Re-tuning Commercial Buildings Resources
Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed a number of useful resources to help re-tune large (>100,000 sf) commercial buildings with building automation systems (BASs):
Re-tuning Classroom Training Material
The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed a building re-tuning process to detect energy savings opportunities and implement improvements. Re-tuning is a systematic process to identify operational problems by leveraging data collected from the BAS and correcting those problems at no-cost or low-cost. Over the past 5 years, PNNL has provided building re-tuning classroom instruction and field training to more than 300 building operators, engineers, and energy managers from more than 30 organizations.
Purpose of Building Re-tuning Training Course
The purpose of this course is to help building operations staff to learn how to operate buildings more efficiently, reduce operating cost and provide energy savings. The knowledge and skills learned through the training will be highly valued by organizations and companies seeking to improve the performance of their buildings.
Intended Audience for Building Re-tuning Course
The intended audience for the building re-tuning training includes:
- onsite employees responsible for day-to-day building operations,
- offsite contractors (retro-commissioning agents or control vendors) hired to improve a building's energy efficiency, and
- people interested in entering this field, including college students and military veterans.
The focus is on large (>100,000 sq. ft.) commercial buildings (office buildings, malls, and schools) with a BAS, but the concepts and techniques presented can be applied to any type and size of facility that has a BAS.
Building Re-tuning Training Material
A set of 10 files used for the building re-tuning classroom training are provided in portable document format (PDF). Click on the PDF link to download the selected file.
Chapter 1: Understand the purpose of re-tuning, definition of building re-tuning and what to expect from the re-tuning training class.
Chapter 2: Understand that re-tuning is the process of learning about a building and then making incremental adjustments to achieve more desirable results.
Chapter 3: Understand the information needed.
Chapter 4: Understand how to use the Energy Charting and Metrics tool.
Chapter 5: Learn how to re-tune air-handling units (AHUs).
Chapter 6: Understand economizer operations.
Chapter 7: Understand terminal units.
Chapter 8: Understand central plants.
Chapter 9: Conduct a thorough building "walk down."
Chapter 10: Re-tune the building based on specific findings.