Energy management at the City of Richmond means utilizing direct digital control (DDC) for heating, cooling, and ventilating (HVAC) systems, as well as lighting systems programmed to conserve energy in Public and Corporate buildings. The City also identifies and initiates Power Smart lighting and HVAC equipment retrofits, reducing energy costs through smart planning.
To ensure BCIT students in the Building Controls and Energy Management program (BCEM) continue to gain hands-on learning experience, the City of Richmond Facility Services gifted a DDC demo unit to the program. The simulation geothermal heat pump system with DDC controller was unveiled at a Sustainable Energy Management (SEMAC) and BCEM mixer in June 2019.
This demonstration unit gives students practical experience in modifying a system via a controller. The geothermal heat pump is a technology that many energy managers will come in contact with.
Jeff Lee is a BCIT graduate who now works with the City of Richmond Facility Services team, alongside other BCIT alumni including Allan Wan, Luc Luk, and Howard Quon.
“This demonstration unit is a well-rounded learning tool that was constructed in-house by our team members. It’s a useful equipment to help students in learning how building systems work in real-time so that students are able to make adjustments, programming changes to the DDC controller with a potential to add new points,” explained Jeff.