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Remote intelligence capabilities help American University reduce costs, improve efficiency

Washington, D.C. – Universities large and small are under intense pressure to improve their educational environments and reduce costs to better accommodate faculty and students. American University faces unique challenges for its 84-acre campus in prestigious northwest Washington D.C. as it transforms itself into “an academically distinctive, intensely engaged and student-centered community”, one that provides the ideal balance between financial responsibility and educational priorities. Like most institutions, the University must maximize efficiency without compromising effectiveness.

Client Objectives

The University formulated a 15-point strategic plan that would transform the institution. The plan identified the reduction of costs and increased operational efficiency over three years as keys to the plan’s success. In searching for ways to achieve these objectives, the remote analysis and optimization technology that powers Infometrics caught the attention of the University’s physical plant management. Infometrics is a comprehensive, ongoing process, performed by industry specialists offsite, that helps institutions resolve operating problems, improve comfort, optimize energy use and identify retrofits for existing buildings and central plant facilities.

Solution Overview

A remote analysis and optimization program was created for three of the University’s buildings, comprising three components: facility data acquisition, remote expert analysis and reporting. The aim was to give building operations personnel unbiased recommendations and management information so they could reduce costs and enjoy the many benefits of continuously commissioned buildings.

A site survey was conducted with a needs analysis and assessment of all facilities, including gathering relevant, existing performance data and site histories. Cimetrics' Infometrics team also ensured that the University's existing building automation system had the tools and capabilities to facilitate mining, compiling, transmitting and monitoring large amounts of real-time data."

Non-intrusive, secure BACnet™ connectivity was established between the existing building automation system and the remote database to mine and transmit continuous, real time facility data. The Infometrics team installed and configured a firewall-friendly BACnet routing device as the communications interface for 3,000 points.

The analysis and optimization program provides timely report recommendations designed to assist systems engineers with fault detection, troubleshooting and problem solving while prioritizing maintenance issues and reducing downtime.

With the intelligence provided in the analytical reports, the University is given unbiased snapshots of energy, maintenance and operational recommendations that offer opportunities to reduce costs and optimize equipment for reliable operation.

Client Results

The University does not have the metering to verify building-by-building savings, but for the three monitored buildings, resolutions to the types of problems found could lead to savings in the range of $125,000 in potential energy savings.

Physical plant operations had an initial increase in the number of repair work orders in the monitored buildings related to the problems identified through the monitoring process. Most of the problems identified had the potential for, and some were actually having, a direct impact on occupant comfort. The increased ability to find and fix these problems before they resulted in an occupant comfort call is in line with the physical plant’s strategic direction and is leading to fewer occupant comfort calls.

The remote analysis uncovers faults, diagnostics and value for the University – through the eyes of expert, unbiased professionals – that cannot otherwise be reasonably detected or uncovered from a one-shot survey of the buildings or addressed with an off-the-shelf software product.