Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS) continuously monitor equipment/system performance, establish normalized baselines for how equipment should operate, track whether corrective actions persist over time, and detect when something begins to drift. Think of it as a fitness tracker for your building - one that learns what "normal" looks like and alerts operators when something changes.
6 min read
A Case for EMIS: Why Granular Building Data is Worth the Effort
Topics: Energy Efficiency Carbon Reduction EMIS Energy Savings Carbon Savings CO2
6 min read
Fighting Back Against Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)
If you’ve ever taken a 101-level business, economics, or information technology course, you may recognize the term “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” and its acronym, FUD. The phrase’s origins date back to the 1920s and was often used as a sales technique where the salesperson would work to create FUD so that their customers would not consider switching to a competitor’s product or service. The term is often linked to IBM in the 1960s which used the practice to keep their clients from switching to other technology companies’ products – there’s that old axiom, “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM equipment.”
Topics: Workplace & People Workplace Culture
3 min read
Mastering Building Enclosure Field Testing: Getting it Right from the Start
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Building enclosure field testing is critical to construction project success. These tests verify that control layers perform as designed before they're concealed or made inaccessible. However, our experience shows that project teams are frequently blindsided by testing requirements, ownership questions, and specification details—creating costly surprises and schedule disruptions.
Topics: Building Envelope Building Enclosure
3 min read
Refrigerant Evolution: From Ice Blocks to Climate-Conscious Cooling
Picture New England in the 1800s: teams of workers carefully cutting massive 500-pound blocks of ice from frozen lakes, hauling them across difficult terrain using horse-drawn sleds and primitive tools. This was the reality of the ice trade that once thrived in Vermont and throughout New England. In those days, refrigeration was a luxury few could afford.
Topics: Energy Efficiency HVAC #decarbonization Carbon Neutral Net Zero refrigerants
5 min read
An Overview of a Building Energy Assessment
We are in the midst of completing a large number of building energy assessments for buildings across Vermont, and while the specifics can change a bit, the process is pretty similar for all the buildings. In broad strokes there are three steps: initial data collection and review, site visit and interview, and analysis and reporting. These assessments have been a modified version of the ASHRAE Level 2 assessment, and this overview is somewhat specific to that level of analysis.
Topics: Building Data Energy Audit Building Envelope Building Enclosure Energy Assessment Building Systems
2 min read
Historic Brick: Balancing Preservation and Climate Action
Insulating behind historic brick poses challenges for architects and preservationists alike. While it promises energy efficiency gains, there are concerns about its impact on the integrity of the brick and the building as a whole. However, with proper testing and expert guidance, it can be navigated successfully.
Topics: Sustainability Energy Efficiency Building Envelope Building Enclosure historic preservation climate action architecture
9 min read
The Challenge of Decarbonizing the Grid
Cx Associates is a mission driven energy engineering firm that works with buildings, mostly Commercial and Industrial buildings, and one of our central missions is to be part of the solution to climate change. Professionals in our field understand the challenge we’re facing. The Biden Administration National Climate Task Force has set the goal of a 100% net-zero emission economy by 2050. To meet this goal, we need to decarbonize the grid, but renewables account for just 13% of electricity generation in the U.S. While that’s close to a tripling of levels a decade ago, we still have a long way to go.
Topics: #decarbonization #renewables
5 min read
Onboarding with Purpose
Have you ever started a new job and your first day goes something like this: You arrive, and no one was expecting you or realized you were starting that day; you didn’t have a workstation set up; no one knew how to get into your computer; there was no work for you to do; and no one knew which forms you needed to complete to get you enrolled in benefits, payroll, etc.?
3 min read
Striving for Net Zero: Part II
Over the last few years, climate action has become a central focus for governments, and the business case for doing something about climate change has become clearer than ever before. With this shift, “Net Zero by 2050” is a term that seems to get thrown around by organizations, businesses, and municipalities alike. But what does it mean, and how do we get there? We continue our endeavor to answer this question in the second part of this two-part blog.
Topics: Energy Efficiency Heat Pumps #decarbonization #renewables Building Envelope Building Enclosure Carbon Reduction NZE Net Zero
9 min read
The Case for Hourly Emissions Accounting
Last month, at the close of Vermont’s legislative session, the House and Senate agreed to create a Legislative Working Group to investigate reforming VT’s Renewable Energy Standard (RES). This is a big deal because the RES sets the rules by which Vermont utilities claim their electricity is renewable. And now those rules might change.
