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Description:
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More than $18 billion of energy is wasted annually in the U .S . commercial building sector . Retro -Commissioning services have proven to be successful with relatively short payback times , but tools that support the commissioning effort in maintaining the optimal energy performance in a building are just not readily available . The current work in the field of fault detection and diagnostics of HVAC systems , its cost , complexity and reliance on improved sensor technology , will require years until it can become the mainstay in building energy management . In the meantime , a simplified system is needed today that can be robust and universal enough to use in most types of buildings , address the main concerns of building owners by focusing on consumption deviations that significantly affect the bottom line and provide them some assistance in the remediation of these problems . This thesis presents the results of the development and testing of an advanced prototype of the Automated Building Commissioning Analysis Tool (ABCAT ) , which has detected three significant energy consumption deviations through four live building implementations . The ABCAT has also demonstrated additional functional benefits of tracking the savings due to retro -commissioning efforts , verifying billed utility data in addition to its primary function of detecting significant consumption faults . Although similar attempts have been made in FDD at the whole building level , the simplification , flexibility , robustness and benefits of this new approach are expected to exhibit the characteristics that will be desired and desperately needed by industry professionals . |