Application of the Continuous Commissioning Process at a K-12 School Distrcit Located in Cental Texas

The Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station has successfully applied the Continuous Commissioning (CC) process at twenty (20) schools (14 elementary, 3 middle, and 3 high schools) and two (2) service buildings in the Austin Independent School District (AISD), over a seven (7) year period from 2005 to 2012 covering over 2.3 million square feet of conditioned space. Measures were implemented and tuned to accommodate specific existing conditions or HVAC configurations with the goal of improving comfort while reducing overall energy costs. These energy reduction measures contributed to 16% savings in electricity and 37% savings in natural gas consumption. The energy savings amount to a total cost savings of $650,997 ($0.27/sq.ft.) per year, which is 18% of the total energy costs. This study summarizes the problems identified and solved through the CC process, and energy consumption savings achieved in the facilities. The paper also discusses lessons learned regarding effective selection and implementation of corrective and optimization measures across the district, along with the future direction of the CC process as a key component in the overall energy management strategy for the school district