Transforming Building Operations with New Self-Correcting Controls Technology

We are asking more of our buildings than ever before

They must be integrated with a growing ecosystem of distributed energy resources and dynamically coordinated with electricity supplied by a clean grid, and operate affordably, with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions - all while also maintaining health indoor environmental conditions. We have technology to identify operational problems, but not have enough people power to fix them. And while we have best practice control strategies, it is expensive and time consuming to reprogram our existing fleet of building automation systems (BAS).

Advancing market solutions for improved performance

Leapfrogging the status quo, the U.S. Department of Energy and Berkeley Lab have joined forces with the smart buildings industry to deliver leading-edge technology to automatically find and correct controls problems, optimize efficiency, and implement demand flexibility. These capabilities empower users to maximize the value of their building automation system infrastructure.

Building controls are notoriously error-prone

Equipment faults and control problems drive up greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills - to the tune of $17 billion and 90 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent annually. These problems compromise occupant comfort and productivity, as well as equipment life, and make it difficult to coordinate building power use with a clean energy grid.

Smart building software is now even more powerful

Energy management and information systems are already saving owners millions of dollars per year in their buildings, with less than two-year paybacks. In partnership with Berkeley Lab researchers, a network of industry partners is enhancing their platforms with capabilities spanning fault correction, optimal sequences of operation, automated commissioning with root cause failure identification, and best practice demand flexibility.

Today, we have merged analytics and control to automatically find and fix equipment and control problems as they arise, and scale best in class efficient, demand-flexible operations.

Berkeley Lab's partners include

With a click, staff can authorize automated fixes that shorten the time between fault detection and resolution, and conduct automated commissioning.

And with the same approach, demand-flexible and efficient control sequences can be pushed to HVAC equipment across buildings and portfolios – all without reprogramming the building automation system.

“The work that Berkeley Lab is doing to promote automated commissioning will change the game for building energy management and operations. It is a big next step in the evolution of smart buildings: fixing control problems with the push of a button, locking in savings, and directing staff time to where it’s most needed.”

Michael Robbins
Lockheed Martin (contract, Emory University)

Interested in learning more?

Building owners: Please contact us to learn more about how to acquire and use these technologies.

Software providers: Please contact us for assistance to incorporate these open-source corrective solutions into your products, and to extend the current library.

By integrating optimal control and fault diagnostics capabilities we can now:

Reserve operations and maintenance staff expertise for the hardest problems
Maintain efficient, in-tune building operations
Scale the delivery of low-carbon demand-flexible buildings through software-based product infrastructure

A Fix-it and Easy Button for Building Controls

We have developed solutions to automatically resolve the most common building controls problems, and deploy the most impactful best practices. These new technology capabilities are applicable to smaller buildings with packaged heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, as well as large buildings with built-up systems.

Correct zone temperature setpoints to operational intent
Correct programmed schedules to operational intent
Optimize economizer high-limit lockout temperature setpoint
Release unnecessary control overrides
Correct biased temperature sensors
Implement best practice AHU static pressure setpoint rest
Implement best practice AHU supply air temperature setpoint reset
Identify and suppress rogue zones in AHU reset strategies
Correct control hunting (automated PID loop tuning)
Implement best practice demand flexibility
Conduct automated functional testing (commissioning) with root cause failure analysis

Additional Information:
Success stories, algorithm specifications and field test results

Transforming Commercial Building Operations with SkySpark

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2023

CopperTree Analytics and Berkeley Lab Partner to Drive Innovation in Smart Buildings

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2023

Implementation guidance for fault-free optimal control

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 2023

Development and Implementation of Fault-Correction Algorithms in Fault Detection and Diagnostics Tools

Energies 13(10), 2020

From fault-detection to automated fault correction: A field study

Building and Environment 214, 2022

Implementation and test of an automated control hunting fault correction algorithm

Energy and Buildings 283, 2023

SkySpark User?

In addition to the algorithm specifications provided in the above publications, we have released open-source Haxall/Axon reference code to assist SkySpark users in implementing a subset of the fault-free optimal control strategies.

Access the Code

Contact us

Berkeley Lab is excited to continue bringing these capabilities to our nation’s buildings.