Archon - Building Automation Design and Commissioning, and CMMS Consulting In Mississauga, Ontario

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Archon Building Automation Consulting Inc. is a management consulting firm that helps its clients achieve its business goals by providing expert building technology related consulting services. Services include BAS consulting, BAS commissioning, CMMS consulting, as well as BAS re-commissioning and retro-commissioning.

Based in Mississauga Ontario, Canada, Archon was founded is 2002, and since then has worked for clients large and small, local and national, as well as for clients abroad. Whether your portfolio consists of one small building, or many larger buildings, you have a lot to gain from our services. Contact us today.

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	BAS, the key to managing environmental impact, operating costs, and public perception.

Since the very beginning, our approach has been to look at each and every BAS project from a short and long term perspective. Many stop short and only pay attention to the capital cost of the initial investment. However this myopia may lead to both a negative environmental impact and financial consequences down the road.

If you really think about it, the BAS is such a small component, but it plays a vital role. There are hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of equipment being controlled by a system that is only a fraction of that cost. The fact is that the BAS is the brains of the entire facility.

Developers and property managers invest so much of their capital and put so much effort into obtaining the latest HVAC, refrigeration, and lighting innovations, such as high efficiency chillers and boilers, pump and fan speed controls, and high efficiency lighting, though, the BAS is often not afforded the same attention in the process. These are not simple thermostats as in the past. Today's building automation systems are sophisticated computerized control systems that could help contribute more towards energy conservation and cost control, and should therefore receive at least the same amount of attention.

In reality, it does not take that much more in terms of capital investment to improve on the BAS. In fact, most, if not all of the improvement is in the configuration of the BAS, the design documentation, and the administration and quality control processes throughout the design and installation phases, rather than hardware and infrastructure. HomePageBodyGraphic

These sorts of design and process improvements not only go a long way to mitigate any short term environmental and financial impact, but they provide the system operators and property managers with the necessary tools to maintain a building's performance long term.

Beyond the obvious environmental and financial impact, control related issues may result in higher operating costs as a result of increased equipment wear, inefficient building operation, inability to troubleshoot effectively, more than normal tenant service requests, and sick building syndrome. Tenant satisfaction and perception may also be compromised in the process and that may lead to a volatility in vacancy rates and rent income.

Another oft forgotten component to any BAS installation is third party commissioning; the process of having an independent third party evaluate the system to ensure it meets the baseline performance standard set by the engineer in the original design, or to meet current operating needs. Commissioning is not a one time affair, but rather a periodic long term program designed with sustainability in mind. Cost of commissioning is easily recovered when problems are discovered and corrected during the commissioning process rather than being discovered later by the tenants as comfort problems, or by the CFO as financial issues.

We are in an era in which the public's perception of a company is shaped by how environmentally responsible the company is perceived to be. LEED, Energy Star, and other environmentally influenced industry ratings programs are a means of shaping this perception. If comprehensive BAS design and commissioning are left out of the equation, there is an element of risk that is assumed as part of the process. Is avoiding the relatively small cost associated with comprehensive design, and a long term commissioning program worth this risk?