Understanding Maintenance Behaviour

The goal of this project is to understand the role of middlemen in advanced economizer controls for commercial HVAC systems. More specifically, the project looks at the role human factors play in the adoption and successful utilization of advanced economizer controls. Ultimately, the objective is the improve the technology and program offerings.

The objective of this study is to understand the human factors that result in economizer failures in the field, and to use this insight to recommend changes in technologies, policies, programs, practices, enabling tools, and business models that can improve the performance of economizers. The economizer is a device with an actuator and damper that brings in cool fresh air through a commercial rooftop unit (RTU) when outdoor air conditions are met, rather than requiring compressor cooling. Depending on the climate, this can result in 20-30% savings on cooling energy. However, failures in RTU economizers are endemic and have a significant energy impact (both in savings not realized, and in some cases in large increases in energy consumption). Many of the root causes of these failures can be traced to degradation and other technical factors, although it must be acknowledged that some of the failures are the direct or indirect result of decisions made (or not made) by humans.