Location Washington, DC

Client The Tower Companies

Category Office Building

Gross Sq. Ft. 239,128

Part of the Tower Companies’ Energy Management initiative was engaging Smart Building Technologies to provide a detailed alarm service for their building systems. SmartBT established procedures to remotely monitor certain systems settings, such as chilled water temperature, and to send messages to the building engineer if system conditions were outside defined parameters. SmartBT would follow up by phone or text messages with the engineer to assure that red flags were addressed. While certain aspects of the monitoring service were automated, SmartBT personnel had an escalation routine to engage Tower supervisors in specific instances. SmartBT also enabled Tower to quickly implement adjustments to BMS control routines or settings as needed to implement AtSite’s recommendations. It is important to emphasize the services provided by the companies involved in this project (or comparable services) are offered today by many firms in the market to building owners and tenants. Property owners or management firms may also perform this type of energy management function without the use of outside firms. This report is focused on assessing the type of service provided, not the service of the individual firms involved in this case study. Tower’s initiative focused on operational settings for building systems and identifying and correcting faults. We refer to this as real-time energy management. In every case, Tower was free to accept or decline AtSite’s and SmartBT recommendations.

Our Solution

Smart Building Technologies implemented highly detailed alarms tied to building systems and our monitoring service. We would send e-mail or phone messages to the building engineers when system conditions were outside defined parameters, such as the temperature of chilled water rising above or dropping below set points. SmartBT would follow up by phone or text messages with the engineers—or a supervisor, in certain instances—to ensure that red flags were addressed. Tower’s building professionals met monthly with SmartBT to review recommendations, track progress, and identify challenges. SmartBT’s monitoring services gave the building engineers additional tools and gave Tower supervisors additional confidence that exceptions would be identified.

We also installed additional metering devices at the building’s main utility meter that would measure and transmit electricity usage data to us. Electrical submeters were installed on the building’s chillers. We note that Tower also had installed meters on natural gas service, but in their case study they examined only the electricity usage and savings. Smart Building Technologies installed devices to enable greater access to and control of certain BMS functions.

Project Details

• Tower Fans Call On/Status and Call Off/Status Off Alarm

• Tower Valves Call On/Status Off and Call Off/Status Off Alarm

• Condenser, Secondary Chilled Water and Primary Chilled Water Pumps Call On/Status Off and Call Off/Status Off Alarm

• Chiller 1 and 2 Failure Alarm

• Chilled Water Supply Temperature High/Lo Alarm

• Retail Tower Fan Call On/Status Off and Call Off/Status Off Alarm

• Retail Bypass Valve Call On/Status Off and Call Off/Status Off Alarm

• Retail Loop Temperature High/Lo Alarm

• VAV AHUs Supply and Return Air High/Lo Temperature Alarm

• VAV AHUs Freeze Stat Alarm

• VAV AHUs Outdoor Air CFM High/Lo Alarm

• VAV AHUs Low Mixed-Air Temperature Alarm

• AC Units Supply and Exhaust Fan Call On/Status Off and Call Off/Status Off Alarm

• AC Units Supply Air and Space Temperature Alarm

• AC Units Smoke Detector Alarm

View the NRDC Case Study