ASHRAE Winter Conference, Sunday

Søndag morgen bød på et seminar, der handlede om genindregulering af automatik i eksisterende bygninger. Dette emne blev dog tolket bredt af de 3 talere.

Den første, William McCartney fra Canada, var professionel udbyder af Commissioning ydelser og han pointerede, at Commissioning er en samlet betegnelse for 3 undergrupper:
- Commissioning af nye bygninger
- Recommissioning af en eksisterende bygning, der tidligere har været gennem en commissioning proces
- Retrocommissioning af eksisterende bygninger, der ikke tidligere har været gennem en commissioning proces
Derudover arbejdes der med andre varianter, fortløbende Commissioning m. fl.

Det kan synes banalt et repetere disse grundbegreber, men som i europa er Commissioning også her en proces, der endnu ikke er alt for kendt. Det går dog meget stærkt herovre, der er nu points for commissioning i LEED-certificering ("grønt" stempel, som bygninger kan erhverve hvis de opfylder visse krav) og det certifikat vinder frem, specielt nu, hvor amerikanerne er meget fokuserede på at spare energi.

De to næste talere, Michael R. Brambley og Srinivas Katipamula, var fra samme firma, og de supplerede hinanden. Pointen i deres tale var, at de største besparelser hentes på de simpleste ændringer. Alt for mange automatikanlæg er indstillet forkert, ventilation kører for længe med for høje tryk og forkerte temperaturer. Derfor talte de for at efteruddannelse af driftspersonale skulle på skinner.
Igen et meget simpelt budskab, men der er i høj grad brug for det, specielt herovre, hvor de har et herligt udgangspunkt for energibesparelser.

Hvis nogen har lyst til at se nærmere på de processer, som blev omtalt i forbindelse med genindregulering af automatikanlæg kan men gå ind på denne webside:
www.retuning.org


Derudover bød søndag på et seminar om High Capacity Data Center Cooling. Der var så proppet i lokalet, at vi var mange mennesker, der stod udenfor og skævede ind gennem døren. Det viste sig også her, at det er de enkle løsninger, der plæderes for, husk blænddæksler i serverracks, accepter at der er varmt i nogle områder og koldt i andre, møblér fornuftigt etc.
Den sidste indlægsholder vovede sig dog lidt længere ud ved at tale om muligheder for varme- og kølegenvinding ved forskellige relative fugtigheder.


Sidst men ikke mindst var der samling i Technical Committee 7.9, Building Commissioning. Denne samling havde karakter af generalforsamling, hvor der blev aflagt beretning fra alle undergrupper og afrapporteret on det forløbne års arbejde. Umiddelbart ikke nær så interessant som mødet i går, hvor der blev arbejdet med tingene, og hvor jeg umiddelbart blev inddraget i dette arbejde.

Følgende hovedpunkter kan opsummeres:
Der arbejdes på den "Brugsanvisning", der er omtalt på bloggen fra mødet i går
Man arbejder med guidelines for retrocommissioning og for systemmanualer
Der kører en proces, der skal lede til muligheden for at blive eksamineret som "Certified Commissioning Management Professional"


Brief in english:

Sunday morning offered a seminar that focused on retuning of automatic controls in existing buildings. This topic was, however, interpreted broadly by the 3 speakers.

The first, William McCartney of Canada, was a professional provider of commissioning services, and he pointed out that the commissioning is a term for 3 subgroups:
- Commissioning of new buildings
- Recommissioning of an existing building that has previously been through a commissioning process
- Retrocommissioning of existing buildings that have never been through a commissioning process
In addition there are people working with other variations, continuous commissioning, and others.

It may seem banal a repeat these basic concepts, but also in Europe commissioning is a process that is not yet too well known. It is however comming up fast here, there are now points for commissioning in LEED certification ( "green" stamp, which buildings can acquire if they meet certain requirements) and the certificate is gaining ground, especially now when Americans are very focused on saving energy.

The next two speakers, Michael R. Brambley and Srinivas Katipamula were from the same company, and spoke from the same slides supplying each other. The point of the speech was that the greatest savings came from the simplest changes. Too many automatic installations are set incorrectly, the ventilation running for too long with too high pressures and temperatures too high. The message was, that training the operating staff in correct use of their automatic systems would lead to savings.
Again a very simple message, but very actual, especially here where they have a wonderful starting point for energy savings.

If anyone cares to look at the processes that were mentioned in connection with retuning of the automatic controls they can look at this website:
www.retuning.org

At Sunday there was also was a seminar on High Capacity Data Center Cooling. There were so crammed in the room that we were many people who stood outside and peeked in through the door. Again the speakers seemed to pursue simple solutions. However one speaker went through some interesting calculations on heat- and coolingregaining at different humidity levels.

Last but not least, there was meeting in Technical Committee 7.9, Building commissioning. The meeting went through reports from all subgroups concerning the past year's work. Just not nearly as interesting as the meeting yesterday, which was working on actual subjects, and I immediately became involved in this work.

The following key points can be summarized:
Work on the "Operations Manual", mentioned on the blog from the meeting yesterday
Working on guidelines for retrocommissioning and for system manuals
There is a process which will lead to the possibility of being qualified as "Commissioning Management Certified Professional"