Technology for Building Systems

Integration and Optimization –

Landscape Report

January 2018
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Preface
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Technologies Office (BTO), a part of the Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) engaged Navigant Consulting, Inc., (Navigant) to develop this
report recommending.

The initiatives identified in this report are Navigant’s research findings for BTO. Inclusion in this report does
not imply any level of guaranteed funding or other type of support from BTO; initiatives must be evaluated in
the context of all potential activities that BTO could undertake to achieve their goals.

Prepared for:
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Building Technologies Office – Commercial Building Integration

Prepared by:
Navigant Consulting, Inc.
77 South Bedford Street, Suite 400
Burlington, MA 01803

William Goetzler
Matt Guernsey
Youssef Bargach

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Disclaimer
This report was prepared by Navigant Consulting, Inc. (Navigant) for use of an agency of the United States
Government. The work presented in this report represents Navigant’s professional judgment based on the
information available at the time this report was prepared. Navigant is not responsible for the reader’s use of,
or reliance upon, the report, nor any decisions based on the report. NAVIGANT MAKES NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. Readers of the report are advised
that they assume all liabilities incurred by them, or third parties, as a result of their reliance on the report, or
the data, information, findings and opinions contained in the report.

Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their
contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal
liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product,
or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to
any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise,
does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States
Government or any agency, contractor or subcontractor thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed
herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

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Table of Contents
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 7
1.1 Background .................................................................................................................................. 7
1.2 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................... 8
2 Structure ......................................................................................................................................................... 8
3 Research Categories..................................................................................................................................... 9
3.1 Integrated Multi-Technology Efficiency Packages ....................................................................... 9
3.1.1 State of the Art ....................................................................................................................... 9
3.1.2 Recent R&D......................................................................................................................... 10
3.2 Integrated and Optimized Design for New Construction ............................................................ 11
3.2.1 State of the Art ..................................................................................................................... 12
3.2.2 Recent R&D......................................................................................................................... 13
3.3 Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS) .................................................................... 15
3.3.1 State of the Art ..................................................................................................................... 17
3.3.2 Recent R&D......................................................................................................................... 17
3.4 Building Data Streams and Repositories ..................................................................................... 20
3.4.1 State of the Art ..................................................................................................................... 21
3.4.2 Recent R&D......................................................................................................................... 22
3.5 Advanced Commissioning .......................................................................................................... 25
3.5.1 State of the Art ..................................................................................................................... 26
3.5.2 Recent R&D......................................................................................................................... 27
4 Opportunities and Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 28

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List of Figures
Figure 1. Systems Efficiency Building Blocks. ................................................................................................ 7
Figure 2. Framework for Commercial Building Systems Integration and Optimization Technology. ... 8
Figure 6. Integrated Design Process ............................................................................................................. 12
Figure 7. Schneider Energy Management Information System. .............................................................. 16
Figure 8. Ibis Data Streams, Gateway, and Platform. ................................................................................ 20
Figure 9. Commissioning types, uses, and applications. ........................................................................... 26

List of Tables
Table 1. Cutting Edge Solutions for Integrated Multi-Technology Efficiency Packages. ...................... 10
Table 2. Recent R&D for Integrated Multi-Technology Efficiency Packages. ........................................ 11
Table 3. Cutting Edge Solutions for Integrated System Design Processes for ZNE. ............................. 13
Table 4. Recent R&D for Integrated System Design Processes for ZNE ................................................ 14
Table 5. Sample Cutting Edge Solutions for Energy Management Information Systems. .................. 17
Table 6. Recent R&D for Energy Management Information Systems..................................................... 18
Table 7. Cutting Edge Solutions for Data Streams and Repositories. ..................................................... 21
Table 8. Recent R&D for Data Streams and Repositories ........................................................................ 23
Table 9. Cutting Edge Solutions for Advanced Commissioning................................................................ 26
Table 10. Recent R&D for Advanced Commissioning................................................................................ 27

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1 Introduction
1.1 Background
Within the Department of Energy (DOE), the Building Technologies Office’s (BTO) Commercial Building
Integration (CBI) program helps advance a range of innovative building integration and optimization
technologies and solutions, paving the way for high-performing buildings that could use 50-70% less energy
than typical buildings. CBI works with industry, small businesses, academia, utilities, the national labs and
other entities to advance these innovations to minimize energy cost, reduce energy waste and improve
commercial building performance. CBI works across multiple technical disciplines to understand industry
needs so that U.S. businesses can save energy, time, and money.

CBI’s work focuses on early stage technology innovation, with an emphasis on how components and systems
work together and how whole buildings are integrated and optimized. This landscape study outlines the current
body of knowledge, capabilities, and the broader array of solutions supporting integration and optimization in
commercial buildings. CBI seeks to support solutions for both existing buildings and new construction, which
often present very different challenges. Figure 1 shows possible systems efficiency building blocks and use
cases as they relate to both new construction and existing buildings.

Figure 1. Systems Efficiency Building Blocks.

CBI plays a unique role within BTO, focused on addressing the savings opportunities associated with the
integration of components within systems and systems within buildings. CBI’s investments seek to drive value
between (and even beyond) the interactions of each energy consuming end use (or widget) within buildings.
Incremental efficiency improvements and the development of novel, communicating and connected high-
efficiency technologies are critical to achieve BTO’s ultimate energy goals.1 CBI’s approach is to look

1
BTO’s goal is to reduce the average energy use per square foot of all U.S. buildings by 50% from 2010 levels.

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holistically at individual technologies and how they fit into a broader system to enable savings beyond what is
achievable with basic widget-level initiatives.

1.2 Objectives
This landscaping exercise is the first step toward a deeper understanding of the new potential opportunities
within the broader scope of existing commercial building integration and optimization solutions. By
characterizing the state of the art and other current R&D activities, evaluating the energy savings impact across
a broad set of building and systems and then identifying integration capabilities and needs, CBI can
characterize and prioritize the integration research, development and field study necessary to achieve
optimized and efficient, ultra-low energy buildings.

2 Structure
CBI seeks to understand what innovation can enable the achievement of maximum savings from emerging and
pre-commercial solutions as they are integrated into (new and existing) building systems, ultimately achieving
whole building energy savings and optimization. For this landscape study we have identified five key themes.
These themes are laid out in a matrix that helps organize a broad range of existing, new and potential solutions
into a logical framework for bucketing and reviewing existing internal and external activities, as shown in
Figure 2. The figure represents these categories as they align at different levels of building integration:
components, systems, buildings, and districts.

Figure 2. Framework for Commercial Building Systems Integration and Optimization Technology.2

This landscape study aims to provide insight into technology solutions that enable buildings and systems to
better connect, communicate, store, evaluate, & automate across the different elements within the building-
energy value chain. This work supports CBI’s energy savings goals and lays the groundwork for enabling
zero-net energy and ultra-low energy commercial buildings of the future.

2
Source: http://energy.gov/eere/buildings/high-impact-technology-catalyst

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3 Research Categories
3.1 Integrated Multi-Technology Efficiency Packages
High-performance multi-technology efficiency
packages optimize the integration of technologies
that improve efficiency across two or more
building systems. These prescriptive-like
packages generally capture energy savings from
opportunities that exist at the intersection of
building systems (e.g. lighting system retrofits
reduce the amount of heat contributed to the
space, thus also reduce the HVAC’s cooling
load). The additional achievable systems-level
savings (over the achievable savings of the
individual technologies that make up the
package) can result from a variety of different opportunities, including but not limited to: energy load
reduction, equipment downsizing, ease of integration with storage and generation solutions, the alignment if
divergent but related building data streams or improved whole building communications and control.

This solution is broadly applicable in the commercial buildings market, however, it varies across building
types. Traditionally, these packages require a high level of customization, have focused too specifically on a
building sector, or system type, which has ultimately hindered the ability to create high impact multi-
technology efficiency programs. For each building, we expect commercial stock analysis to show that the
largest potential for energy savings exists at the interaction of the building systems with the highest energy
loads, which may differ between building types. Analyses of those systems can identify the most impactful end
uses for targeted integration and optimization activities and/or prescriptive-like package development. Given
the increased cost of traditional custom approaches associated with this type of package, there is currently very
limited application of these packages, but utilities and states are showing increased interest.

3.1.1 State of the Art

While numerous high-value emerging multi-technology efficiency packages are under development, including
some with strong support from EERE, there is a limited number of available commercialized solutions. The
customization requirements based on building type, location and size are one of the primary reasons for this
low rate of commercialization and replication. Historically, the building equipment industry has been oriented
around sales of individual, discrete systems or components, which represent most of the low-hanging fruit for
energy savings in buildings. The industry is not yet accustomed to selling integrated packages. Individual
service providers are generally equipped to provide one energy saving building technology but are not well
suited to achieve the full spectrum of savings possible through integrated solutions. Where solutions are
commercialized, including some specifically designed around utility energy efficiency programs, many are
provided via partnerships between multiple service providers or manufacturers. Table 1 describes a sample of
the cutting-edge solutions that are currently available from some of these organizations.

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 Table 1. Cutting Edge Solutions for Integrated Multi-Technology Efficiency Packages.
Organizations Solution
View Electrochromics, Sage Active Integrated Perimeter Building System
Electrochromics, Enlightened,
Orama Lighting, et al.
A combination of lighting, controls, and IoT devices for a dynamic building façade and lighting system
enabling savings for both lighting and HVAC loads at spaces adjacent to the building perimeter; the system
primarily manipulates fenestration solutions to achieve the perfect balance of natural lighting to reduce
building lighting needs, and thermal exchange through the window for reduced building HVAC loads
2015 DOE Peer Review Presentation; Available:
https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/05/f22/cbi57_Lee_041415.pdf
Univ. of Florida, Stonybrook A Combined Water Heater Dehumidifier and Cooler (WHDC)
University, ORNL
A low-cost, gas-fired heat pump water heater (HPWH) that leverages membrane-based absorption
technology to simultaneously meet cooling, dehumidification, and direct hot water (DHW) needs; such multi-
technology solutions serve a primary function (in this case, enabling energy-savings for water heating
equipment), while simultaneously serving secondary functions, such as, reducing dehumidification and
cooling loads.
2016 DOE Peer Review Presentation; Available:
https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/04/f30/ACOM_University%20of%20Florida_Moghaddam-
042516.pdf

3.1.2 Recent R&D

Multi-technology efficiency packages can enable substantial energy savings, as demonstrated by some of the
relevant R&D work described in Table 2. Much of the pertinent R&D consists of assessments to evaluate the
benefits of developing integrated, replicable multi-technology solutions versus further development of single-
system or ‘widget-based’ technology advances. Moreover, much of the historical component or ‘widget-based’
R&D has made significant progress with enabling technologies that have potential capabilities for integration
within these multi-technology packages for additional savings and performance. The question remains: are
they capable of rapid, cost-effective integration within a package? If not, what are the R&D opportunities to
enable that integration?

To support that assessment, ongoing CBI research also seeks to quantify the savings potential from interaction
of key building systems compared to widget-based approaches. A primary challenge remains, however:
evaluators lack uniform procedures to validate the performance of multi-technology solutions relative to that of
individual components or widget-based solutions.3 An array of different stakeholders, particularly researchers
and utilities, are conducting research to both quantify savings and establish the best practices for integrating
multi-technology efficiency solutions into commercial buildings.

3M&V 2.0 Demonstrations, led by LBNL and PNNL, combine automated analytics and data to estimate savings for building efficiency projects.
Successful M&V 2.0 implementation would result in streamlined savings estimations and potentially increased savings realizations for building
energy saving measures.

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 Table 2. Recent R&D for Integrated Multi-Technology Efficiency Packages.
Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
ACEEE Beyond Widgets – Systems Incentive Programs for Utilities
Evaluating utility systems-incentive-programs that go “beyond widgets” to provide utilities with proven and
standardized incentive programs that achieve savings at a system level without the necessity of costly
custom solutions.
ComEd Automated shading with daylighting and HVAC controls
Field-testing of automated shading integrated with lighting and HVAC controls for reduced building energy
consumption; systems showed promising results from tests in schools and offices in medium/large
buildings; daylighting technologies alone showed between 27% and 38% savings
California Publicly-Owned Utilities Lighting and plug load occupancy controls with task-ambient lighting
retrofit
Field-testing of advanced controls for lighting and plug loads in commercial offices; occupancy sensors
control both lighting and plug loads; savings from these measures are approximately 16%-21% for the whole
building
Xcel Energy Daylight redirecting film with integrated lighting and HVAC controls
Field testing of meso-optic film to direct incoming light towards the ceiling to improve ambient natural
lighting and minimize glare; lighting controls and occupancy sensors further modulate the building lighting
and HVAC systems for further savings
Alliance to Save Energy Greater than the sum of its parts – the case for a systems approach to
energy efficiency
Showing performance of energy packages relative to the sum of the parts, as it pertains to mechanical
systems, lighting, miscellaneous electric loads (MELs), multi-technology integration, and building-to-grid
integration. A wide array of benefits is available for each initiative type

3.2 Integrated and Optimized Design for New Construction

Integrated system design is a crosscutting approach to building design and engineering that focuses on
bringing designers, engineers and builders together using holistic design methods (rather than the independent,
sometimes disaggregated design of individual building systems) to achieve new, innovative, and optimized
buildings and building systems. While integrated system design is applicable to low-energy buildings in
general, the focus here is specifically on new construction and how new buildings can be designed, constructed
and operated to:

 Measure, track and set component, system and whole building energy targets,
 Validate and track key building elements that enable more autonomous operation and energy
performance, and
 Model rapid, cost-effective design, construction and operation that meets and maintains energy
performance targets.

The integrated system design process focuses on the intentional consideration of trade-offs and interactions
between building systems, in tandem, to optimize operations and energy savings. Integrated system design
seeks to capitalize on the many opportunities for energy savings that exist at the intersection of building
systems. Figure 3 provides a flow chart of an example process.

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 Figure 3. Integrated Design Process4

At the core of this process is the method that governs how architecture and engineering firms operate, both
internally and with their clients. The approach stresses constant communication between all stakeholders in the
design and construction process as it is critical to ensuring that building designers incorporate new
connectivity and automation opportunities to enable big data analytics, model-predictive control, automated
performance validation, grid interactive operation, and other such capabilities. To successfully achieve
integrated and optimized buildings, stakeholders must reconsider their energy modeling workflows, overall use
of data and, processes for handing off the building post-construction.

3.2.1 State of the Art

Design approaches for new construction and major renovations heavily influence whole building efficiency
and can have a substantial impact if approached collaboratively from the outset of building design. Many
existing and emerging technologies and processes enable integrated system design. These existing integrated

4
Source: http://www.iisbe.org/system/files/private/IDP%20development%20-%20Larsson.pdf

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design solutions, however, are far from standard practice and will require significant acceptance from cross-
functional design and operations teams before they can yield notable benefits. The growth in recent years of
design-build contracts (one in which the project is designed and constructed by a single team) is an enabler that
may help accelerate the use of integrated design solutions but, in many cases, still lacks ownership and
accountability for ultimate building performance once the building is constructed. Table 3 identifies some of
the best-in-class tools and guides that enable integrated system design.

Table 3. Cutting Edge Solutions for Integrated System Design Processes for ZNE.
Organization Solution
ASHRAE Guides on integrated design for sustainable buildings
Building guides with steps detailing the implementation of integrated design as it pertains to load reduction,
system efficiency optimization, regenerative systems, and renewable sources
Design guide available: https://www.ashrae.org/File%20Library/docLib/Public/2006458559_686.pdf
Autodesk Building Information Modeling (BIM)
3D building modeling and workflow management tools to create a shared knowledge resource supporting
the design process for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) of buildings and infrastructure
Solution provider information available: https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/bim
EnergyPlus Building Energy Modeling (BEM)
Energy simulation software accounting for whole building energy parameters as an input driving more
focused integrated system design; Building Energy Modeling acts as a bridge between design/construction
and operations as it can be leveraged for model predictive control and operation in the building
EnergyPlus information available: https://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/
University of Pennsylvania MLE+: A Tool for Integrated Design and Deployment of Energy Efficient
Building Controls
Tool for building automation design, co-simulation, and analysis. The solution combines the energy
modeling capabilities of EnergyPlus with Matlab to enable improved controller design, system optimization,
and simulation analyses.
Technology research available:
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=mlab_papers
Commission for Environmental Guide to Integrated Design and Delivery
Cooperation
Guide on best practices for integrated building design spanning the full project lifecycle from goal setting to
business model/contract structure to road mapping and execution. Key contract models discussed are:
 Multi-party contracts – owner, architect, and general contractors are bound in the risk/reward
structure with sub-agreements for subcontractors; they have final decision-making power
 Poly-party contracts – extending the risk/reward structure to include all team members; everyone
receives a vote in the design process including owners, designers, HVAC contractors, steel erectors,
framers, equipment vendors, etc.
Full guide available at: http://www3.cec.org/islandora/en/item/11661-improving-green-building-
construction-in-north-america-guide-integrated-design-en.pdf

3.2.2 Recent R&D

A majority of the research in this space focuses on the different methods capable of promoting and
incorporating system integration techniques into current building-design processes. Many central components
of these methods will require a cultural shift by design and engineering firms to put a heavier emphasis on the
use of newly available real building data to inform design assumptions, set energy savings targets, and
continue accountability past design and into the operation of the completed building. Current processes fail to
prioritize energy performance as a design consideration and use outdated equipment and systems performance
data to support energy analysis, if it is done at all. These processes will be insufficient to achieve optimized

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whole building energy performance and will be unable to realize the full benefits of automated, connected
buildings. New solutions face substantial inertia in industry as current processes are well-established and
respected. Table 4 highlights some of the ongoing and recent R&D.

Table 4. Recent R&D for Integrated System Design Processes for ZNE
Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
LBNL Quantifying the benefits of a building retrofit solution using an
integrated system approach: A case study
Identifying the additional energy savings that are made possible through the use of integrated system
retrofits in buildings; solutions manipulate the interactive effects between building systems to enable
savings through smaller equipment sizing or lower energy technologies. The Integrated System is the only
method shown to achieve savings of >50% for building retrofits
Case Study available: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778817318832
ACEEE You Can’t Beat the System: The Case for a Systems Approach to
Commercial Building Efficiency
Defining processes to enable systems approach to building energy efficiency; quantifying any likely non-
energy saving benefits (e.g. reliability, comfort, water savings, etc.) which are estimated to account for
between 25-50% of the total benefit of a systems approach
ACEEE paper available: http://aceee.org/files/proceedings/2016/data/papers/3_67.pdf
Green Building Roundtable Roadmap for the Integrated Design Process
Identifying the best practices for system integration and proving the validity of the findings through a series
of case studies. In one such case, the integrated design process resulted in a 50% increase in building
performance relative to the Canadian Model National Energy Code.
Roadmap guide and reference manual available: http://www.greenspacencr.org/events/IDProadmap.pdf
Alliance to Save Energy Going Beyond Zero – A Systems Efficiency Blueprint for Building
Energy Optimization and Resilience
Identifying key opportunities for building-systems based energy efficiency through an evaluation of key
building systems and their interactions; providing specific recommendations for actions that can achieve
greater adoption, while identifying critical stakeholders and their roles in implementing those
recommendations
Paper available: http://www.ase.org/sites/ase.org/files/ase-sei_going_beyond_zero-digital-vf050317.pdf
ASHRAE Integrated Design for Sustainable Buildings
Quantifying potential benefits of early-design collaboration while highlighting the diminishing returns
associated with delaying design collaboration; establishing a clear process, with associated roles for the key
players in the integrated design process.
Resources available: https://www.ashrae.org/membership--conferences/student-zone/design-
competition/2017-integrated-sustainable-building-design
US DOE Integrated Design – Delivery and Operations of Net-Zero Energy
Buildings
Identifying the processes and information flows necessary across different phases of a building’s lifecycle,
as well as an estimate of the associated engineering costs, in order to achieve a ZNE building.
Solar Decathlon presentation available:
https://www.solardecathlon.gov/past/pdfs/09_workshops/09_integrated_design.pdf

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 Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
US GSA Integration at its finest: Success in High-Performance Building
Design and Project Delivery in the Federal Sector
Documenting the status and lessons learned from case studies and initiatives funded by GSA’s Office of
Federal High-Performance Green Buildings; the document provides specific recommendations that can lead
to high efficiency buildings, including recommendations at the Integrated Project Delivery/Integrated Design
phases.
Research report available: https://www.wbdg.org/files/pdfs/integration_at_its_finest.pdf
California State University, U.S. Army Automation in Construction – Analysis of an energy efficient
Corps of Engineers, etc. building design through data mining approach
Identifying data mining technologies and processes that can facilitate the handling of building data
necessary to design an energy efficient building. The energy simulations required to implement data-driven
integrated whole-building processes generate large volumes of data that need to be mined for effective use
in the building design process.
Research report available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926580510001044?via%3Dihub
LBNL Co-simulation of building energy and control systems with the
Building Controls Virtual Test Bed
Presenting the Building Controls Virtual Test Bed (BCVTB), a modular and extensible software platform
allowing for the simultaneous processing of multiple building-system simulations. The co-simulations enable
computation of coupled problems such as building heat transfer and HVAC system dynamics and control
algorithms.
Research available: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Wetter/publication/233258018_Co-
simulation_of_building_energy_and_control_systems_with_the_Building_Controls_Virtual_Test_Bed/links/5
56dfc2508aeab7772269edd/Co-simulation-of-building-energy-and-control-systems-with-the-Building-
Controls-Virtual-Test-Bed.pdf
Energy Design Resources Design Brief – Performance-based compensation
Exploration of the potential benefits of performance-based compensation contracts in incentivizing
members of the integrated design process to design buildings such they meet performance goals post
construction. The standard structure involves establishing a baseline energy specification as well as a
penalty/reward structure proportional to deviations from that target.
Design brief available:
https://energydesignresources.com/media/1774/EDR_DesignBriefs_perfcompensation.pdf
University of Singapore Using a data-driven approach to support the design of energy-
efficient buildings
Presenting a potential data-driven approach that can facilitate the accuracy and performance of design
iterations required in the integrated design process. Given the volume of data generated during the
integrated design process, there is a need for improved accuracy and decreased data processing times.
Research report available: http://www.itcon.org/papers/2015_6.content.00001.pdf

3.3 Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS)

Energy Management Information Systems comprise a set of software solutions (often hardware-enabled)
intended to access various building data, aggregate the data, and analyze the resulting trends for optimization
and efficiency opportunities. EMIS coupled with expansive, dynamic sets of real building data (see section 3.4,
below) can provide comprehensive optimization solutions for commercial buildings. EMIS generally
encompasses the front-end system that users interact with as well some middleware to help manage data inputs
and other layered-on analytical tools.

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 Figure 4. Schneider Energy Management Information System.5

Building owners can leverage real-time building-data trend analysis for improved energy benchmarking,
operational optimization (e.g. syncing occupancy and comfort with operational protocols and control),
identification of energy saving opportunities (e.g. replacement or maintenance of inefficient equipment), and
building performance evaluation. EMIS Tools6 comprise the following categories:

 Benchmarking and utility bill analysis

 Energy Information System (EIS) and Advanced EIS

 Building Automation System (BAS)

 Fault Detection Diagnostics (FDD)

 Automated System Optimization (ASO)

Energy analytics and energy information management is essential to maintaining operational excellence,
identifying and verifying savings, participating in demand response programs, balancing storage, generation
and loads, and creating connected, interactive building components and systems. Increased adoption of these
solutions can heavily impact the way energy managers and businesses manage their whole-building energy

5
Source: https://www.schneider-electric.us/documents/buildings/Building-Analytics-Brochure.pdf
6
More at: https://betterbuildingsinitiative.energy.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/emis-crash-course.pdf

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consumption, particularly those of large commercial buildings, campuses (co-located), and broad portfolios of
buildings (not co-located). Because individual building sectors have distinct needs when it comes to managing
energy and building systems, most EMISs are tailored to one or more building types to provide the most value
for a focused market.

3.3.1 State of the Art

Many solutions exist or are rapidly emerging in this area, many of which build on core analytical trends by
aiming to become an integral part of daily building operations, bringing together formerly disparate solutions
such as fault detection diagnostics (FDD), forecasting, modeling, measurement and verification (M&V),
occupant input, and cloud computing capabilities.

Table 5. Sample Cutting Edge Solutions for Energy Management Information Systems.
Organizations Solution
BuildingIQ 5i Intelligent Energy Platform
Energy Management Information System for data capture analysis, advanced building energy modeling,
M&V, and predictive control, among others
Solution provider website available: https://buildingiq.com/products/5i-intelligent-energy-platform/
IBM TRIRIGA Facilities Manager
Integrated solutions based in a real estate management software platform; the software assists in the
identification of underutilized building resources to enable higher utilization, cost reductions, and energy
savings.
Solution provider website available: http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/ibmtrirfacimana
EnerNOC Software to Tackle Every Aspect of Energy Management
Software platform providing several building data management solutions, including but not limited to utility
bill management, sustainability & reporting, and facility analysis & optimization
Solution provider website available: https://www.enernoc.com/products/capabilities-
businesses/capabilities
Energent Energy Management Information System
Cloud-based EMIS software solution providing building energy management and building optimizations
driven by multiple data acquisition methods
Solution provider website available: http://www.energent.com/emis/
Siemens Building Automation and Control Systems
Building Automation Systems upon which many building systems including HVAC, lighting, security, etc. can
be integrated, controlled, and monitored
Solution provider website available:
https://w5.siemens.com/greece/internet/en/pss/IC/BT/tra/Documents/Download%20(2).pdf
Honeywell Building Automation System with Controllers
Open BAS platform with a dashboard interfacing with building managers and occupants to which Honeywell
controllers can be incorporated to unify data and convert data to action via output devices (i.e. actuators)
Solution provider website available: https://buildingcontrols.honeywell.com/Building-Automation-Systems

3.3.2 Recent R&D

Many R&D activities focus on determining or verifying the functionality, application, and impact of EMIS in
existing buildings. Savings projections from EMIS are often difficult to characterize due to variations between
buildings and management staff and the need for human intervention to execute recommended improvements
that are found using the EMIS. That is to say, most of these systems are not currently supervisory or integrated
in order to automate building components or systems. With extensive competition among EMIS providers,

17
there is limited consistency between products and claims by one EMIS are not indicative of claims from any
other EMIS.

A significant challenge associated with the variations in EMIS technologies surrounds their underlying,
enabling, sensing and connectivity requirements. Different EMIS solutions leverage data from different
sensors using different formats and communicating over different protocols, making unification on a
comprehensive data platform difficult but necessary.

Many of the advancements in EMIS solutions seek to find cheaper means for data collection, such as low-cost
multi-sensor arrays. The reason for this focus is that the sensor technologies themselves are sufficient and
capable of providing the data necessary to enable EMIS solutions, however, for large-scale deployment, cost
reductions are vital. With a robust sensor network, there is also an increased need for data management. Data
storage is becoming significantly cheaper and more accessible, allowing for the feasible creation of large
building datasets. As a result, many data repositories exist (discussed further in Section 3.4). EMIS solutions,
however, need to evolve to make better use of that data, particularly through machine learning and pattern
recognition.

R&D related to energy analytics and building management is different from that of the other research
categories in this report. The solutions in this space offer many similar functions, components, and capabilities
but are combined and delivered in a wide variety of ways. Each solution is generally tailored towards a
different sector, market or building system and continues to evolve as the providers (often start-up software
firms) continually pivot, refine, and optimize to meet market needs and become commercially successful. The
R&D focuses on identifying the right set of capabilities to achieve the highest energy savings and overall value
to the customer and then quantifying that savings potential.

Table 6. Recent R&D for Energy Management Information Systems.

Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
Schneider Electric Building Analytics – Improve the efficiency, occupant comfort,
and financial well-being of your building.
Quantifying the energy consumption and cost of Energy Analytics and Management, through an analysis of
data from systems deployed at customer sites; identifying operational and energy performance
opportunities, particularly those related to AFDD, monitoring, and reporting
Solution provider website available: https://www.schneider-electric.us/documents/buildings/Building-
Analytics-Brochure.pdf
Institute for Building Efficiency, Johnson Building Energy Management: Using Data as a Tool
Controls
Quantifying the state of energy analytics and management in industry, and characterizing the capabilities of
such solutions, including but not limited to: trend analysis, benchmarking, FDD, energy forecasting, M&V,
and big data analytics
Solution provider white paper available:
http://www.buildingefficiencyinitiative.org/sites/default/files/legacy/InstituteBE/media/Library/Resources/
Existing-Building-Retrofits/Using-Building-Data-as-a-Tool.pdf
Loughborough University Challenges and potential of BIM for building energy
performance visualization and management
Assessing the impact of building information modeling (BIM) as a tool to improve building operational
performance; the investigation incorporates inputs from building designers and operators to develop the
best methodologies for data collection and visualization.
Research paper available: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778817308770

18
Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
University College London Improving energy efficiency via smart building energy
management systems: A comparison with policy measures
Quantifying the energy savings potential of Smart Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) utilizing
dynamic set points over those with static set points, which policymakers abroad have supported, particularly
in the context of promoting smart grids
Research paper available: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778814010469
ACEEE Wireless Sensors Networks for Advanced Energy Management
Evaluation of EMIS enabling sensing technologies for the industrial community, including multi-sensor array
platforms, Quality-of-Service for reliable data transmission from distributed sensors, and self-configuring
wireless sensor networks, Research also includes details on microsensor arrays, ultra-low power electronics,
and control transceivers.
Research paper available:
https://aceee.org/files/proceedings/2005/data/papers/SS05_Panel01_Paper10.pdf
SINTEF ICT A Wireless Sensor Network for Intelligent Building Energy
Management based on Multi-communication Standards
Case study for the integration of a wireless sensor network with internet service communications into a
knowledge and information services platform for energy management. The proposed approach enables the
collection of energy information from devices across building systems operating with different
communication protocols.
Case study available: http://www.itcon.org/papers/2012_3.content.00598.pdf
NIST Measurement Science Roadmap for Net-Zero Energy
Buildings
Evaluation of available measurement technologies and identification of key challenges and priorities
surrounding future capabilities of these technologies. Specific commentary surrounding enabling
technologies for intelligent buildings including control systems, sensors, and whole building global
optimization and systems integration.
Workshop summary report available: http://ws680.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=905024
NIST Advanced Sensing Systems for Building Energy Monitoring
Project to advance the capabilities of existing sensing technologies through miniaturization of existing
components and incorporation of microprosessing capabilities within sensors. The project is specifically
geared at optimizing sensor networks for integration into monitoring systems to quantify thermal
transmission through envelopes.
Project description available: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/advanced-sensing-systems-building-
energy-monitoring
Electronics and Telecommunications Automatic sensor arrangement system for building energy and
Research Institute environmental management
Proposal of two automatic sensor arrangement systems to determine the best installation location for
sensors automatically as opposed to manually. The primary sensors considered include temperature,
humidity, illuminance, motion, and CO2 sensors.
Research paper available: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187661021104344X
King Saud University An Intelligent Energy Management System for Educational
Buildings
Research report proposing refined strategies needed to achieve a service oriented architecture (SOA) for a
uniform system to handle campus energy data. The research recommends strategies for improved system
design and the management of large volumes of component data,
Research paper available: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1155/2013/209803

19
3.4 Building Data Streams and Repositories
Building data streams and repositories are an effective way to make extensive building data sets valuable for
contribution, access and use by and between end-users who may be researchers, commissioning providers,
energy modelers, designers, operators or utilities. Data streams and repositories can enable better energy
management and automation and build on advances in building-system interoperability. Solutions in this
category include a combination of hardware and software offerings and serve as the back-end solutions to
enable effective use of front-end EMIS. These two sets of solutions, data streams and repositories and EMIS,
provide comprehensive solutions for gathering, managing, and analyzing data to improve operational
performance, energy consumption, identify investment opportunities, participate in dynamic tariffs and
demand response programs, balance storage, generation and loads, and create grid-responsive building
components and systems for possible aggregation with other buildings. Figure 5 provides an overview of the
key elements in one service provider’s overarching architecture.

Figure 5. Ibis Data Streams, Gateway, and Platform.7

Data streams, repositories, and the platforms that they serve, are the critical elements leveraged to enable
model-predictive controls, autonomous controls, and active demand management in buildings. These solutions
can achieve value through both economic measures and system control mechanisms such as demand response,
transactive energy, microgrid control, and grid-interactive renewables, among others. In all instances, active
demand management systems fundamentally require data streams to be relevant for buildings.

Current offerings are most relevant to buildings with many building loads and occupants to manage. The
encompassed set of solutions, therefore, is currently relevant for medium and large commercial buildings and
campuses. Given the depth of integration these solutions will require with the physical building components
and systems, they are more cost-effective in a new-construction environment as opposed to existing buildings.
Buildings must have a network of installed gateways that combine data streams from various connected

7
Source: http://ibisnetworks.com/ibissystem/

20
equipment and data-streaming components to allow communication between the building, the aggregating
platform, and the building’s systems.

3.4.1 State of the Art

Well architected data streams and repositories, as critical components of integration and optimization
solutions, are becoming increasingly important for managing the large volumes of data from smart commercial
building applications (particularly for lighting, HVAC, and renewables). New products can include a variety of
smart, data streaming components, as well as software platforms to act on the component data outputs. These
solutions can enable both building-level and grid-level efficiency making them beneficial to both energy
providers and consumers. For example, grid-interactive renewables allow consumers to tie in to the grid only
when most beneficial for them or the utility, ensuring that customers and utilities are minimizing costs, while
also contributing to the reliability of a utility’s grid by providing excess energy during peak hours. This is only
available to smart buildings if utilities or grid-operators can signal grid status and requirements.

Table 7. Cutting Edge Solutions for Data Streams and Repositories.

Organization Solution
Honeywell Smart Grid Solutions
Price-based demand response program unified on a singular software platform that sends and receives
prices and signals between building system load control devices and a utility customer
Solution provider website available: https://www.honeywellsmartgrid.com/en-US/Pages/default.aspx
DesignLights Consortium Networked Lighting Control (NLC) Systems
Database for the collection and storing of data from Network Lighting Control Systems. The database
utilizes scripts to map project data into NLC database fields and standardize data of 18 different data
formats.
Project report available: https://www.designlights.org/lighting-controls/reports-tools-resources/nlc-energy-
savings-report/
Ibis Plug Load Management System
Plug load management system consisting of a system of intelligent sockets linked together by intelligent
gateways, which, in turn, communicate with an intelligent network allowing cloud based configuration and
data visualization
Solution provider website available: http://ibisnetworks.com/ibissystem/
PNNL VOLTTRON
Software platform for real-time, scalable distributed control; the platform is both open-source and modular,
enabling information exchange between all stakeholders.
DOE VOLTTRON website available: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/volttron
FirstFuel Key intelligence and software to engage all commercial
energy customers
Energy platform for utilities to manage smart meter data and better understand energy use and savings
opportunities for customers; the FirstFuel platform allows utilities to better engage with their customers and
better understand their needs as they try to shape and refine the services they provide.
Solution provider website available: http://www.firstfuel.com/solutions/overview/

21
 Organization Solution
Microsoft Azure Microsoft Azure Data Lake
Data Lake for intelligent data storage and analytics as a ‘smart’ alternative to data repositories. Microsoft’s
Real Estate and Facilities organization carries out machine learning for predictive maintenance, climate
control, and HVAC optimization on the Azure platform. 8
Solution provider website available: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/data-lake/
OpenFogConsortium OpenFog Architecture Overview
System architecture9 enabling fog (or edge) computing as an addendum to or expansion of ubiquitous cloud
computing technologies. Fog computing leverages the different levels of a network’s topology to conduct
stratified analytics for increased reliability, performance, and serviceability.
Technology overview available: https://www.openfogconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/OpenFog-
Architecture-Overview-WP-2-2016.pdf
IEEE Real-Time Integration of Building Data
Data Stream Management Systems (DSMSs) as a replacement to conventional Database Management
Systems (DBMSs) in supporting EMS. Unlike DBMSs that cause latency in data evaluation, DSMSs
processes data in real-time allowing real-time system controls.
Technology overview available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266202668_Real-
Time_Integration_of_Building_Energy_Data
NIBS Database for Analyzing Sustainable and High-Performance
Buildings
Database for the streamlining of data collection surrounding sustainable, high performance buildings. The
tool incorporates information from existing building databases, companies, organizations, and researchers
to increase the quantity, quality, and ease of access for building data.
Project overview available:
https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nibs.org/resource/resmgr/HPBDATA/Read_Summary.pdf?hhSearchTerms
=%22metric%22
Oracle Oracle Solutions for Utilities
Utility operations management tools including Meter Data Management and Network Management
Systems. These solutions offer a good example of uniform, plug-and-play tools for energy-data handling.
Their platform, capable of handling large volumes of metering and billing data, can be leveraged for data
handing of other building energy data for both utility and non-utility clients.
Solution overview available: http://www.oracle.com/us/ciocentral/oracle-utilities-capabilities-395893.pdf

3.4.2 Recent R&D

Key R&D efforts related to data streams and repositories focus on establishing procedures for control systems
and validating, at a high-level, solution performance and building impact. A significant amount of research is
required to develop increased uniformity in building IT infrastructure requirements and protocols. The current
lack of uniformity in buildings adds expense in retrofit applications that hinders the use of these solutions and
limits the applicability of many analytics and optimization solutions to new construction. Future activities
related to data streams and repositories should enable consistency and standardization in building data
collection as it is used to inform design and operations.

8
More at: https://www.microsoft.com/itshowcase/Article/Content/845/Data-analytics-and-smart-buildings-increase-comfort-and-energy-
efficiency
9
More at: https://www.openfogconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/OpenFog_Reference_Architecture_2_09_17-FINAL.pdf

22
Significant research is also ongoing to determine the best methods through which to enable large-scale
transactive energy systems. Investigations primarily seek to identify means for improved adoption of
transactive energy technologies as opposed to developing the enabling technologies.

Table 8. Recent R&D for Data Streams and Repositories

Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
NREL Lessons Learned from Case Studies of Six High-
Performance Buildings
Providing guidance from case studies of high-performance buildings to determine best practices and impact
on environment and energy use, with commentary on controllers
Lessons learned report available: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy06osti/37542.pdf
Demand Response Research Center at LBNL Introduction to Commercial Building Control Strategies
and Techniques for Demand Response
Performing analysis to define specific control strategies for commercial buildings that can simultaneously
meet savings targets while minimizing negative impacts on occupants or building systems. One primary
hindrance to achieving the full automation of control strategies involves the inconsistent resolutions of
controls (particularly in HVAC vs lighting controls).
Research report available: http://gaia.lbl.gov/btech/papers/59975.pdf
USACE HVAC Control Systems
Describing the impact of Direct Digital Control in BAS for the control of HVAC systems. Listed benefits
include a more competitive procurement process, management of numerous system and sub-system
operations, a user-friendly GUI, and a “whole-building” approach to systems integration.
Article available: https://www.wbdg.org/files/pdfs/usace_hvac_controlsystems.pdf
Environmental Defense Fund A Primer on Time-Variant Electricity Pricing
Evaluating the benefits and approaches to Time-Variant Electricity Pricing for utility customers; solutions can
offer an array of benefits, including but not limited to: decreased energy cost for customers, improved
distributed energy resources, and decreased capacity investments
EDF Report available: https://www.edf.org/sites/default/files/a_primer_on_time-variant_pricing.pdf
IEEE Cost-benefit analysis for proactive consumers in a
microgrid for transactive energy management systems
Analyzing cost-benefit of consumer participation in microgrid transactive energy management systems,
particularly in the case of a photovoltaic (PV) system coupled with battery energy storage (BES) for improved
customer transactive energy management (TEM)
Conference paper available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7749343/
Smart Electric Power Alliance Transactive energy pilot to test customer acceptance of
real-time pricing scheme
Research to evaluate customer acceptance of real-time pricing schemes, with particular attention to how
utilities can overcome customer perceptions that accompany transactive energy measures
Article available: https://sepapower.org/knowledge/transactive-energy-pilot-to-test-customer-acceptance-of-
real-time-pricing-scheme/
IEEE Optimal time-of-use pricing for residential load control
Determining approaches to maximizing demand response potential for time-varying tariffs; for example,
identifying novel algorithms to help utilities optimize their time of use (TOU) pricing based on energy supply
and demand
Report available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6102350/

23
Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
NREL Challenges and Opportunities for Transactive Control of
Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment: A Reference Guide
Determining opportunities for improved integration of electric vehicle supply equipment with the grid
solutions include a combination of various end-use services, energy market services, and grid services,
which can each contribute to a reduction of cost, energy use, and emissions associated with electric vehicle
charging
Guide available: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy15osti/64007.pdf
BEDES BEDES Dictionary
A dictionary of terms, definitions, and field formats, referred to as the Building Energy Data Exchange
Specification (BEDES), utilized to facilitate data transfer of building energy use and characteristics. The
common definitions allow for the development of a software ecosystem for building energy characterization
founded on common terms.
Project description available: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/building-energy-data-exchange-
specification-bedes
BuildingSync BuildingSync Schema
Language to assist in the standardization of data exchange for commercial building energy audits. Such a
language can allow software developers to develop tools that can freely exchange data between sources.
Project description available: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/buildingsync
DesignLights Consortium Energy Savings from Networked Lighting Control (NLC)
Systems
The report details the successes of NLC Systems from an energy perspective, with particular details
surrounding the performance of the database and data handling. The report lists numerous findings and
recommendations associated with the data handling in this project. The findings include the need to
streamline data authorization for improved data collection and remote data access, as well as a need for
improved data-export mechanisms for more granular reporting of building data into utility program
evaluations. The data-related recommendations include a need for utility NLC programs to require or
incentivize anonymized data sharing for participating projects, a standardized reporting format for those
data that can be easily exported, and increased sample size, monitoring duration, and building operational
characteristics for future data collection.
Report available: https://www.designlights.org/default/assets/File/Lighting%20Controls/DLC-
Report_Energy-Savings-from-Networked-Lighting-Control-NLC-Systems.pdf
Project Haystack Haystack
An open source service facilitating the standardized integration of data from IoT devices. This initiative
seeks to develop data models that can unlock the value from the various smart systems in buildings. Project
details available: https://project-haystack.org/
University College Dublin A Review of Wireless-Sensor-Network-Enabled Building
Energy Management Systems
Documents the available building EMS solutions with particular attention to the Wireless Sensor Network
(WSN) technologies employed in those systems. The report ultimately proposes a system architecture for
BEMS.
Research report available:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aqeel_Kazmi2/publication/260135187_A_Review_of_Wireless_Sen
sor_Network_Enabled_Building_Energy_Management_Systems/links/55a4e44008ae00cf99c92f3a.pdf

24
 Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
University College Dublin ANNOT: Automated electricity data annotation using
wireless sensor networks
Details a system for the automated annotation of electricity data in nonintrusive load monitoring solutions.
The research discusses the wireless sensor nodes required to capture sensory stimuli needed to enable the
proposed solution.
Research report available: http://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/handle/10197/2398/secon-
Schoofs.pdf?sequence=1
US DOE Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium
Provides technical information pertaining to LED street and area lighting demonstrations to be used in
evaluating emerging technologies for those applications. The resource includes the development of a data
repository to catalogue field experiences and process data to substantially decrease the learning curve for
implementing LED lighting.
Project details available: https://energy.gov/eere/ssl/doe-municipal-solid-state-street-lighting-consortium
Building and Construction Authority, Singapore GBIC-Repository
Development of a central data repository for the collection and analysis of building system and subsystem
data, occupancy data, and calibrated instrumentation data corresponding to other active GBIC Demos. The
Green Buildings Innovation Cluster (GBIC) National Building EE Repository enables the data-driven, platform
based, approach to solving a building’s most pressing energy related problems.
Project details available: https://www.bca.gov.sg/ResearchInnovation/gbic.html
NIBS Data Needs for Achieving High-Performance Buildings
Characterization of the current landscape of high-performance building data with detailed recommendations
for the improvement of building-data infrastructure. Primary recommendations for energy related data
include increasing the purview of such databases such as CBECS as well as increasing the variety and
granularity of energy data at the individual building or building-system level.
Research report available:
https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nibs.org/resource/resmgr/HPBDATA/NIBS_DataCollectionReport.pdf

3.5 Advanced Commissioning

Advanced commissioning solutions seek to address operational deficiencies affecting building energy savings
and occupant comfort. These solutions deviate from standard commissioning because they are not singular
events in a building’s management life-cycle (such as New Construction Commissioning [NCCx]
recommissioning [Re-CX], or Retro-Commissioning [RCx]). Instead, these solutions focus on commissioning
as an ongoing and holistic process as opposed to a singular event for new or retrofit building applications.
Currently used advanced commissioning terminology includes both:

1. Continuous Commissioning (CCx) to track and optimize building technology performance, as well as
updating of documentation, staff training, and energy consumption verification and.

2. Monitoring Based Commissioning (MBCx), wherein building-energy data drives a continuous

commissioning process like that of CCx.

Advanced commissioning solutions typically benefit any building using commercial-scale equipment,
including many multi-family buildings. Figure 6 reviews the various types of commissioning.

25
 Figure 6. Commissioning types, uses, and applications.10

3.5.1 State of the Art

Existing solutions are gaining traction but are not exhaustive and require customization. While many solutions
exist at an equipment or component level, emerging solutions seek to cover buildings through a holistic
assessment of the building’s subsystems. Table 9 highlights some of the leading solutions, solution providers,
and processes.

Table 9. Cutting Edge Solutions for Advanced Commissioning.

Organization Solution
NIST HVAC-Cx Building HVAC Systems Commissioning Tool
Automated software for HVAC system commissioning; solution can execute functional performance testing
as well as continuous monitoring of deployed HVAC equipment
EnerNOC New Building Commissioning Services
Mining data from building systems to achieve energy savings and cost reductions (estimated at 8-20% over
equipment life); solution spans the design, construction, acceptance, and post-occupancy phases of a
building’s life
Solution provider website available: https://www.enernoc.com/resources/datasheets-brochures/get-
started-right-enernocs-new-building-commissioning-services
UC/CSU/IOU 24 Monitoring-Based Commissioning Projects
Permanent framework for system verification and management; identified 1120 building issues pertaining
to HVAC equipment (65% of sites), air-handling and distributions systems (59% of sites), cooling plants (29%
of sites), heating plants (24% of sites), and terminal units (24% of sites)
Project benchmarking report available: https://eetd.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/publications/lbnl-1972e.pdf

10
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-commissioning-so-great-why-doesnt-every-do-melanie/

26
 Organization Solution
Lucid BuildingOS
Uniform software solution that can be customized for individual buildings for real-time insight into building
energy use. This energy management platform leverages meter, sub-meter, BMS data, and IoT devices for
real-time analysis enabling advanced commissioning.
Solution provider website available: https://lucidconnects.com/solutions
Siemens Monitoring-Based Commissioning (MBCx)
Software package to manage incoming data streams from various building systems to identify system faults,
develop and prioritize systems-improvement recommendations, and convert recommendations to
executable work orders
Solution provide white paper available: https://www.downloads.siemens.com/download-
center/Download.aspx?pos=download&fct=getasset&id1=A6V10702463
NORESCO Monitoring Based Commissioning
MBCx technology package and standardized integration processes for easier acceptance of technology in
existing buildings
Solution provide website available: http://www.noresco.com/energy-services/en/us/solutions/Energy-
Efficiency-Sustainability-Consulting/Monitoring-Based-Commissioning/

3.5.2 Recent R&D

Much of the current research seeks to validate functionality, determine feasibility and usability for various
building commissioning applications. Limited early-stage research and development is ongoing to attain
technology improvements. The most impactful advanced commissioning solutions, however, will need to
overcome a substantial cultural trend and both document the value of commissioning and enable easy,
consistent usage by owners and operators. Consequently, some of the on-going R&D also seeks to simplify the
use of advanced commissioning processes within existing building management practices.

Table 10. Recent R&D for Advanced Commissioning.

Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
ACEEE; California Institute Monitoring-Based Commissioning: Tracking the Evolution and Adoption of a
for Energy and Environment Paradigm-Shifting Approach to Retro-Commissioning
Analyzing case studies of continuous commissioning efforts to identify the quality of data collected,
persistence of energy savings, and residual barriers minimizing the efficacy of continuous commissioning
solutions
ACEEE paper available: http://aceee.org/files/proceedings/2012/data/papers/0193-000137.pdf
Building Commissioning Quantifying Monitoring-Based Commissioning in Campus
Association; Newcomb | Buildings: Utility Partnership Program Results, Lessons
Anderson | McCormick Learned, and Future Potential
Quantifying benefits from monitoring-based commissioning for campus buildings and utility partnerships;
the findings provide initial quantification of the savings achieved at each of the 25 campuses with MBCx
solutions
Conference paper available: http://www.bcxa.org/ncbc/2007/proceedings/Anderson_NCBC2007.pdf
NIST Automated Fault Detection and Diagnostics for the Mechanical Services in
Commercial Buildings Project
Developing novel software algorithms that can enable automated fault detection diagnostics in commercial
buildings utilizing data typically found in standard control hardware already deployed with systems’
equipment

27
 Organization/Investigators R&D Activity
NIST project details available: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/automated-fault-detection-and-
diagnostics-mechanical-services-commercial-buildings
LBNL Using EMIS to Identify Top Opportunities
for Commercial Building Efficiency
Evaluating the efficacy by which energy management and information system (EMIS) technologies can
diagnose building energy losses and identify opportunities for building energy savings; EMIS solutions can
enable continuous advanced commissioning and have an estimated savings of between 10% and 20% of
site energy.
Research report available: https://eta.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/publications/1007250.pdf

4 Opportunities and Conclusion

Several themes emerged for each of the research categories in Section 3. This section documents notable
trends, research gaps, and opportunities for growth in each of the research categories:

Integrated Multi-Technology Efficiency Packages

 Trends – There are several emerging technologies and solutions under development within this
category, but few are commercialized; they have been hindered by manufacturers, distributors, and
trades that have historically been siloed and are not sufficiently integrated to easily deploy optimized,
multi-technology solutions.

 Literature Themes – The R&D literature available primarily focuses on the quantification of savings
possible with systems-based approaches relative to traditional widget-based approaches, both in a lab
setting and in the field. Successful results within these investigations can motivate the development of
more integrated multi-technology efficiency packages.

 R&D Gaps – Additional evaluation is needed to prioritize specific high impact packages and the
associated R&D integration opportunities. Inconsistent M&V approaches hinder this by limiting
comparability of results.

Integrated and Optimized Design for New Construction

 Trends – Existing tools and processes are primarily focused on improved interactions and
communications among design-team members. Consequently, such solutions are often implemented
independently by individual firms based on available design guides. Current solutions are still at time
hindered by suboptimal contracts, and an inability to readily incorporate existing building data into the
early phases of building design and modeling, particularly real building data that is useful for whole
building optimization.

 Literature Themes – Integrated design process research seeks improvements in data- and software-
enabled solutions. Data-driven modeling tools can simulate the performance of various building
systems, simultaneously, to analyze the impact of various design changes. Substantial amounts of
research are dedicated to advancing these tools, but also to determining the role they should play in
integrated design process workflows for design teams. Research into the quantification of savings
possible from early collaboration is also gaining traction as a way to justify and create a business case
for implementing these (often costly) approaches.

28
  R&D Gaps – Additional research is needed to pull out best practices and model methods for data-
driven design approaches and how these approaches translate to post-construction operations.
Additionally, these data-driven integrated design approaches need to accommodate newer and larger
sets of real building data. A primary concern for developers of these modeling tools is how to handle
the plethora of data generated by more sophisticated building energy models and the real-world data
that can be leveraged from a range of sources. R&D that streamlines data into software design
tools/considerations, reduces data processing times and increases the volume of data that can be easily
analyzed can impact both the efficacy and usefulness of these technologies.

Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS)

 Trends – EMIS from several commercially available solution providers are quickly gaining adoption
in many buildings. The most promising solutions are extensible, cloud-based platforms with intuitive,
visual user interfaces. The solutions share many similarities, but all differ in implementation, target
building type(s), and ideal use cases, making comparisons between solutions challenging.

 Literature Themes – Much of the current R&D is focused on improving the performance of the
underlying hardware for EMIS (sensors, wireless networks, etc.) and optimizing the physical
deployment of that hardware to reduce the cost of the infrastructure. Software and algorithm R&D is
continually evolving in all respects as vendors learn and improve their systems.

 R&D Gaps – EMIS could benefit from further research into solutions that increase data handling
process sophistication to match growing building EMIS needs. This may include aggregation and
management of existing building datasets as a basis for machine-learning, system/whole-building
optimization and possible autonomous building operation. Many existing EMIS solutions do not have
the capacity to interface with such a large and varied set of data sources. The necessary R&D
advancements for EMIS are closely tied to, and build from, those related to data streams and
repositories (see below).

Data Streams and Repositories

 Trends – Data streams from building systems are continually growing in number and volume as
advanced, connected smart building sensing technologies become ubiquitous in new construction and
retrofit projects. This leads to a greater need for more consistency in IT infrastructure, better, faster
processing algorithms, and smarter ways to collect, share and structure data repositories. Decisions on
how to manage the flow of data, maintain data quality, recover from communication disruptions, and
quickly process such large volumes of data are increasingly vital to successful deployment of the
EMIS and other systems that use the data.

 Literature Themes – The leading building data collection method involves the aggregation and
storage of static data elements, often in a building-specific repository. The data streams may be
collected and stored with numerous incompatible formats and communication protocols, requiring
extra hardware and software processing layers. Such methods can accommodate current data volumes
but may need scalability improvement in the future. Example research covers concepts like “data
lakes” and “fog”, or “edge computing”, as more efficient data handling solutions than today’s typical
repositories. These solutions generally seek to distribute analysis and processing loads to a range of
nodes in the system (e.g. individual building systems) for simultaneous analyses and real-time controls
as opposed to having one central repository from which data is analyzed.

 R&D Gaps – Existing and emerging solutions are inconsistent in the formats of their data,
architecture, and interoperability, making it difficult to integrate and share across buildings,
communities and for national use. As connected buildings and building systems become more
prevalent, there is a need to standardize building data elements to reduce data processing loads and
enable consistency in repositories.

29
Advanced Commissioning
 Trends – The overall trend for commissioning is to move away from single commissioning events
and towards ongoing commissioning processes. Current advanced commissioning systems require
substantial customization in the installation process to integrate all the various systems from different
manufacturers in a building. Future systems seek to leverage existing sensing and analytics
capabilities via plug-and-play compatibility.

 Literature Themes – Recent research has sought to quantify savings of advanced commissioning
systems. The R&D for innovative improvements has focused on the development and evaluation of
methods for integrating with sensors and other hardware in existing building systems instead of
requiring the installation of additional sensors specifically for the commissioning system (duplicating
those within equipment in many cases). Key R&D on this topic covers communication protocols and
processing algorithms. To date, research has focused on a small selection of equipment types.

 R&D Gaps – For advanced commissioning solutions to work with sensors that exist already in
building equipment (and on all equipment in the building), additional research is needed to:

o understand the most important building (sensing and control) data points are necessary to
create the highest impact energy savings,

o ensure that most buildings have connectivity across those data points and,

o enable the standardization of those data outputs to enable plug-and-play type integration with
advanced commissioning systems.

This research will require close collaboration between manufacturers and standards organizations to
help determine the best path to creating building systems that are advanced-commissioning-ready out
of the box.

30
For more information, visit:
energy.gov/eere/buildings

DOE/EE-1741 ▪ January 2018