Sunset Towers: How Recommissioning Leads to Large Energy Savings

Is it possible to achieve large energy savings with minimum capital investment, by using existing equipment to its full potential?

In 2018, Impact Engineering was engaged by More Than a Roof Housing Society, to study its Sunset Towers facility, and to understand the potential for building recommissioning to achieve energy savings.

With Study and Capital funding from the FortisBC Custom program as well as BC Housing’s EERP program, Impact achieved a measured 25% reduction in natural gas use, resulting in a simple payback under 2 years after Fortis incentives.

This is the story of how thoughtful targeted actions lead to approximate savings of 50% in base energy use (primarily DHW) and 10% in heating related energy use.

Building Systems

Sunset Towers, located in Vancouver, BC, consists of two towers (16 storey, 23 storey) covering a total of 150,000 ft2 of conditioned space. The buildings are heated by a central mechanical plant supplying hot water to radiators, to rooftop ventilation units and to heat exchangers for production of domestic hot water.

At the heart of the plant are five (5) 1,500 MBH condensing boilers. 

First Impressions

At Impact, our design philosophy is centered on uncomplicated systems, which are easy to operate and to maintain. On our first site visit to Sunset Towers, we realized that though the main equipment was high efficiency, the complexity of the existing plant did not facilitate efficient operation.

It was also clear upon review and in speaking with the maintenance contractor that the building DDC system had failed to perform its function. As a result, manual adjustment was necessary.

The combination of these factors was preventing mechanical equipment from achieving its high efficiency potential.

Energy Saving Strategies

Decoupling Domestic Hot Water from Space Heating

The first step to unlocking the energy savings potential was the physical piping separation of DHW and space heating. This eliminated a complex control valve arrangement and allowed boilers to match demand.

Two (2) boilers now serve DHW and three (3) serve space heating, providing redundancy for each system. Manual shut-off valves were installed to enable reconnection of the entire plant if needed.

Boilers System controls with DDC

A new DCC control system was installed, which allowed space heating boilers to follow an outdoor air temperature reset curve. Ventilation supply temperature also follows an outdoor reset curve and air volume is adjusted seasonally.

Rather than store DHW at continually elevated temperatures, a Cleanse Mode was programmed to allow the DHW boilers to operate in their highest efficiency range.

DHW System Improvements

The DHW boiler circulation pumps were replaced with smart pumps to respond to actual DHW demand and DHW storage was reduced from (3) tanks per zone to one (1) tank per zone.

DHW recirc pumps were disabled from 11pm – 6am and only activated during operational hours when the recirc temperature drops below a setpoint.

Zone Control System

Existing zone thermostats consisted of manual lever arm models that were inaccurate and were often set for temperatures as high as 30°C with windows left open to combat overheating.

These controls were replaced with digital battery-operated thermostats with pre-programmed temperature range limits.

Following the Savings

In the first year of operation post retrofit, Sunset Towers saved more than 4,000 GJ and over 200 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Our monitoring has shown that most of these savings (almost 50%) came from the base load (primarily DHW). All the actions described above made this possible.

Additional space heating savings are possible beyond the current 8% reduction. We plan to further optimize this system by reviewing DDC logs for opportunities to match loads as closely as possible.

Opportunities Abound

This experience makes it clear that there are substantial energy savings waiting to be unlocked in existing buildings and that these savings do not require substantial investment in new equipment.

Owners and Operators have a fantastic opportunity to realize this value.

If you’d like to chat about recommissioning and simple energy strategies, contact us anytime.