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BOMA International
®
Foundations of
Real Estate Management
Module 3: Building Operations I
Electrical Distribution
®
Objectives
 Describe voltage, resistance, current, and
electrical power, and tell the unit of
measurement for each
 Describe the three levels of power used in
a typical commercial building
 Trace the flow of electricity through a
typical commercial building
 List at least ten practices to control or
reduce electricity costs at a typical
commercial building
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Electricity
What is electricity?
The flow of electrons moving at the
speed of light (186,282 miles per
second) from one point to another
along a conductor.
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Typical Conductors
 Copper
 Aluminum
Both are used for electrical
wiring and components
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You Can’t See Electricity Moving
Think of it like water moving in a pipe
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Electricity Terms




Volts
Watts
Amps
Ohms
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Voltage



Measured in volts
Think of voltage as pressure
Electrons do not want to move from Point
A to Point B – so volts push the electrons
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Voltage
Increasing water pressure increases the
amount of water that is delivered
Increasing voltage increases the amount
of current that is delivered
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Resistance
 Measured in ohms
 Think of resistance as size of
the pipe
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Resistance
Increasing the size of the pipe increases
the amount of water that is delivered
Increasing the wire size (less resistance)
increases the amount of current
that is delivered
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Current
 Measured in amperes (amps)
 Think of current as flow rate
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Current
Increasing the pressure or the size of the
pipeline increases the amount of
water that is delivered
Increasing the pressure (volts) or the wire size
(fewer ohms) increases the amount
of current that is delivered
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Watts
Electrical power measured in watts
 Watts = Voltage x Current
 Watts = Volts x Amps
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It’s Easy to Remember
Think about West VirginiA
Watts = Volts x Amps
W=VxA
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Measuring Electricity
 Kilowatts (Kw)
 1,000 watts
 Kilowatt Hours (Kw/h)
 1,000 watts x 1 hour
 Megawatt
 1 million watts (1,000 kilowatts)
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Load
Load is the electricity use
of a building
(or a portfolio of buildings)
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Understanding Your Electric Bill
 Interval meter
 Measures electricity use every
15 minutes
 Allows for time-of-use billing
 Peak
 Semi-peak
 Off-peak
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Understanding Your Electric Bill

Demand
 Amount of electricity flowing to a meter at a
point in time (measures in Kw/h)
 Peak Demand
 Highest period of energy use in a given year
 Usually occurs in hottest months of summer
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Supply/Demand Mis-Match
• Brownouts
• Blackouts
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Understanding Your Electric Bill

Billing Period
 3 Components
 Supply charge
 Distribution charge
 Taxes, fees, and tariffs
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Understanding Your Electric Bill
Comparing bill to last month or last year
 Without accounting for degree days, it’s not
accurate
 Degree Days: mathematical equation to
normalize temperatures from one period to
another (NOAA)
 Uses the mean temperature of each day
 Measures number of degrees below 65o F
(heating degree days) or above 65o F (cooling
degree days)
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Load Profile Graphs
 Graphs interval meter data from the
utility (15 minute increments) and
graphs it
 Easier to spot issues and improve
efficiency
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Putting It Into Practice
Work with your instructor to complete
the exercise in your text book
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Load Profile Graphs
1
3
2
4
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Utility Companies
 Regulated
 Deregulated
 Purchasing power in a deregulated
environment is tricky
 Use a consultant
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Controlling Electricity Costs
 Use daylight whenever possible
 Optimize BAS (BMS) system
 Use free cooling when possible
 Reduce weekend hours
 Install occupancy sensors
 Retrofit (or re-retrofit) lighting fixtures
 Reward team members for energy savings
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Controlling Electricity Costs
If you cannot measure it, you
cannot manage it!
 You must have a measurement system in
place to keep track of utility expenses
 Simple changes to building operations save
$$$
 Never stop making improvements to your
energy strategy!
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Controlling Electricity Costs
It’s a sequential approach…
ROI
Focus on Sizing,
Operations and Control
Tune up
Lighting
Load
Fan & Motor
Plant
Reductions Systems
Upgrades
Time
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Energy Star®
Number of Buildings
The EPA rating system
overlays a 1 to 100
scale over national
census data, which
gives relative meaning
to energy use
1
Highest
Benchmark Rating
25
Building Energy Use
50 75
100
Lowest
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BOMA BEEP®
Education Series (Webinars)
 Introduction to Energy Performance
 How to Benchmark Energy Performance
 Energy Efficient Audit Concepts & Economic
Benefits
 No- and Low-Cost Operational Adjustments
to Improve Energy Performance
 Valuing Energy Enhancement Projects and
Financial Returns
 Building an Energy Awareness Program
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Electricity in Your Building
 Direct Current (DC)
 Batteries
 Alternating Current (AC)
 Most power in a commercial
building
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Electricity in Your Building
 Control voltage (Typically 24v DC)
 Telephone system, fire alarm system,
security system, BAS/BMS/EMS, etc.
 Low voltage (Typically 120/208v AC)
 Receptacles (120v AC) and copiers/large
equipment (208v AC)
 High voltage (Typically 277/480v AC)
 Lighting and large mechanical equipment
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Electricity in Your Building
 Transformer
 Step-down transformer
 Step-up transformer
 Steps up/down to/from
 High voltage
 Low voltage
 Control voltage
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Electricity in Your Building
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Electricity in Your Building
Electrical Switchgear
Photo Courtesy of PM101
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Electricity in Your Building
Electrical Switchgear
(cover removed)
Photo Courtesy of PM101
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Electricity in Your Building
Electrical meters
 Tenant meters
 Public service meters
 Submeters
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Electricity in Your Building
Electrical Meter
Photo Courtesy of PM101
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Electricity in Your Building
Electrical risers
 Bus ducts
 Cables
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Electricity in Your Building
Electrical Bus Riser
Photo Courtesy of PM101
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Electricity in Your Building
Electrical Panel
Photo Courtesy of PM101
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Electricity in Your Building
Electrical Panel
(open)
Photo Courtesy of PM101
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Electricity in Your Building
Preventive Maintenance (using
infrared camera)
 Cleaning
 Tightening
 Replacement
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Electricity in Your Building
Safety
 Lockout/Tagout
 Treat every electrical device as
“hot” until you are sure it is deenergized
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Electricity in Your Building
Circuits
 Dedicated circuits
 Circuit breaker
 Protects against overload or short
circuit
 Circuit breakers v. fuses
 GFCI circuits
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Basic Electric Circuit
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Typical Lighting and Outlet Circuits
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Lighting
Incandescent Lighting (“Bulb”)
 Electricity passed through a thin filament –
causes the filament to glow
 Advantages
 Inexpensive
 Adds heat (reduces heating costs)
 Disadvantages
 Adds heat (increases cooling costs)
 Short life span
 Inefficient (uses lots of electricity to produce light)
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Lighting
Fluorescent Lighting (“Tube”)
 Mercury vapor in a neon or argon gas
 Advantages
 Efficient (uses very little electricity to
produce light)
 Adds very little heat
 Long life span
 Can be readily used with occupancy
sensors
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Lighting
Fluorescent Lighting (“Tube”)
 Disadvantages
 More expensive to purchase
(although lower life cycle cost)
 Contains mercury – HAZMAT
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Lighting
High Intensity Discharge (HID)
Lighting
 Metal halide (white) and sodium vapor
(yellow)
 Sodium vapor is being phased out
 Uses electricity to excite a gas to produce
heat and light
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Lighting
HID Lighting
 Advantages
 Very bright light
 Relatively inexpensive to operate (few
fixtures to light a large area)
 Disadvantages
 High pressure and heat
 Warm up time
 Cannot be used with occupancy sensors
due to long warm up time
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Lighting
The future of lighting
 Incandescent lights are being phased out
 Light Emitting Diodes (LED)
 Easy to change colors
 Very low electricity use
 Very bright light
 Extremely long use period
 Improvements of existing technologies
 New technologies
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Back-Up Generators
 Provide power in case of power failure
 Two general sizes
 Life safety back up only
 Supplies power to all (or larger part of building)
 Load shedding
 Diesel or natural gas
 Underground Storage Tank (UST) or AboveGround Storage Tanks
 Need a transfer switch
 Uninterrupted power system (UPS)
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Back-Up Power
Redundant electric feeds
 Property is fed by more than 1
substation/power distribution network
 Dramatically reduces the chance of a
power failure
 If one feed fails, the other one takes
over automatically
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Control Voltage
Typically referred to as “cabling”
 “Wiring” = power distribution systems
 Examples





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Fire alarm and life safety system
Security system
BAS/BMS/EMS system
Phone system (“voice”)
Computers (“data”)
Internet
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Control Voltage
Types of cables
 Coaxial
 Fiber-optic
 Voice and data
 Category (Cat) 5, 5e, 6, etc.)
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Emergency Circuits
 Emergency Exit Sign System
 Emergency Lighting System
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Abandoned Cable
 NEC requires removal of abandoned cable
 Abandoned = “installed cable that is not
terminated on both ends with a connector
or other equipment and not identified for
future use with a tag”
 Advantages/disadvantages to removal
 Address in each lease and aggressively
manage
 Potential financial liability for owner
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Abandoned Cable
What to do?
 Audit building to locate abandoned
cable
 Ensure tenant leases address issue
 Ensure agreements for rooftop
antennae and satellite dishes comply
 Have enforceable agreement with
cabling companies
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