Pushing toward wider adoption of ASHRAE Guideline 36

Welcome to The Accelerator+. Xiaohui "Joe" Zhou , a director of research at Slipstream, was recently named Chair of the Standing Guideline Project Committee for ASHRAE Guideline 36. Here, Joe talks about ASHRAE Guideline 36 and its potential to transform the way buildings operate through more advanced controls.

ASHRAE Guideline 36, High-Performance Sequences of Operation for HVAC Systems, is considered the best in class of standardized HVAC control sequences for the built environment. It allows engineers to reduce engineering effort, minimizes control contractors' programming and commissioning time, and should reduce overall building control project cost, time, and effort—all while improving HVAC system operation efficiency, occupant comfort, and energy code compliance.

ASHRAE Guideline 36 was first published in 2018 and the latest version was published in 2021. Maintaining the guideline is the task of the ASHRAE Standing Guideline Project Committee 36, on which I serve as the new Chair.

My primary goal as Chair—besides the continued maintenance—is to push for wider adoption of ASHRAE Guideline 36 by the building controls industry.

Many major building control manufacturers such as Johnson Controls, Siemens, and Automated Logic (now a part of Carrier) have developed an ASHRAE Guideline 36–compliant control program "library" or "template." These templates can be used by local control contractors as the starting point in implementing ASHRAE Guideline 36 sequences in new building control projects or building control retrofits. A certain amount of local program customizations is expected.

There are still a lot of barriers that prevent the wider adoption of ASHRAE Guideline 36 in real projects:

Awareness – Many building owners, design engineers, facility managers, and commissioning agents have not heard of the Guideline. We need to make people more aware of the benefits of implementing ASHRAE 36–compliant projects.

Tools – Design/specifying engineers need a software tool that can automatically put together the control sequences given an HVAC system design and configuration. The DOE-sponsored project ctrl-flow is a good start in this effort.

Training and education – For control contractors, ASHRAE Guideline 36 sequences may or may not be familiar. Most BAS manufactures use their own programming language or software tool, and control contractors need to be familiar with the "library" or "template" specific to the BAS they are deploying. Facility operators also need to learn and understand the basics of these sequences. Otherwise, they can be frustrated and override the control sequences.

At Slipstream, we included two training sessions on ASHRAE Guideline 36 in a course on advanced controls for the Department of Defense's Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP).

Testing – Who can guarantee the BAS manufacturers' templates are absolutely compliant with ASHRAE Guideline 36? How can we test control sequences in the field? Without a testing procedure for the BAS manufacturer library and a commissioning procedure for field testing, it is difficult to guarantee the final project outcome will reflect the ASHRAE Guideline 36 intent.

Applicability in all climate zones – We need more testing and demonstrations of the Guideline in both cold and hot climates so that we can publish addenda to address potential issues.

Consistency with other building codes and standards – We need to collaborate with relevant building code and standard committees to make sure this Guideline is not in conflict with prevalent building codes and standards. For example, there is a new ASHRAE Standard 241, Control of Infectious Aerosols, that could potentially affect some control sequences in Guideline 36.

In our future meetings, Standing Guideline Project Committee 36 will add related agenda items to discuss with the committee members. That might entail forming new subcommittees or ad hoc groups. I'm looking forward to new ideas to help us ensure that ASHRAE Guideline 36 can improve as many buildings as possible.

If you are interested in providing your suggestions for improving the Guideline and its adoption, please add your comments below.

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