Tool Library Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Smart Buildings Center

SBC Video Training: Identifying Fan Operation During Unoccupied Hours

February 11, 2020 By Britton Rife

Have you seen our new SBC Video Training Series on Diagnostic Tool Applications yet? If not, check out the series on our YouTube Channel or click the link below to watch the second video in the series.

Identifying Fan Operation During Unoccupied Hours
This video demonstrates the use of a motor logger to verify the operating schedule of fans, applicable to any motor driven device such as exhaust fans, supply/return fans, terminal unit fans and pumps. The training covers programming and deployment of the data loggers as well as data analysis.

Thank you to Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light for their support in developing the video training series!

New SBC Video Training: Verifying Proper Operation of Outdoor Air Damper Controls

January 9, 2020 By Britton Rife

Have you seen our new SBC Video Training Series on Diagnostic Tool Applications yet? If not, check out the series on our YouTube Channel or click the link below to watch the first video in the series.

Verifying Proper Operation of Outdoor Air Damper Controls
This video demonstrates the use of portable temperature data loggers to record discharge air temperature (DAT), mixed air temperature (MAT), return air temperature (RAT) and outside air temperature (OAT) as well as supply fan status using a motor logger. The training shows how to program/deploy the data loggers and how to interpret from the data whether damper controls are working as intended.

Thank you to Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light for their support in developing the video training series!

New SBC Video Training Series: Diagnostic Tool Applications

December 26, 2019 By Britton Rife

With support from Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light, the Smart Buildings Center (SBC) has developed a video training series demonstrating practical applications of some of the tools available in SBC’s Tool Lending Library. These demonstrations are especially useful for commercial buildings without a building automation system (BAS), but the concepts can apply to any commercial building. Videos in the series include:

Melissa Sokolowsky, Senior Project Manager at the Smart Buildings Center, demonstrating practical applications of some of the data loggers available in the Tool Lending Library.

Measuring Ventilation System Effectiveness
This video demonstrates the use of a CO2 meter and data logger to measure the effectiveness of the ventilation system. The training covers the programming and deployment of the meter and data logger and as well as data analysis.

Verifying Condensing Boiler Efficiency
This video demonstrates the use of a data logger to measure hot water return temperatures on a condensing boiler to determine whether the flue gas is condensing, and thus operating efficiently. This training shows how to program and deploy a 4-channel data logger with remote sensor, and covers data analysis.

Verifying Boiler Temperature Reset Control (coming soon)
This video demonstrates how to use data loggers to determine whether a hot water temperature reset strategy based on outdoor temperature is in use and working correctly, by monitoring the hot water supply temperature and outside air temperature. The training includes programming and deployment of the data loggers, as well as analysis of the data.

SBC welcomes voltage optimization company, Legend Power

September 10, 2019 By SBC

We’re Legend Power® Solutions Inc. and we’re really pleased to be up and running in the Smart Buildings Center! As we ramp up our presence in Seattle, we couldn’t think of more aligned organizations than NEEC and the SBC. We now have a presence in the Tool Lending Library (you can now borrow our proprietary Voltage Loggers to easily measure real time voltage in your building) and you can check out our interactive map of the scope of overvoltage across Seattle on SBC’s Smart Board.

Legend manufactures the SmartGATE™; an innovative energy conservation and management platform for high-performance buildings. We reduce your building’s energy usage by 3-5% and reduce the impact grid volatility has on your building.

After an initial meeting, a usual first step is to do a voltage profile of the building using our Voltage Logger, which you can borrow for free from SBC’s Tool Lending Library. It lets you see voltage. It simply plugs into a wall socket and records detailed voltage levels in the building. We recommend approximately 2 weeks of data. We download the data from the on-board SD card, from which we then provide the voltage profile for the period.

Curious about your building? Or a client’s building? Check for yourself if your building is over or under voltage, and what you could potentially be saving on energy. SmartGATE™ also improves your building’s resiliency by minimizing downtime due to voltage issues. We combined voltage readings from around town with publicly available Seattle City Light data to create our interactive map of overvoltage, and projected usage and savings. Check it out here: https://legendpower.com/markets/#Seattle, or at the Smart Buildings Center.

We don’t know your issues yet, so we don’t know if SmartGATE™ is a solution for you. But we do know that with almost 300 installed, 74% of our customers have purchased between 2 and 18 systems. They install SmartGATE™, it works, and they install more. We couldn’t put it better than our customer Spencer Wood, Director of Facilities Management at Humber College:

“It’s not like when you change a light… you just save on the light. You change this… you save on everything!”

Building Analytics: Transforming Your Building’s Data into Usable Analytics

September 24, 2018 By SBC

CopperTree Analytics will be presenting at the Smart Buildings Center on October 4th from 10am-11:30am. We will be discussing how our building analytics platform, Kaizen, can help improve building performance through predictive maintenance and energy monitoring. These core functions serve to identify energy savings opportunities, increase occupant comfort and reduce overall energy and maintenance costs. We look forward to meeting and networking with all of those in attendance.

Smart Buildings Center
Pacific Tower
1200 12TH Ave S.
Seattle, WA 98144

Tool Lending Library Update

January 8, 2018 By SBC

The Tool Lending Library at the Smart Buildings Center is implementing a website update which launched on January 1, 2018. Library members will be able to browse the tool inventory and reserve tools directly from the Smart Buildings Center website. The Tool Reservation System has also been improved to include project information for each loan and acknowledgment of the Tool Lending Library polices and customer agreement in one convenient application.

The website update for the Tool Lending Library will simplify the loan process for our members and provide the Smart Buildings Center with information on the specific uses for the tools being borrowed” according to Duane Lewellen, Senior Project Manager for the Tool Lending Library.

The Tool Lending Library is a project of the Smart Buildings Center Education Program and loans a wide variety of diagnostic tools to facility managers and other building professionals to evaluate energy use in their commercial buildings in Washington and Oregon.

Visit the Tool Library now.