ATLANTA – Guidance to specifying engineers and designers on how they can use building data to improve building operations, energy efficiency, comfort and sustainability will be developed through newly funded research from ASHRAE.

Research Project 1633, “Data and Interfaces for Advanced Building Maintenance and Operation,” will result in development of a set of standard data-driven metrics, interfaces and dashboards for advanced building operation and management.

It was one of three projects totaling $430,000 approved by ASHRAE at its 2011 Winter Conference.  The 1633 project is sponsored by Technical Committee 1.4, Control Theory and Application, and co-sponsored by 7.6, Building Energy Performance, and TC 7.9, Building Commissioning, and was awarded to KGS Buildings, Cambridge, Mass.

“Analyzing and interpreting building performance data is critical to the success of high performance buildings,” Stephen Samouhos, Ph.D., principal investigator, said. “This research will help fill a void in standards literature by establishing data-driven metrics, interfaces and dashboards, organized by building type, that clearly quantify and communicate building performance to a diverse set of building stakeholders.”

The other two projects approved at the Winter Conference are:

• 1580-RP, “Study of Input Parameters for Risk Assessment of 2L Flammable Refrigerants in Residential Air Conditioning and Small Commercial Refrigeration Applications,” sponsored by TC 3.1, Refrigerants and Secondary Coolants; awarded to Navigant Consulting Inc.

• 1613-RP, “Update Climatic Design Data in Chapter 14 of the 2013 Handbook, Fundaments,” sponsored by TC 4.2, Climatic Information, awarded to Numerical Logistics Inc.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.