Opening Night Dinner
President's Award

Opening Plenary Session

• Kevin S. Law, President and Chief Executive Officer, Long Island Power Authority

BCA Best Practices in Commissioning: Existing Buildings and New Construction

As the commissioning industry grows, both in new construction and in existing building (also known as retrocommissioning), standardization of processes is quickly becoming a necessity. To address market demands, the BCA has authored Best Practices in Commissioning Existing Buildings and is currently creating the Best Practices in Commissioning New Construction. The term “Best Practice” generally refers to the best possible way of doing something and is derived from the process of taking the most successful elements from many different sources and combining them to create the optimal process or approach. These Best Practices are intended to provide a practical process that provides guidance and assists in the standardization of the Commissioning industry. A culmination of over two years of research and work, these practices were formulated through input by dozens of commissioning-industry professionals, multiple industry associations, utility-program personnel and comment by the public.

• Mark Miller, Strategic Building Solutions, LLC

A Building Revisited: The Recommissioning of a Building

The Pratt Recreation Center at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University (LIU) opened in April 2002. The 77,000-square-foot recreational facility contains a 3,000-seat gymnasium with three full-size basketball and volleyball courts, an eight-lane swimming pool and fitness rooms.

HEA commissioned the facility during the original construction, which was a design build project. HEA provided commissioning services for all mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems, as well as such distinctive sports-themed elements as the bleachers and scoreboard. Only six months were required for LIU to receive a return on its investment in commissioning the facility, and they also received NYSERDA and LIPA funding for a portion of the commissioning fee. Commissioning identified approximately $44,000 in annual energy-related cost savings by detecting and correcting system deficiencies. HEA was able to respond to the challenges that the commissioning process faced, which were to be expected from a design build construction project.

Now, six years later, LIU has made the decision to recommission the facility to be proactive in ensuring the efficiency of the building systems and because some of the intended uses have changed. The university has done an excellent job of maintaining the facility; however, issues that are not apparent in the operation and maintenance process do arise during the commissioning of an existing building. Once again, LIU was able to get funding for recommissioning the Pratt Recreation Center with a utility grant from LIPA.

HEA will explore the changes that were made to the facility as well as discuss how the facility has been altered over the years of operation. In addition, we will discuss the methodology of recommissioning a six-year-old facility, as opposed to new construction, and how to address and implement the issues found.

• Michael English, Horizon Engineering

Comparing Commissioning Across LEED Products

This panel discussion will outline and compare commissioning requirements for the following LEED products: NC, EB, OM, CI, and CS. Each LEED product is unique and you will leave with an in-depth knowledge of the submission requirements, the overall commissioning requirements for pre-reqs and credits, and increased knowledge of which product might be best suited for your building.

Moderated by:

• Emmillee Hogan, Liberty Engineering LLP

Quantifying the Benefits of Commissioning

• Lia Webster, Portland Energy Conservation, Inc.

Breakfast Session: BCA Building Certification Program

Grab some breakfast and spend time learning about a proposed BCA certification program. After an overview of the program, which is based upon BCA Standards and Best Practices, you’ll have the chance to ask questions and provide input to help further the development of the program.

The intent of this program is to unite the existing deliverables of the BCA and further establish the BCA as the commissioning authority in the industry.

• Shannon Steward, EMC Engineers, Inc.

Keeping High-Performance Buildings High-Performance

Using data sets culled during retrocommissioning projects, this session will address how the use of typical learned energy conservation habits used in older facilities can ruin the intended energy efficiency of the HVAC design. Several operator myths will be debunked and you’ll have a greater understanding, through lesson learned and analysis of energy use and thermal environmental comfort data, of why proper operation with high performance equipment is critical.

• Steven M. Caulfield and William A. Turner, Turner Building Science & Design, LLC

Commissioning Multifamily Buildings

Though commercial building commissioning has been occurring for decades, it is a relatively new practice in the multi-family residential sector. This session will review the status of multi-family commissioning as done through programs across the U.S. through Austin Energy, Seattle City Light, Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), NYSERDA and others; and compare the multi-family commissioning measures encouraged or required through these programs, as well as successes and lessons learned. In addition, Austin Energy's experience in implementing commissioning as a program requirement will be discussed, including experience with prescriptive vs. general commissioning requirements for multifamily buildings. Recommendations are made for organizations interested in developing commissioning programs for multi-family buildings.

• Anne Johnson, Austin Energy

CCP Exam Writing Session