Services

Thurston Engineering Services provides engineering services for commercial buildings, new and old. Also, we can help corporations by advising and certifying their energy and greenhouse gas initiatives.

While our services are grouped into four major categories, within those categories we provide primary services for LEED credit — commissioning for EAp1 Fundamental Commissioning of Building Energy Systems and EAc3 Enhanced (formally Best Practice) Commissioning; simulation for EAp2 Minimum Energy Performance and EAc1 Optimize Energy Performance and EAc5 Measurement and Verification model calibration; and energy management for EAc5 Measurement and Verification. We also provide similar services for the Green Globes assessment and rating system.

We provide services to help clients obtain Federal and Provincial Energy Grants: energy management in auditing a building for its energy use, designing retrofit projects, managing the implementation of retrofit projects, monitoring ongoing building energy use, complete management of paperwork and the government process; commissioning of retrofit projects; and greenhouse gas inventory and documentation of reductions with projects.

Finally, we provide services that have an economic return on their own — retro-commissioning a building that has never had a comprehensive system integration and operation check; energy management in auditing facilities so that you know where energy dollars are being spent and find the highest return projects; simulation to determine the most cost effective energy designs for your building; and greenhouse gas management in mitigating risk with potential legislation in this area.

Commissioning

Whether it is LEED Commissioning (Fundamental EAp1, Best Practice EAc3, Enhanced CI EAc3), Retro-Commissioning, Re-Commissioning or Commissioning of a new “non-LEED” project, commissioning is a vital and beneficial service for building owners.

Commissioning will ensure that your mechanical systems (HVAC) and the systems that control them (Building Management Systems, Energy Management Control Systems) function correctly before you, the Owner, take them over. In our decade of experience, there has not been a single job where all the systems worked the first time.

Benefits: Fewer call backs; minimized energy consumption; optimized indoor air quality and occupant comfort; fewer complaints to building operations staff

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Energy Audits

Some form of an energy management program is becoming a necessity for building owners as energy prices unpredictably fluctuate and buildings become older and are in need of a good renewal plan.

Our services often first involve benchmarking and auditing the facility to figure out where your energy dollars are being spent, resulting in a list of reduction ideas complete with budget numbers and estimated savings/return. After that, we can see your selected projects from design to implementation, from obtaining available funding to ongoing monitoring of systems to ensure you are seeing the benefits of your new energy management program.

Benefits: a reduction in your monthly utility bills resulting from knowledge of where your energy dollars are being spent and action on the biggest return retrofits; a smart and optimized capital plan of retrofits for your budget; financial help from federal and provincial programs to implement your projects; an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions.

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Energy Simulation, Daylight Modelling

While design team members have their rules of thumb for energy performance of specific designs, computer programs can be applied to independently verify the designed energy savings against a minimum standard building, and to determine early in design if it is more cost effective to invest in highly insulating windows or in a high efficiency boiler, as examples. With experience in modeling many buildings in the prairie region, our energy simulation professionals can provide additional expertise to the design team in energy design.  Further, adding daylight simulation early in design can help achieve that LEED credit and all of its intent in improving indoor environment quality, while optimizing energy use.

Benefits: determine most cost effective design alternatives; verify energy performance of your building; provide rough estimate of magnitude of upcoming energy bills; achieve an optimized indoor air quality through daylight use while balancing against energy savings.

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Measurement & Verification

The norm is for a team of professionals to intensely focus on the functionality of a building while it is being designed, for qualified contractors to implement that design, and finally for the entire team to sign-off on the facility upon occupancy.  But then what?  An operator is usually left to run the building as per his/her experience and training, without the background of the design and construction discussions regarding the ongoing function and efficiency of the building.  Measurement and verification bridges that gap between design, construction and ongoing operation such that measurements can be made to verify actual operation against the design intentions.  The International Performance Measurement & Verification Protocol (IPMVP), Volume III (revised April 2003) is the governing protocol on this subject.

Benefits: have a plan for future operation complete with a quantified definition of a properly functioning facility (what energy bills should be, how much energy each system should use); enable troubleshooting of issues with the increased monitoring; engage owner and building operator in energy and water usage of a building

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