Monitoring-Based Commissioning

Data Analytics Serve An Unplanned Purpose

To take their energy efficiency efforts to the next level, Prince William County Public Schools District (PWCS) engaged with Bernhard (previously ETC Group) in late 2019. The goal was to use improving HVAC operation across a fleet of 27 schools (K-12) and reducing overall utility spend by applying monitoring-based commissioning. Then the intent took an interesting twist.

Bernhard arrived in Virginia to begin site walks on March 9, 2020. While conducting initial site analysis and preparing to deploy data analytics on March 11, 2020, COVID was declared a pandemic. As they shift to remote learning the following week, Bernhard and Prince William Schools made the decision to put the original scope on pause, concentrate on ensuring the schools were shut down properly, and plan to revisit the original scope when the schools became occupied again.

Data Analytics tool played an important role during this shutdown and reopen process. Data analytics were integrates to the building control system and allows the Bernhard engineering team to easily access building performance data. Using data analytics, Bernhard was able to easily examine all of the schools to find out which equipment had not shut down as expected. As buildings became occupied again, we were then able to shift the focus back to the original goal of increasing energy efficiency.

Ongoing Results

Bernhard identified deficiencies in the current sequence of operations and engineered updated sequences to achieve the desired efficiency results. Since the beginning of the project, Prince William has avoided more than $135,000 in energy efficiency penalties, while identifying an additional $92,600 in opportunities. This project will guarantee energy savings, contributing to the district’s sustainability goals.