Most HVAC, BAS, and central utility projects are justified on reliability, not energy. This article explains how those same projects often unlock significant energy savings and utility rebates, and why system-level controls and optimization are the difference between funded and unfunded projects.

The lack of commonly accepted standardized control sequences in our industry is a problem. An absence of a common understanding of our systems should function has led to disjointed operating philosophies and customized control sequences that are often simply wrong, wasting a tremendous amount of energy and producing a variety of negative performance dynamics that can go completely unnoticed throughout the life of the system. ASHRAE Guideline 36 targets this low-hanging fruit by defining the best practices for sequences of operation. It has the potential to influence our industry as positively as any other technology. It will take a cultural shift in the design and implementation of control system installations, but its time has come.