System Degradation
It is estimated by Texas A&M researchers that as much as 20% of the energy used in an average commercial building is waste associated with poorly operated systems.
Buildings systems underperform for several reasons:
- They were never properly configured
- The design did not account for all sources of building efficiency
- The building is not properly maintained
- The use of the building has changed over time
Read more about this topic: New-construction Building Commissioning
Famous quotes containing the words system and/or degradation:
“We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.”
—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. “Strong and Sensitive Cats,” Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)
“Self-alienation is the source of all degradation as well as, on the contrary, the basis of all true elevation. The first step will be a look inward, an isolating contemplation of our self. Whoever remains standing here proceeds only halfway. The second step must be an active look outward, an autonomous, determined observation of the outer world.”
—Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)