Transforming Facility Management: The Energy Efficiency Journey of CityPlex Towers and ORU Campus

Originally built as a medical center by Oral Roberts University, ORU/CityPlex Towers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were designed to serve as the City of Faith Medical and Research Center, based on the vision of its founder, Oral Roberts. Eight years after the opening, the original Towers closed in 1989, only to reopen a few years later as CityPlex Towers–a for-profit business complex owned by the ORU non-profit (across the street).

CityPlex Towers houses three hospitals with 25 surgery suites, offices, and over 100 commercial tenants, including call centers, medical offices, data centers, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which occupies seven floors of the East Tower. At 648 feet tall and 60 stories, the tallest tower is flanked by the 30-story West Tower and the 20-story East Tower, standing at 348 and 248 feet, respectively.

The challenge

In 2013, David King, Director of Energy Management at ORU and the CityPlex Towers, was asked to monitor electric usage across 30 campus-wide utility system feeders and zones, each linked to a single utility electric meter for each site at the CityPlex Towers and the 300-acre ORU campus. Since the existing system provided no visibility into sub-metering of campus-wide power consumption, it was challenging to pinpoint specific electricity usage sites.

Lacking automation, the staff relied on manual controls. To adjust temperatures throughout the 110 floors, the maintenance staff used screwdrivers to adjust the pneumatic controls. On a daily basis, staff picked up paperwork order forms from the maintenance shop, walked across the 2.2 million square feet of the three Towers, and filled out job completion paper forms once issues were resolved.

“Initially, monitoring electric, water, and gas usage was like driving in the rearview mirror. Our energy usage information was, at times, 45 days old. While we could see what we used last month, we didn’t receive our bill until the middle of the following month,” said David King.

The solution: Automation of maintenance and monitoring tasks

To find a suitable monitoring solution, King evaluated several options in the market before selecting Mango by Radix IoT, an industrial IoT and SCADA platform that connects to every device, manufacturer, and protocol, unifying operational data across the entire portfolio for a single real-time view. A comprehensive hardware and software system was then designed and installed at the ORU Campus and the CityPlex Towers, providing real-time visibility and monitoring of multiple power distribution zones.

With automated maintenance and monitoring of nearly five million square feet of combined space at the CityPlex Towers and ORU campus, and over 15,500 points, including alarms and controls, nearly all pneumatic controllers have been removed across the 110 combined floors of the Towers. With 90 percent real-time visibility across all its facilities, the demand charges have decreased by over 20%, and the monitoring system, along with many HVAC improvements, has resulted in annual savings of over $100,000.

CityPlex Towers has earned an Energy Star rating score of up to 99, setting a “credible and competitive indication of energy efficiency for current and potential tenants,” says King. The automation has resulted in utility savings along with early detection of such environmental problems as temperature, relative humidity (RH), and water detection. Even with the “several-fold” increase in the Towers’ occupancy levels over the last few years, King has done “more with the same number of people.”

The maintenance staff includes a dedicated team of licensed engineers at the central plant monitoring station, overseeing operations 24/7, 365 days. An assistant controls technician was added to help maintain all the IoT device connectivity.

“I wanted real-time information, and Mango provided that. My passion has always focused on energy savings, whether it's utility costs or in the maintenance staff itself. When I started in 2010, there was no energy management system at all for CityPlex Towers, and now we have up to 90% visibility into what's going on throughout all our facilities, and across multiple points. Between the campus and the CityPlex Towers, we're monitoring over 15,500 points.”

While Oklahoma’s regulated electric and tariff rates maintain a reasonable per-kWh utility costs, the demand charges on the electric bills are often very high and based on the maximum peak kW customers use during a peak demand billing period. King can now monitor the demand and the capacity needed to meet peak usage periods, even during short peaks.

Air handler units at the ORU campus and CityPlex Towers are equipped with variable frequency drives that allow demand-based speed adjustments, which significantly reduce kilowatt consumption during on and off-peak periods. Controlling the demand usage has eliminated overpayment, especially during fluctuating demand periods. Over the past decade, decreased demand charges for power by 35% have resulted in $20 million in savings, as reported by the Campus and Towers’ management.

Overcoming rollout roadblocks – While tackling legacy equipment challenges

Mango’s rollout faced several challenges, particularly in monitoring individual buildings while minimizing downtime. Using a current transformer (CT) wrapped around the cable, all hardware was housed inside the transformer cabinet set outdoors. Since data was transmitted to the central Mango system using a wireless radio network, the initial radio limitations affected performance levels. Working with the support team, King upgraded to more reliable radios, significantly reducing downtime caused by such environmental factors as tree leaves and windy days.

Also, during hot summer temperatures, some components in the original transformers were replaced, while the overall equipment remained durably reliable. Now, since the electric meter inside the switchgear connects directly to Mango, there is no need to install the devices in the external transformers at the newly constructed ORU campus buildings.

With each campus building having its own automation system, as buildings are upgraded, King integrates Tridium’s Niagara framework to pull data into the Mango platform and vice versa. While Mango remains the primary monitoring system, building automation systems are used to adjust temperatures across the buildings and floors.

With the CityPlex Towers rising over 600 feet, another major monitoring area for the operations team is the high static water pressure in chilled water piping in the lower floors, which can reach up to 300 pounds, posing a constant risk, since even a small pinhole leak can lead to significant damage due to this pressure. To manage potential water damage in the 60-story building, wireless water detection sensors connected to the Mango dashboard indicate specific points, so when sensors go off, the maintenance staff refer to the images, determine the precise source of the leak, how far it has spread, and expedite repairs.

“Within Mango, we’ve created the graphics for a quick overview of multiple floors, buildings, and devices," King said. "Our staff uses it to view the bigger picture, across multiple systems all at once, so they know what's going on with individual building automations.”

Compliance, competitive advantage, and smart savings 

One of CityPlex Towers’ major tenants is a doctor-owned outpatient hospital where surgeries are conducted Monday through Friday, and a few patient suites accommodate overnight stays.

As with all healthcare facilities, to achieve accreditations, the hospital must meet specific criteria, which, in addition to patient care and safety, governance and leadership, include facility management and safety, and emergency preparedness. While unusual for a hospital to be housed in a multi-tenant building, Mango, along with other software, helps record and report on the hospital’s environmental systems, monitoring of the surgery suites’ air exchanges, and other equipment throughout the facilities, especially during summer humid weather.

The Towers also host tenants that occupy spaces as small as 170 square feet, to those with over 100,000 square feet. The property’s single utility bill reflects facility-wide submeters that track all electric usage, including that of the data centers, which operate generators and air conditioning systems and manage their kilowatt hours as specified in their lease.

“Multiple monitors at the maintenance shop provide the staff with a big picture view of water and electric consumption throughout the CityPlex Towers," King pointed out. "In a 60-story building, a water break on one of the floors not only stays on that floor, but it also quickly spreads throughout every floor below. We want to see the big picture and know where the cooling and electrical loads are after hours, to determine if we are turning off enough equipment and devices."

As meters are read each month, the total kWh consumed are calculated to determine the blended cost per kilowatt hour. Based on this calculation, the data centers reimburse their share of the electricity usage based on the sub-meter readings. Since CityPlex Towers is part of a for-profit facility, securing a General Services Administration (GSA) lease required an Energy Star rating of 75 or higher. King started the certification process for CityPlex Towers in 2010, and later in 2013 for the ORU Campus.

These competitive advantages are significant for potential tenants and the shareholders. While the facilities “are not perfect”, King admits that the Towers’ high Energy Star ranking is “a rare achievement,” reflecting the “impressively low” utility costs per square foot, compared to similar facilities in the area.

In 2016, CityPlex Towers won The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) in the Over 1 Million Square Foot Category from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA). Winners are required to have an EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification, which CityPlex scored 93, performing in the top 7 percent of similar facilities nationwide, reflecting an average of 35 percent less energy and releasing 35 percent less carbon dioxide than typical buildings.

While the kWh rate remains fixed, utility-generating fuel costs account for nearly 50 percent of the electricity bill. Fluctuating prices of natural gas (used for the generators), affect utility costs as utility companies recalibrate their charges every six months. A recent utility bill increased by 30 percent. While the fluctuating prices can’t be controlled, King and his team manage energy usage, shielding tenants from the rising costs.

Over the past four years, the additional four new buildings and a fifth building now underway have increased utility usage at ORU Campus. Even with these increases, King says the utility costs are “still not near what it was 10 years ago.”

New buildings added to the ORU campus are equipped with building automation systems using Tridium Niagara and integrated with other campus buildings. The critical monitoring points are then connected to the Mango system, using an overlay of graphics pages that provide the operations team visibility across the CityPlex Towers and the ORU campus. A maintenance technician and a stationary engineer monitor all the equipment 24/7 to ensure full safety while  a stationary engineer records and monitors equipment information every two hours to meet city code compliance.

“Thanks to improvements in controls and efficiency, we pursued the government lease confidently, and to our relief, our first Energy Star score was 92, and since then, we have consistently achieved scores of 93, 95, and even 99," King noted. "This efficiency positions us to attract more tenants who appreciate the savings on their utility bills, meanwhile our current tenants are happy to be shielded from fluctuations in electric costs. Since CityPlex Towers’ monthly leases include utilities, we need to monitor and conserve energy, which is part of our bottom line, not the tenants. Our tenants work with us to ensure we can be conservative while still meeting their needs."

To learn more about Mango by Radix IoT industrial IoT and SCADA platform visit:https://radixiot.com/product/mango/