LOBOS

Enhancing Building Comfort

By Erica Rascón on Sep 27, 2016 in Technology

For facility managers, seasonal changes are always a challenge. External temperatures fluctuate. Occupant attire straddles the coverage spectrum. You can tell by the flood of emails that you receive (and the dirty looks that you get at lunch) that occupant comfort is not optimal. 

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Occupant comfort is a tricky science. As a facility manager, you balance the temperatures between 72° – 76° F for your office spaces because you know the workers will be sedentary. In more active environments, like retail and schools, you drop the temperatures between 68° – 74° F.

You know that these temperature ranges will keep about 90 percent of the occupants happy, which is the industry standard.

Yet the ASHRAE recommended temperature ranges are broad enough to cause discomfort amongst the 90 percent, especially during changes in season. Biological differences play a role in comfortable conditions.

Yardi LOBOS® (Load Based Optimization System) for commercial properties makes it easier to achieve optimal occupant comfort while saving energy even during seasonal transitions.

LOBOS is an intelligent HVAC energy optimization software platform that can help you maximize efficiency, by automating demand management, peak load reduction. and demand response events. It does this by sending temperature, pressure, and speed set point adjustment signals to the existing HVAC components every 60 seconds to produce just enough cooling resources to satisfy the cooling demand in the spaces The LOBOS Cloud automatically stores HVAC trend data that operators find useful in creating a host of ad hoc reports of system operation and performance. The LOBOS software suite gives you a complete understanding of how your building is performing and automatically makes subtle real-time adjustments to maximize occupant comfort and energy savings.

Adding LOBOS to an existing HVAC system typically boosts savings by 20 percent or more with an ROI in fewer than 3 years.

The LOBOS Fault Detection and Diagnostics tool cut costs even more: the software will alert you of errors and faults in your HVAC system before they cause costly energy waste. By detecting problems early, you can save your company thousands of dollars in energy and avoidable repairs costs.

While the cost savings and improved occupant comfort levels are enough to make you Employee of the Month, another Yardi Smart Energy Suite offering ensures that you will reap the benefits of the system for years to come. Yardi PowerShopping® will help you discover energy purchasing alternatives for even greater cost savings.

PowerShopping reduces your energy budget risk by compiling the most competitive rates from reliable energy suppliers in deregulated U.S. states. This service digs deep into market research, load profiling, legal contract review, RFP process management, and bid analysis. In the end, you receive a concise presentation showing the financial implications of each option.

This behind the scenes work may not be something that occupants can feel but these solutions help you achieve above and beyond workplace performance. That’s certainly something that will get you back into the social graces of the team (even the ones who chronically petition for space heaters at work).

Learn more about LOBOS and our Smart Energy Suite here.