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This Software Saved a Public University $2M in Annual Energy Costs

July 13, 2023 | Sarah Fisher, Head of Marketing, Clockworks Analytics
4 min read
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How the University of Iowa is leveraging Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) across 7M sq. ft. for ongoing energy savings and proactive maintenance.

In the realm of building efficiency, the University of Iowa has emerged as a shining example of how cutting-edge technology can transform sustainability and operational goals into reality. More than a decade ago, the facilities team decided to implement what at the time was groundbreaking technology – Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD). According to a recent interview by Nexus Labs, then Associate VP of Facilities Don Guckert had read an article about Microsoft’s implementation of FDD software and was so intrigued that he took his team on a trip to visit the Redmond, Washington campus and see Microsoft’s program in real life.


    "We were data rich, but information poor."

    –Don Guckert, AVP, Facilities Management at the University of Iowa


Flash forward to today, and the University has deployed the FDD software across 47 buildings and 6.9 million square feet of higher education space. Through use of Clockworks FDD solution (in partnership with Schneider Electric Building Advisor and Basepoint Building Automation services), the University has moved from reactive to planned and predictive facility operations with impressive results. With a focus on making maintenance (not just energy savings) an integral part of their tool, they have produced an FDD program that has driven 2,100 tasks to completion and $2.5 million per year in verified energy savings.


Why Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) Software?

Making the jump to optimized buildings with proactive facilities staff required Iowa to get ahead of critical problems and go beyond them. The standard building automation system (BAS) alarms provided little actionable information—often flagging many issues related to the same root cause – and were only slightly less reactive than using no tool at all. This alarm fatigue meant they were often left unacknowledged and served mainly as a solid trigger for critical response and monitoring critical equipment.


Fault detection and diagnostics software goes beyond simple detection and performs an in-depth analysis of the HVAC systems and pinpoints the root causes of problems, to the point where corrective action can be taken. Now, with their new FDD system, the Iowa team could prioritize all the issues across campus based on the highest impact to energy, equipment, occupant comfort, and overall savings and allow their team to spend less time investigating issues and more time fixing them.


In the first six months post-launch, the team identified $600,000 in realized energy savings and was recognized by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Dept. of Energy in May 2018 for their exemplary work to save energy through the use of FDD.


Two Keys to Iowa’s Success

They Saw it as More than an Energy Savings Tool

From the outset, Iowa realized that this couldn’t just be a tool used by the energy engineer. They were committed to not only finding energy savings opportunities, but also to leverage the tool to prioritize maintenance tasks and train HVAC technicians. To do this, they knew they had to integrate the solution with their existing day-to-day maintenance workflows. They also integrated directly with their existing CMMS and made a push to ensure that FDD tasks looked like their day-to-day work orders.


    "We saved $780,000 in energy cost in the first year and had 24% of work orders generated by FDD – helping us transition the organization from reactive to proactive mode.”

    –Katie Rossmann, former Manager, Data Analytics and Commissioning at The University of Iowa.


They Created a Dedicated Team to Manage It

The Iowa team identified top technicians from across the different campus regions and assigned them to a newly created Analytics Response Group. These maintenance leaders serve as a dedicated point of contact for the FDD platform and play an important role in identifying and prioritizing maintenance tasks.


The University of Iowa's FDD program exemplifies the transformative impact of advanced technologies on energy efficiency and cost savings. The FDD program not only optimized energy consumption but also improved equipment performance, enhanced occupant comfort, and promoted sustainability. We encourage you to read this new Case Study for a more detailed look into the program.

Sarah Fisher, Head of Marketing, Clockworks Analytics
Sarah Fisher leads the marketing initiatives for Clockworks Analytics, a leading provider of building analytics software. Sarah believes strongly in the value of technology in real estate to drive data-driven insights and promote healthy buildings and has worked as a hands-on brand builder for SaaS solutions across the industry - from property management to residential real estate, to facilities management.

This Week’s Sponsor

Clockworks Analytics is an essential smart building intelligence platform that provides data-driven insights into property operations for facility and energy managers. Clockworks’ cloud-based building analytics software proactively identifies inefficiencies in real-time and prioritizes the most urgent tasks related to energy waste, equipment and comfort—complete with root-cause diagnostics. Learn more: www.clockworksanalytics.com.