Retro-commissioning to improve energy efficiency in high-performing buildings

LEED certification and ENERGY STAR benchmarking continue to grow in popularity for existing buildings as pressures mount to control operating expenses. As a result, attention to energy efficiency has become commonplace, and managing a building's energy performance is standard procedure among both the Fortune 500 and an ever-growing number of facility managers.Committed to that theory is Patrick Johanning, energy manager at CBRE. Acting on a hunch that he could improve energy efficiency and reduce operating costs among his most energy efficient facilities, Johan-ning looked into retro-commissioning (RCx) for his client's portfolio of buildings. The result was a retro-commissioning (RCx) project in Springfield, IL, which produced an 11.4% energy savings on his HVAC system, in a building that had previously been certified LEED® Gold and had an 89 Energy Star® score. © Copyright Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).