Procedure Writing

A facility is made of several systems that all work together to keep a building comfortable for the occupants. Often, these systems do not work as efficiently as we imagine.

As an example, if a facility has two large HVAC systems that automatically start before occupants arrive to condition the facility you may think that the system is optimized for energy efficiency (and it may be), but the system may not be optimized economically.

If you operate your facility with a utility that uses demand charges (nearly all do) and you start both compressors within 15 minutes of each other you may be increasing your demand charges. Simply starting the second HVAC 15 minutes before or after the first HVAC could result in lower utility costs, despite using the same amount of energy and power.

Furthermore, many facilities made up of several pieces of equipment have procedures provided by vendors, however operating a facility uses all of these pieces of equipment together, not one at a time. Taking several procedures and condensing them into one start-up or shut-down procedure, with a focus on energy efficiency, can increase reliability, decrease costs related to energy, and decrease costs related to labor by saving operator time.