As owners and tenant occupiers seek to evolve their workplaces in light of the changes in utilization brought about through responses to COVID-19, it is important that we take a fresh look at our how our services are controlled and delivered.
Not long after the early signs of the Pandemic became apparent the Schneider Electric local team spent some time brainstorming how commercial buildings managers can make the most of this difficult time, by reducing energy consumption or improving wellbeing within their assets.
Increase Minimum Fresh Air Rates – Wellness
It’s well known that environments with more fresh air help reduce the spread of coronavirus. Whilst this has a negative energy/NABERs impact, this is a positive health message to tenants who still want staff to turn up every day.
Decrease Fresh Air Rates – Energy
As attendance in the workplace decreases so does the minimum fresh air requirements. From an energy consideration perspective there is now an opportunity to look at the fresh air rates being supplied. If your asset is experiencing far less employees working on site, you may be able to dial down the fresh air you are cycling through the asset – thereby decreasing energy costs.
Zoning – Energy + Wellness
Consider if the installed systems are zoned to allow users to operate in a section of their building/floor at a time. This could work hand in hand with Wellness and Energy by allowing an increase of the fresh air changes to a zone but offset this by putting another zone on a standby mode. Don’t be caught out putting people too close together!
Hot Desks – Efficiency
These are a great way to reduce operating costs for tenants – however with the current climate there is a need to understand how transmission takes place. There are a few opinions on this and generally a good cleaning regime is the key message from health experts.
Technology solutions that track vacant and occupied workplaces offer an additional advantage. They can help employees identify desks with no direct neighbor, or find one that is showing low contamination from VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) picked up from sensing points around the floors. Example systems can include ones like this: https://youtu.be/IlZafgrJViE
Operating Times – Energy
Stop the plant early or widen the control parameters. Ask yourself, is there less residual heat gain due to the lower occupancy rates? Can areas of low use be temporarily separated and disabled – save energy and allow cleaning regimes to be focused on a smaller area?
Lifts – Energy
Many lift operating systems are pretty smart – but not all – consider setting 1 lift out of 4 offline. Less people, less requirement, less energy.
Accelerate – Efficiency
Can refits/upgrades be done when occupancy is low? Whilst counterintuitive, a downturn could support better pricing as there are less users to avoid and contractors are focused on retaining workload.
Assessors and building owners have raised questions with the NABERS National Administrator (NABERS) and the Commercial Building Disclosure program (CBD) about the impacts of COVID-19 on NABERS ratings.
