My daughter recently mastered the skill of coasting downhill on her bicycle. “It’s fun,” she said. “I wish I could coast uphill too!”
Wouldn’t we all like to get where we want to go using less energy? Of course we would! That’s why one of our Events2HVAC users recently made a brilliant yet simple suggestion to “coast” to save more energy.
Dani Gavaza at Tigard Tualatin School District near Portland, Oregon, wanted to set some of her HVAC equipment to return to unoccupied settings before the end of each event. Events2HVAC already had pre-start and post-stop options for each piece of equipment, but equipment could not be set to return to unoccupied settings before the end of each event.
Events2HVAC’s pre-start option sends an occupied command to HVAC equipment a specific number of minutes before an event begins to make the room comfortable for guests.
Events2HVAC’s post-stop option adds a specific number of minutes after an event before an unoccupied command is sent to equipment, in case you want to leave a light on or door unlocked for a while to give guests time to exit.
But Gavaza wanted to use the post-stop time in reverse, to return HVAC equipment to unoccupied settings before the end of an event. So she contacted Streamside Solutions, and we wondered why we didn’t think of it ourselves! Coasting through the end of each event would help Gavaza save more energy – and help others maximize their savings too.
Events2HVAC’s new coasting option effectively shortens the length of an event for selected HVAC equipment, allowing it to coast through the end to save energy. You can't to that with occupancy sensors!
Events2HVAC version 1.3.5 was released May 6, 2015 with this new feature. To take advantage of it, simply use a negative number in the post-stop box for the specific piece of equipment you want to return to unoccupied early.
Users: Please don’t coast too aggressively! Make sure you retain enough ventilation in your rooms for occupants to stay comfortable. We don’t want any bike wrecks at the bottom of the hill!