District of North Vancouver Operations Building

Project Type: Building Automation System Upgrade

Client: The District of North Vancouver

Product: Reliable Controls

Pain Points: 

A challenging building envelope contributed to consistent occupant discomfort.

Building temperatures were difficult to control. Radiators are located on the central interior of the building rather than the perimeter walls. Additionally, the building has lots of windows – spaces around them would be too hot/cold depending on the outdoor temperatures. If one area of the building required heating or cooling, all areas of the building would be affected, leading to further issues.

There was no data available to calculate potential energy savings that could come from retrofitting the controls system. However, it was clear that the building equipment was running too much in order to compensate for the building envelope.

Project Goals:

1. Reduce Energy Use
2. Improve occupant comfort
3. Quantify comfort improvements & enable data collection

Our Solutions

1. Collaborated with the client’s engineering consultant to refine the sequence of operations and implement efficient strategies for controlling the building.
2. Installed more occupancy sensors, and switches on garage doors so that the gas heating will not operate when doors are open.
3. Carefully controlling building pressure to keep it close to neutral and minimize leakage of hot/cool air so the building doesn’t suck cold air in or lose heat.
4. Implemented a programming strategy which lowered the supply water temperature setpoint while also maintaining comfort, reducing the frequency of adjustments to match fluctuating outdoor air temperatures, and lowering building energy usage.
5. Performed post-project continuous optimization/commissioning to see where operating efficiency could be further improved (ie. identify and eliminate unnecessary heating/cooling).

Client Satisfaction:

All three objectives were met & exceeded client expectations with very minimal disruption to the occupants. 

Overall comfort was significantly improved. Notably, the improvements were achieved solely by enabling control of the existing mechanical equipment. No changes to mechanical or HVAC equipment were made.

Some occupants were given personal heaters and air conditioners for their spaces to provide additional levels of control in some of the spaces that were exceptionally difficult to control.

Data that is now being collected by the BAS will be used to design future mechanical upgrades.

Energy savings:

Natural gas consumption: Decreased by 25%

Electricity consumption: Decreased by 25%*

* A lighting retrofit project was also completed in 2019. Data was not available to quantify the amount of savings to attribute to each initiative, so this total includes savings from both projects.

Client Quote:

“Maybe other transformations we need in the world can be done without major disruption. We can have big results without our world changing at all.” – Monica Samuda, P.Eng., CEM, Energy Manager at District of North Vancouver