAs and CCMs
Verifying performance improvement

4. Hand-off

The project signoff and training phase of the project including:

Customer review of deliverables
Training of stakeholders
Development of lessons learned

5. Persistence

The persistence phase of the project including:

Performance monitoring (local or remote)
Protocol for identifying and repairing CCMs that “drift” out of spec
Process for continuing to look for further improvements to the building

Benefits We know building systems inside and out, and our solution is an additional protective layer in our commitment to driving your buildings highest performance today and well into the future. Below are the benefits that can be achieve through the Siemens SBCx program.

Building Performance Improvement

Closely tied to reducing energy cost, the SBCx program improves building performance by ensuring building systems and subsystems operate interactively to meet the current facility requirements (CFRs) of the building – CFRs are effectively the performance targets in the commissioning process.

Reduce Utility Spend

The SBCx process systematically identifies waste and inefficiencies in building systems and subsystems. Eliminating that waste by implementing commissioning conservation measures throughout our commissioning process results in energy savings and lower utility cost for our customers. Typical reductions are between 10 and 20%, and typically pay for themselves in about two years. Additionally, projects typically qualify for outside funding in the form of utility incentives and programs.

Occupancy Comfort

Building systems are responsible for providing a comfortable and healthy environment for the people who work in them. As part of the SBCx process, comfort issues are flagged, building specifications are written and systems modifications end up mitigating comfort issues in the building by the end of the project.

Controls Optimization

Sub-optimal building control strategies account for 60-80 percent of the conservation measures found as part of the building. As part of the SBCx investigation process, existing sequences of operations are analyzed and ultimately modified to ensure operation of the building meets the current facility requirements of the building.

Regulatory Requirements

Through the SBCx process and our complete knowledge of the unique regulations under which healthcare, biotechnology and manufacturing operations are conducted, we’ll assist you in all compliance issues surrounding the Joint Commission, CSA, FDA, USDA, OSHA, CDC, NIH, EPA, ISO and state and local regulations.

Building Certification

There are many building certification programs available to building owners and managers. Regardless of the certification you are interested in, the SBCx process ensures you meet the requirements by making them part of the current facility requirements of the building.

Reduce Carbon Footprint

Commercial and residential buildings are tremendous users of electricity, accounting for more than 70% of electricity use in the U.S. There is a direct relationship between reducing energy use in buildings, a principle outcome of the SBCx process, and reducing the building’s carbon footprint.

Markets See how Siemens Smart Building Commissioning can help your vertical market, and the impact of SBCx on various markets.

Commercial Building

Aging infrastructure
High operating costs
Deferred maintenance
Tenant attraction/retention
Space reconfiguration / repurposing
Sustainability goals
Comprehensive systems approach for building systems improvement

Healthcare

Low Enrollment
High tuition fees due to operating cost
Attract higher quality students
Attract research dollars
Broad range of facility types and use
Student productivity/faculty moral
Low public relations profile

Technology

Increased Reliability (Higher 9’s)
Reduced Risk
Reduced Energy Cost
Identify single points of failure
Better Educated O&M Staff
Reduced O&M budgets

Life Science

Reduced Energy use for Clean Room / GMP area Operation
Increased Reliability
Reduced Risk of equipment failure
Reduced Risk of product / Research Loss
Reduces the environmental differential between Common Areas and Labs, Clean Rooms and GMP Areas
Allows for less variance in validation conditions
Allows for energy efficiency in all areas of the building

Higher Education

Low Enrollment
High tuition fees due to operating cost
Attract higher quality students
Attract research dollars
Broad range of facility types and use
Student productivity/faculty moral
Low public relations profile

K-12

Facility department manpower shortfall
Student productivity
Low attendance low due to health reasons
Low teacher moral / attraction and retention
Need for school board and PTA approvals Needs to use RFP process for projects
Sole source justification when Apogee exists
Lower EUI due to limited operational improvements

Government

Aging infrastructure
High operating costs
Deferred maintenance
Improve energy efficiency (EO 13423, 13514, EISA2007)
State and local mandates
Sustainability goals
Comprehensive systems approach for building systems

Industrial

Green Manufacturing
Sustainability criteria
Reduced energy cost
Lower cost to manufacture products
Higher profitability
Reduced O&M costs
Reduced risk

Contact Energy has an enormous impact on your ability to do business and to do it profitably. Our business is to help clients reduce their consumption of costly resources, optimize their supply of energy, and help their businesses become more sustainable.

Your journey toward more sustainable operations starts here.