The Smart Buildings Academy Podcast | Teaching You Building Automation, Systems Integration, and Information Technology

Depending on what "expert" you talk to there are over 60% of the buildings within the United States that are not "optimized". But what does that even mean?

What is an optimized building? Throughout my career, I've seen well-meaning folks damage their building's HVAC and BAS systems in the pursuit of optimization. That's why I'm tackling this topic. The reality is optimization does not equal energy savings. You could achieve "optimization" by simply making sure all the different BAS you have are tied into a single user interface.

So how do you deal with optimization? That is what we cover in this episode of The Building Automation Monthly Podcast.

In this episode we will discuss:

• What optimization is
• How to avoid damaging your building during optimization
• Why you need to avoid retro-opto-commissioning
• My five-step process for optimizing your building automation system

Here's a timeline breakdown of what we cover in the podcast:

• What is optimization and what isn't optimization (2:50)
• The upstream and downstream effects of optimization (4:55)
• Why how you optimize is more important than why you optimize (6:50)
• The dark side of economizer optimization (9:00)
• The two places you need to be careful when doing math (8:00)
• How to protect your code from the janitor operator (9:20)
• Why learning the art of systems thinking is so important (10:55)
• Retrocommissioning and optimization ARE NOT the same thing (12:40)
• The danger of retro-opto-commissioning (15:20)
• The five-step process for optimizing a BAS (19:00)
• Why you need to have SMART goals for your optimization projects (19:45)
• Why socializing your optimization strategies is the dumbest thing you can do (23:25)

Learning logic blocks? How do you do it? Why should you do it? And why should you even care?

Good questions!

If you want to be more than just someone installing thermostats and pulling wire then you need to learn how to program. And what do 90% of the BAS manufacturers have in common? They use graphical programming.

In this episode we will discuss:

• Common Logic blocks
• How to interpret sequences to code
• Code layout and design strategies
• The secret to fast coding

Buckle up this will be one intense episode!

Have you ever wanted to learn how to program a BAS?

In the latest episode of the Building Automation Monthly Podcast we discuss how BAS programming works and how you can go about learning to program HVAC with your BAS programming software.

• Understanding the why behind your programming actions (1:15)
• Why your mentality determines if you can program (5:00)
• The traditional way of learning to program (5:30)
• The questions you need to ask yourself before programming (6:55)
• Is your program user dependent or user independent (9:55)
• What is programming? (12:07)
• How DDC controllers enabled us to write programs (13:00)
• Do you really understand inputs and outputs (15:50)
• How your choice of variable type will determine the safety of your programs (22:05)
• The two ways of programming BAS (25:00)
• Five steps to programming success (27:52)
• The reason you must write your boolean logic before your analog logic (30:40)
• Why following the sequence line for line is a recipe for disaster (33:55)

Have you ever wondered how you control central utility plants? Or how to sequence multiple chillers in a decoupled loop?

If complex central utility plant control is something you'd like to better understand then you are in the right place.

In this episode of the building automation monthly podcast we discuss the control and sequencing of complex central utility plants. We will cover:

-How chilled water systems work

-Control strategies for complex central plants

-The 4 different methods for staging on and off chillers

Do you work with VAV boxes?

Have you ever wondered why you can't maintain a space's temperature setpoint even when all the "controls" seem to be working?

If so this episode is for you. In episode 110 of the Building Automation Monthly podcast, we discuss how to effectively control a space. This episode takes a deep dive into the topic of space control and covers:

• How air changes work
• Strategies for preventing supply fan failures on startup
• The importance of understanding standards
• How ventilation works and the importance of min and max flow settings
• And much, MUCH more

Does reading a building automation control sequence feel like deciphering hieroglyphics?

Having a solid understanding of building automation control sequences is critical for your building automation career.

But how do you learn control sequences? What makes a good control sequence?

How do you understand what a control sequence is telling you to do when it's all mixed up and indecipherable?

It doesn't have to be this way. In this three-part series, we will unpack what control sequences are and how to interpret them.

How do you "do" systems integration. In the final part of this three part series I talk through how to "do" systems integration. I take you step-by-step through 3 of the most common system integration tasks that you will encounter.

Have you ever had a BAS integration project that just seemed to linger on forever? No matter what you did to close out the project the punch list just kept seeming to grow?

If so you're not alone. In this episode, I walk through the five questions you need to answer before you start any BAS integration project.

If you needed to tie to different building automation systems into a new front-end how would you do it?

Now don't just give me the answer of I would use BACnet. How would you actually do it?

What system would take charge?

Would you remove the other BAS's servers?

Would you write to each systems points at different priorities?

What even is systems integration?

That is what my new series What is systems integration seeks to address. In this episode, we unpack what the three most common types of integration are and the gotchas you need to be aware of.

Over the years I've seen some crazy control sequences. And during this time I've picked up some good tips and tricks to help me deal with these scenarios.

In this episode, I am going to walk you through 3 of my best tips for dealing with Control Sequences. If you've been looking for a way to take your knowledge of Control Sequences to the next level then you'll want to check out this episode.