Whether it’s new construction commissioning or existing building retro-commissioning, “commissioning” is about entire systems and their performance.

There are some building types and/or organizations that are nearly always undergoing some sort of facility upgrade, modification, and/or expansion to accommodate evolving needs.

In my previous article on two-system integration, I discussed the four steps for effective integration. Just to recap, those steps are:

Last month’s column introduced the concept of giving “too much control” to the building operators through the BAS graphic.

Sustainability represents many themes to many people. While some have a vested interest in maintaining continued success, others are committed to sustaining for the common good, whether it’s the elimination of poverty, preserving the environment, or other valuable causes.

These days, everyone seems to want a smart building, but taking the desire for a smart building and turning it into a design is difficult to say the least.

Last month, I discussed the benefits of HVAC infrastructure design-build (DB) opportunities for HVAC consulting firms and HVAC contractors. The two main reasons for pursuing DB HVAC infrastructure projects were twofold:

Honestly, the definition of open systems is the most confusing of the three types. Open protocols are pretty straight forward — they’re protocols that communicate with one another.

Much has been written about systems’ readiness for functional performance testing at the end of construction, and pre-functional checklists have become common elements of the commissioning process.