Identified Simple Solutions for Complex Issues

This Retro-Commissioning project included 25 buildings at the Denver Federal Center (DFC), which included over 3.7 million SF of floor space. 

The main goals of the project were to provide functional testing verification and point-to-point verification of a BACnet controls upgrade provided by the controls contractor for the DFC. Additional goals for the project were to identify energy conservation opportunities associated with the controls and control functionality upgrades. As the lead for the functional performance testing, key staff at Farnsworth Group were given direct control access to the Siemens Building Automation System to provide the functional testing directly. The functional testing included both on site testing and remote testing.

The key findings from the process were the identification of many control sequences that were very complicated and as a result often not functioning properly. In addition to the many functionality issues, many ECMs were identified.

The results of this project identified the need for additional energy studies and the need for simplified controls. These findings resulted in two more projects for Farnsworth Group.