What is "Perfect Comfort"?

What should building setpoints be set to?

Being too "hot" or too "cold" seems to remain an issue in buildings, and combating that issue seems to be more and more difficult even with "state of the art" controls. 

More often than not, facility managers' number one complaint is that the occupants (employees and/or customers) are uncomfortable. These so called "little" complaints can end up being a large hassle for companies, as it could potentially drive revenue out the doors!

The future of Building Management is to proactively be able to predict comfort issues before they occur, and stop them from happening in the first place. Many times, this is thwarted because the company typically focuses on the set-point only and doesn't provide a full picture of what's really happening in the zone.

Most weather related reports and forecasts talk in terms of what the "feels like" temperature is. Commercial weather giant, AccuWeather, calls it the RealFeel® temperature. This effective zone temperature uses multiple factors including the temperature, humidity, cloud cover, sun intensity, etc. in order to properly calibrate the temperature so that it is more in line with what the building occupant feels. One of the largest thermostat makers in the world also utilizes this approach. NEST and other advanced "smart" thermostats do so as well for homes.

At PhoenixET, our own Monitoring Center receives complaints from occupants from time-to-time and even though the interior zone sensor is reading within "comfort standards", they insist that it is still uncomfortable. Typically, we then would issue a 24 hour exception, in order to provide some relief.

A lot of times, checking the built-in NOAA weather data in our system reveals a case of extremely high humidity outside. If however, the Building Automation System (BAS) or packaged Rooftop Unit (RTU) does not come with de-humidification controls (or the controls are not working) - the occupant is left in an "uncomfortable" (pardon the pun) situation.

Adaptive Energy Management - How to Use Your Buildings as a Battery

There are other factors that can account for this such as misplacement of temperature sensors, sensors in the shade and other reasons. These less than ideal conditions are the reality and should be accounted for - in any temperature (comfort) management strategy.

Being proactive could mean setting HVAC set points at different offset values from the corporate set-point to correspond with the differing zone temps in order to optimize zone temperatures and to make sure that comfort levels within a given building are true and sensible.

This "effective zone temperature" technology is just one of the many ways PhoenixET is looking to be proactive, in the real-time management and control of energy and comfort, for our customers. For more information please feel free to contact us using the form below.

Posts in this series

Top 3 Benefits of Benchmarking for Facilities Management
What Facility Managers Need To Know About Smart Buildings
Are You Managing Your Energy Spend?
4 Common Myths of Energy Conservation in Building Management
Precision Building Management: Understanding Closed Loop Control