Building Optimization: What Is It and Why Should You Apply It?

Building optimization is the process of collecting credible data on a building’s performance and longevity. This data could be about a planned construction or an existing building. It uses data capture technology and analytical software which digests the information and offers insights on a building’s performance based on its current design and build.

For forward-thinking owners and administrators, building optimization is crucial because it gives insight on how to keep costs low across the board, from the construction phase to the energy costs once the building becomes operational. More importantly, it can reveal what needs to be done to improve performance and ensure longevity.

Measuring Building Performance

It is the mark of a seasoned builder to measure building performance, identify goals, and map out strategies for achieving said goals. For instance, if you own a mixed-use building and lease it to commercial establishments and corporate clients, you’ll want to ensure not just the integrity of the infrastructure but also the building’s performance in the following areas:

• Ease of movement for both foot and vehicle traffic
• Reliability of emergency facilities
• Flexibility of the interior design and floor layout
• Ventilation
• Lighting, both natural and artificial
• Accessibility from public access roads

These matters, along with many others, are important because they are also the main concerns of commercial and corporate lessors. Businesses will always prioritize cost-efficiency, and if they can’t get that from your building, they will look for it elsewhere.

Building optimization, therefore, is ideal for commercial and corporate buildings. It is even more essential for industrial facilities where inefficiencies can cause massive production delays and increases in overhead costs.

Areas Covered by Building Optimization

The U.S. Department of Energy identifies two main benefits of building optimization:

1. Minimize the cost of ownership.
2. Maximize energy savings.

The department also adds that it’s best to perform optimization tests and research before the construction or retrofit because it enables builders to improve the current plans on design, material choices, and construction methods without causing financial losses for the project. Optimization can also happen post-construction, although your ability to improve your building’s physical structure would already be limited.

The Advantages of an Optimized Building

Through building optimization, you can create actionable measures that can accomplish the following:

• Enhance the indoor environment of your building
• Increase the comfort of all occupants. This means ensuring that the air quality, lighting, and temperature level all stay within comfortable levels even with minimal effort or cost on the side of the administrators or lessees.
• Elevate the overall experience of all occupants, whether customers, visitors, employees, or commercial tenants.
• Keep the building’s operating costs low.
• Ensure the integrity of all critical systems in the building (e.g., sewage, air conditioning, ventilation, heating, emergency protocols).
• Optimize energy systems.
• Reduce energy costs. An energy-optimized building (e.g., buildings with an LEED certification) reportedly consume 25 percent less energy and 11 percent less water compared to non-green buildings.

After Gathering Insights on Building Performance, What Next?

Buildings are built with specific uses in mind. For instance, a school is built and wired differently from a hospital, as well as from an industrial facility.

When implementing the findings of a building optimization study, therefore, you need to choose contractors that understand the demands of your daily operations. For example, you wouldn’t want an electrical contractor who only focuses on lowering power consumption and disregards the legitimate demands of your building’s occupants and operations.

Data is power, but it can only truly impact your enterprise if you take insights from it and implement them accordingly. Use building optimization to discover how to make your property cost- and energy-efficient. More importantly, find contractors who can implement improvements based on your newfound insights.

Make Pro Circuit Inc. your trusted contractor for electrical network reconstructions. You don’t need to conduct a formal building optimization study before calling us. We are a trusted and established electrical services company for industrial and commercial facilities in Kansas. We discover ways to optimize power systems and reduce energy consumption and costs in commercial buildings and industrial facilities.

Explore our website, and contact us for a consultation today.