Undersized chilled water plants aren’t just inconvenient—they’re a daily operational headache for many facilities teams. If you’ve ever battled poor tenant comfort, rising energy bills, or emergency equipment failures, this episode is for you.

This week, we’re diving deep into how to recognize and respond to chilled water systems that can’t keep up with building load. Whether you're managing an aging plant, dealing with building expansions, or planning long-term upgrades, this episode lays out a layered strategy roadmap.

We explore:

• What really causes chilled water plants to underperform

• Immediate control tweaks that make a measurable difference

• Tactical load management for temporary relief

• Medium-term retrofit and supplemental cooling solutions

• Capital planning strategies to future-proof system capacity

These aren’t just ideas—they’re battle-tested solutions for real-world HVAC challenges.

Air handlers in critical spaces are not your everyday systems.

When it comes to operating rooms and clean rooms, standard HVAC playbooks don’t cut it. If you're working in these environments—or supporting teams who do—understanding the deeper logic behind sequences of operation is essential.

This episode is your go-to resource for elevating your knowledge around critical environment control strategies.

Here’s what you’ll explore:

• How air handlers are adapted for high-stakes applications
• The role of pressurization and airflow tracking in contamination control
• Key compliance frameworks every tech and operator should know
• Alarm strategies that actually support uptime and safety
• Tactics for troubleshooting issues before they impact operations

Don’t leave critical space performance to chance.

How many alarms in your BAS require action? If your alarm console feels like chaos, you're not alone. This episode explores how a structured alarm strategy improves operations in large facilities. It focuses on reducing noise, building trust in the system, and ensuring alarms drive the right actions.

This episode helps you align your alarms with what matters so your team can respond with clarity and confidence.

In this episode, we explore:

• What alarms should be and how to distinguish them from notifications
• The impact of alarm flooding, nuisance alarms, and poor prioritization
• How to develop a clear alarm philosophy and define actionable thresholds
• Tactics to standardize, suppress, and escalate alarms effectively
• The connection between alarms, energy efficiency, and predictive maintenance

The right alarm strategy keeps your team focused, your systems efficient, and your tenants comfortable.

Training is often the first thing cut when budgets tighten. But what if you could show that training delivers measurable ROI?

This episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast focuses on how to justify training investments using numbers that matter to leadership.

You’ll learn how to turn training into a proven profit driver.

We cover:

• Why training is undervalued and how to change that
• What to track before and after training to prove ROI
• A clear framework to quantify training impact
• Real-world examples from contractors and facility owner
• How to position training as a profit engine

If you need to defend or grow your training budget, start here.

Are you truly in control of your building systems, or dependent on your vendor?

Vendor lock-in increases costs, slows down repairs, and limits flexibility. But there’s a clear way to reduce risk: internal capability.

This episode of the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast walks through how to shift control back to your team through targeted training and planning.

Key topics include:

• Common signs and causes of vendor lock-in

• Financial and operational impacts of relying on one provider

• How training restores technical and strategic leverage

• Steps to build and maintain in-house capability

• When to use vendors and when to manage tasks internally

If you want more control and less cost, this episode is for you.

The industry is shifting and BACnet Secure Connect (BACnet SC) is becoming the new standard for protecting BAS networks from cyber threats. This episode walks you through what it is, why it matters, and how to prepare for the transition while keeping operations running smoothly.

We’ll explore: • How BACnet SC strengthens cybersecurity for BAS networks • The key differences from BACnet over IP • Practical considerations before implementation • Real-world migration strategies and lessons learned • The future of BACnet SC in smart buildings

Discover how BACnet SC can help secure your BAS network and set the foundation for future-ready building operations.

If you're responsible for training your building automation team and not seeing the results you need, this episode will challenge how you're approaching it. Most internal training programs fail because they miss the mark on what actually drives job performance. This episode will help you refocus on what matters.

We unpack what makes a training program succeed, where most fail, and how to build one that aligns with real work in the field. This is a direct, practical look at solving workforce gaps through focused upskilling.

In this episode, we’ll explore:

• The common breakdowns that weaken internal BAS training
• Core elements that lead to long-term skill retention
• A step-by-step method for designing a results-driven program
• How to measure training impact and know if it's working
• The tools worth using and the ones to avoid

If you want your techs producing real outcomes on the job, this episode will give you the clarity to move forward.

What makes a facility truly "smart"? This episode of the Smart Buildings Academy podcast challenges a common misconception: that automation alone guarantees intelligent facility management. If you've ever invested in advanced building automation systems (BAS) only to find them underutilized or misconfigured, this conversation will hit home.

We walk through the often-overlooked human and organizational factors that determine whether your smart building is actually delivering on its promise. This episode is a must-listen for facility managers, technicians, engineers, and IT professionals working in the building automation industry.

Explore the hidden pitfalls and practical insights around:

• The illusion of intelligence in building automation systems 
• Knowledge gaps that sabotage smart facility operations
• Real-world consequences of poor system understanding
• Training and communication strategies to close performance gaps
• Preparing your teams for future tech like AI and machine learning

If your BAS looks great but underperforms, or if your team struggles to keep up with evolving technologies, this episode provides the perspective needed to take meaningful action.

Listen now and start reclaiming the true potential of your smart facility.

This episode is for building automation professionals ready to improve performance without waiting for a capital project. It focuses on direct, practical actions you can take to increase efficiency, reduce energy waste, and streamline operations using your current BAS tools.

You'll walk away with a checklist of tasks that can be implemented immediately, helping you reduce noise in your system, sharpen team performance, and identify problems before they escalate.

Key areas covered in this episode:

• Auditing your system to spot performance gaps
• Fine-tuning schedules and setpoints to reflect real usage
• Cleaning up point databases for better system response
• Using trends and alarms to find hidden inefficiencies
• Strengthening internal skills and vendor relationships

Every building can run better. Start with these changes today.

Facility managers are expected to do more than ever. Your role now includes managing complex systems, reducing risk, and making decisions that impact the entire organization. This episode outlines what you need to understand to stay effective and relevant.

Building automation systems are evolving. They are no longer just tools for comfort control. They are critical assets for energy management, compliance, cybersecurity, and long-term planning. If your approach hasn't changed, it's time to catch up.

Key topics in this episode:

• How building automation systems have become strategic assets
•   Common vulnerabilities that expose BAS to cybersecurity threats
• The growing use of cloud-based systems and what to evaluate before adoption
• Risks of vendor lock-in and how to maintain system flexibility
• Using analytics to support planning, upgrades, and performance tracking

This episode is for professionals who want to lead building performance, not just maintain it.