Trane, a brand of Ingersoll Rand, educated attendees at the World Energy Engineering Conference (WEEC) in Atlanta. WEEC attendees had the opportunity to learn from Trane, a diamond sponsor for the event, during five presentations discussing various ways data can help inform and help improve energy conservation in commercial buildings. Trane also hosted a tour of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA), which has gone through a major renovation resulting in energy reduction by 39 percent.
Spanning topics from energy storage to the success of global high performance buildings, attendees learned about methods and strategies on how data and technology can be leveraged to determine the full potential of a building and delivers measurable results. Leadership from Trane participated in five sessions throughout the event:
- Matt Gates, director of Intelligent Services Offers, on Hear What the Building is Saying – And Translate it to Your Boss
Current technologies offer ways to use big data to assess and prioritize facilities improvement opportunities and also allow users to visualize results. Gates demonstrated how energy engineers can hear what a connected building has to say and how to translate that data into actionable information that decision-makers can comprehend. - Cameron Griffith, solutions advisor, on Convention Center Upgrades Expect to Cut Energy Use by More than a Third
GWCCA’s goal was to cut energy use by reducing annual energy use and the facility’s carbon footprint by 39 percent. Griffith discussed how Trane worked with GWCCA to improve lighting, increase the reliability and performance of heating and cooling solutions, and reduce the center’s carbon footprint to reflect the authority’s commitment to environmental stewardship. - Owen Smith, director, Utility and Grid Solutions, on The Next Evolution: Buildings as a Resource
Internet of Things (IoT) is more than creating value for building owners. It’s also about solving the challenges facing the electric grid, where there is a growing need for system flexibility and energy storage. Smith discussed how the building industry has evolved from an energy-efficiency-only focus to the demand-response approach. As part of his session, Smith addressed how the industry is now evolving to activate connected buildings as grid resources. - Brad Trevillian, director of Energy Services, on Validating Outcomes: The Key to Future Funding
Trevillian examined the challenging process of tackling all identified energy conservation measures at once. Sharing how others have used a model of Analyze-Implement-Validate-Reinvest to start down the path of energy savings and delivering business outcomes, Trevillian outlined industry best practices to start down the path of energy savings and delivering business outcomes. - Patrick Wilkinson, lead project developer, and Wendy Cheung, energy engineer, on Calculations for the Building Environment
With increased prevalence in the energy services market, modeling and savings calculations need to be accurate, but more importantly, it has to be accomplished efficiently and quickly. Wikinson and WanYin examined energy modeling and the importance of an energy engineer’s role, describing best practices for decreasing hours spent during the modeling and savings calculations phase, while keeping the uncertainty to a minimum level.
GWCCA Facility Tour
With 3.9 million square feet under one roof, the GWCCA convention center operates similar to a small city. Convention center upgrades were needed to improve lighting, increase the reliability and performance of heating and cooling solutions, and reduce the center’s carbon footprint to reflect the Authority’s commitment to environmental stewardship.
As a part of a performance contract designed to improve the convention center’s sustainability and efficiency, GWCCA leaders selected Trane through a bid process to conduct an audit to identify opportunities for improvement and supply energy management solutions. The tour highlighted the series of upgrades conducted by the GWCCA and Trane teams to reduce annual energy use and the facility’s carbon footprint. The tour showcased energy management technology including:
- A central plant chiller room, which cools the entire 3.9 million-square-feet of the convention center and replaces three separate chiller rooms.
- An efficient boiler room which replaces the capability of three previous boiler rooms
- An overview of the more than 60,000 LED lamps installed as part of a lighting upgrade
For more information about Trane’s Building Advantage portfolio, visit here.