Articles by Rebecca T. Ellis, P.E.

Identifying potential energy-savings opportunities remotely.

Buy-in and trust of the building operators is absolutely critical for virtual retro-commissioning to work.

Strive to understand the equipment, how it’s organized, what it’s intended to do, and how it integrates into systems. 

Some of the best ‘monitors’ of building system performance are occupants who alert the operations staff when there are problems.

Building operators will be challenged to run their HVAC systems in the most energy-efficient manner while supporting evolving space usage decisions.

Carefully evaluate every strategy against its appropriateness for each unique building and HVAC system. 

How and why commissioning is a valuable part of the risk management process.

A typical stamped submittal will have one of the following options checked: approved, approved as noted, revise and resubmit, or reject. 

Regardless of the format, the design team must comprehensively respond to each design review concern that arises.