In Times of Uncertainty, MSPs Lead with Energy Ideas that Many Have Overlooked
Insights by Corey Ferguson, Certified Energy Manager | Optimization Engineer | Key2Act
We share in your struggles to understand how to adapt to the changing market conditions and have many interesting observations from conversations with HVAC leaders that are formulating the best recommendations to be of relevance and high value to their building clients.
The first thing that is common in every conversation with MSP clients is how can you be of service to building clients with ideas that will help them succeed in uncertain times. People react to uncertainty based upon three primary instincts: Flight, Fight or Freeze. The key to help customers act (fight) with a purpose to help building owners save money and mitigate risk.
Unique Market Conditions
Unfortunately, many tenants have either temporarily vacated their occupancy (e.g., schools, restaurants, etc.) or significantly reduced occupancy to only essential personnel leaving many areas of the building unoccupied. The question every MSP is pondering to find the best answer is: What you can proactively recommend to your clients to save on operating expenses and to mitigate risk in the interim?
Ideas from the Front Line
I’m going to share some constructive ideas I’ve heard to help your customers adapt their HVAC operating parameters to converse their resources. Of course, the last thing on anyone’s mind is: Should I be shutting down/reducing my HVAC operation? What’s getting the lion share of time in customer’s minds is what matters most, which is their employees, coworkers, families, and if they personally have key staples from the grocery store. You can help by advising them on the best ideas to optimize their buildings.
The Current Situation with Buildings
MSP clients are sharing that many buildings are still operating under normal operation with no changes or potentially changed without thinking through the best way to make operational changes. What’s unique is that some buildings have zero occupancies (e.g., K-12 and University Campuses) while others have a combination of zero occupancies (e.g., retail space) and reduced occupancy (e.g. offices). Then there are the mission-critical buildings that are experiencing increased occupancy to help us stay healthy and safe. (e.g., hospitals, 911 centers, urgent care, Ambulance dispatch, public safety-fire/police, etc.)
Energy $avings Opportunities
For unoccupied and combo buildings that are semi occupied, here’s what I’ve been hearing from MSP professionals around the country on some of the best practices they are recommending to their clients.
Many are proactively reaching out to building owners and property managers to give their expert advice on how to optimize their HVAC and BAS systems to maintain their buildings at the lowest possible cost.
To do that, they are focusing on a top of mind issue for their clients, which is cash flow. Reducing energy consumption dramatically reduces operating expenses to conserve cash. The question is: How can you best adapt HVAC operation to unoccupied or reduced occupancy buildings with not introducing risk to the ongoing health of the building or the HVAC systems.
The clients I’ve consulted with are quickly assessing their client’s needs to expedite changes to schedules and set points on their HVAC equipment in key areas with reduced occupancy. This is a huge value add to their clients that haven’t yet made any changes (paralyzed in taking action) or have, in many cases, made changes that aren’t the most optimum. What I found interesting was that many MSPs commented that a side benefit of optimizing energy performance was the reduced impact on the utility grid from commercial buildings since the country is experiencing the inverse, which is increasing energy demand by people working from home. In addition, many MSPs that also service residential are seeing an increase in calls for home heating and air conditioning service calls.
Out-of-the-Box Thinking
What was surprising to hear as a recommendation that many building owners and property managers haven’t considered is increasing the pressurization of their building to eliminate outside environment impact, which could result in pulling in air from adjacent spaces that could lead to cross-contamination.
Another big picture thought shared that many folks haven’t even considered is that it’s important that freeze protection guidelines are followed to make sure that costly damage isn’t inadvertently caused when altering the building’s operation. This will ensure that in cold conditions, the building infrastructure is maintained, and pipes and coils do not accidentally freeze or rupture, causing costly damage resulting in unnecessary building downtime during repairs. Plus, no one wants the hassle of filing insurance claims, which could further delay to remediation/construction process.
Now it’s your turn to take some of these ideas and have a conversation with your customer.
About the Author
Corey Ferguson, Certified Energy Manager | Optimization Engineer | Key2Act
10+ Year Advising in Energy Services/Performance Contracting
· Advising customers on Energy Services/Performance Contracting projects and developing Energy Conservation Measures (ECM’s) for the past 10 years.
· Hands-on experience implementing and measuring the impact ECM’s by applying reporting and analytics insights for energy projects.
· Six years in the trenches of turning analytics into action for energy projects and managing maintenance projects.
· Passionate at finding energy and maintenance saving opportunities for building improvements.