NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY MONITORING-BASED COMMISSION

In 2016, NU contacted B2Q to assist their lead controls specialist, who had been manually checking each week whether major pieces of equipment were left running over the previous weekend. B2Q suggested it would be less expensive and would provide a better service to analyze the equipment through our MBCx software, FacilityConneX. FacilityConneX analytics now monitor over (125) AHUs 24/7/365. Use of the tool has helped NU realize over $100,000 per year in energy cost reductions.

Based on the success of the schedule monitoring project, B2Q now monitors labs in Behrakis Health Sciences Center, chilled water plants in Behrakis and the Integrated Science and Engineering Center (ISEC), and all electric meters on campus. FCX's analytics continuously monitor whether the Behrakis labs are maintaining appropriate air change rates and pressurization, per the recent recommissioning project B2Q completed. Similarly, FCX analytics verify that the new chiller plants operate per the proper sequence of operation and alert when system components fail or require service. ISEC is a brand new building opened in 2018 that suffered from operational issues in the chilled water plant from the initial turnover. FCX analytics were added to help diagnose the root cause of the operational challenges, as well as to suggest ways to operate the plant more efficiently.

The electric meters were integrated into FCX to provide NU access to the same visualization tools available for BAS data and to allow NU personnel the ability to analyze meter data alongside BAS data such as equipment runtime, weather data, and heating/cooling system operation to identify patterns and deduce insights about causes in increased energy use on particular meters.