Load Leveling and VFD Control: Two Energy Strategies for Building Owners

Owning and managing Class A commercial office properties in today's economic climate has many challenges. While a major focus is always to offer the best customer service possible, the key to success is often tied directly to the bottom line operating costs of a property. In most cases, leases for commercial office space are structured to allow the properties, operating costs to be escalated back (or passed through) to the tenant base. More often than not, one of the largest, if not the largest line item in an operating budget for a commercial office property, is utilities. By effectively managing utilities, building owners can offer lower escalatable operating costs to buildings customers, while still providing the best customer service possible. This enables us to be much more competitive in the market with respect to leasing our buildings. Two strategies that have been successfully implemented and have directly lowered utility costs have been load leveling and VFD control optimization.