Sherlock Holmes, Cx Agent In building construction, so many issues can be hidden from plain view — sometimes literally behind brick walls — and often no one even knows they’re there, until the day they become a problem. That’s where we come in. At SES, we work with a wide range of building designs [...]
Most of what I’ve learned in this industry hasn’t come from books or the classroom. A lot of what I’ve learned has come from the field. The field is where the buildings and their systems tell you their real story, where people bring their perspectives and expertise, and where collaboration either comes together or [...]
At Sustainable Engineering Solutions (SES), we’ve built our firm around a simple idea: when you take the time to understand the real "why" behind a project, everything else falls into place. That belief is embodied in what we call The SES Way — a structured yet flexible approach to every service we offer, built [...]
When Sustainable Engineering Solutions (SES) decided to expand its presence into Massachusetts and Rhode Island, it wasn’t just about adding pins to a map. It was about being closer to our projects, improving collaboration, and delivering the fast, responsive service that defines our approach. But more than that, it was about embracing new opportunities [...]
Non-residential facilities typically have multiple cost components on their electric energy bills. The two largest components are the consumption charge (kilowatt hours consumed over the billing period) and the demand charge. The demand charge is based on the amount of instantaneous power the building draws at any given time, typically within any 15-minute period [...]
In our previous article, “What is Retro-Commissioning?”, we covered some of the signs that may indicate that your facility could benefit from Retro-Commissioning (RCx). In this article, we’ll dive deeper into some of those signs, discussing what they mean and what problems they may be symptomatic of. Increased energy consumption It is not the [...]
As a facility manager, you're likely always looking for ways to improve your building's performance and reduce energy consumption. One of the ways you can accomplish this is to implement a retro-commissioning program within your facility. Retro-commissioning, or RCx, involves identifying and fixing problems in an existing building's systems to optimize performance and reduce [...]
Retro-Commissioning (RCx), sometimes referred to as Existing Building Commissioning (EBCx), is an important process for optimizing the performance of existing buildings. It involves the comprehensive evaluation of a building’s systems, their components, and how they interact with each other. The goal of RCx is to identify areas of improvement in the building’s operation maintenance, [...]
Laboratories, whether in a college/university, medical building, or research facility, are one of the highest energy-consuming functions in any building. Lab spaces require large amounts of outside air, have high air change rates, and in many cases strict space temperature and humidity requirements. The HVAC systems that serve these spaces typically operate 24/7, 365 [...]
When a multi-zone variable air volume (VAV) air handling system is designed, you might notice that the scheduled leaving air temperature of this unit is about 55°F. Why is that? The 55°F setpoint is based on the typical cooling space temperature and relative humidity (RH) setpoints commonly needed in buildings, which typically ranges from [...]
