Walk through any well-lit lobby, hospital hallway, or high-rise office, and you will feel the comfort of conditioned air. Yet few realize that behind that comfort sits a powerful system that often goes unnoticed—the chiller plant.
In most large commercial buildings using water-cooled HVAC systems, the chiller plant (comprising chillers, pumps, and cooling towers) can consume 35% to 50% of the building’s total energy.
That makes it the single largest controllable energy load in the entire facility.
For many facilities teams, conversations about energy efficiency begin with LED retrofits or smarter occupancy sensors. However, the heart of the HVAC remains overlooked, running inefficiently day in and day out, quietly racking up costs.
Root causes: Why chiller plants bleed efficiency in real life
Inconsistent manual overrides & unoptimized sequence
In many buildings, plant operators manually maintain "play it safe" setpoints. A common example? Running chillers at minimum chilled water set point and pumps at full speed throughout the day to avoid temperature complaints, or shutting off fresh air supply entirely to more easily maintain strict temperature and humidity bands.
Another everyday scenario: equipment sequencing isn’t optimized, so large chillers run at partial load when smaller units would do the job more efficiently. Over time, these decisions pile up unnoticed, inflating energy use without anyone realizing it.
Hidden equipment degradation
A chiller might be working, but is it working well? Without advanced diagnostics, fouled condenser tubes, degraded cooling tower performance, or improper water flows can linger for months. Operators often have no easy way to spot gradual efficiency drifts.
The result: chillers consume more power to deliver the same cooling, while pumps run longer to compensate for hidden blockages, leading to higher bills.
Over-reliance on the cloud
When network connectivity drops, local controls keep the plant running, but the smart layer that fine-tunes performance often goes offline. To stay “safe”, operators override settings, and efficiency quietly slips. Manual fallback often means bypassing automation logic, running equipment in “safe mode” that prioritizes uptime over efficiency, a subtle but costly compromise.
Manual fallback often means bypassing automation logic, running equipment in “safe mode” that prioritizes uptime over efficiency—a subtle but costly compromise.
Limited operational visibility & accountability
Modern BMSs log overrides and mode changes, but in a multi-shift setup, the “why” often gets lost. Without clear context behind each tweak, teams end up second-guessing changes instead of proactively optimising performance.
This lack of traceability makes it difficult to pinpoint inefficiencies or replicate best practices, trapping teams in a cycle of reactive firefighting rather than proactive optimization.
Rigid systems that can’t adapt
Buildings are dynamic with occupancies changing, weather patterns fluctuating, and energy usage spiking. Yet many older chiller plant control systems are not designed to adapt in real time.
Without intelligent, adaptable logic, the plant cannot respond efficiently to changing loads, resulting in missed energy savings each day.
A smarter way: Building trust into automation
The answer to inefficiency isn’t more complexity—it’s smarter, more transparent control. DeJoule, our Full-stack BMS, is designed to eliminate energy waste and optimise plant performance every operational minute—without adding layers of guesswork.
Here’s how it builds trust through intelligence:
- Prognostics and guided fault detection
DeJoule helps your team stay ahead of issues—not just react to them. Its AFDD engine monitors asset health, flags inefficiencies before they escalate, and delivers pre-failure alerts with root cause analysis and clear resolution steps. Critical updates reach the right people in real time, across desktop, tablet, or smartphone. - Traceability with context
Every action—whether triggered by an operator or an algorithm—is logged with full context. You don’t just know what changed; you understand why it changed. This clarity eliminates second-guessing and strengthens accountability across shifts and teams. - Real-time demand matching
DeJoule dynamically selects the optimal mix of chillers, pumps, and cooling towers to meet live cooling demand—while continuously adjusting operating parameters like setpoints and frequencies. This eliminates over-correction and ensures minimal energy waste, every minute. - Failsafe logic that keeps operations stable
During network drops or hardware disruptions, DeJoule’s built-in safeguards maintain plant stability—avoiding fallback to inefficient manual control. - On-prem intelligence with cloud-like agility
With onboard storage and edge computing, DeJoule stores control logic locally and executes it directly through field controllers. Even without cloud connectivity, your plant stays functional and efficient.
When automation is built to be open, resilient, and explainable, it stops feeling like a black box—and starts working like an extension of your team.
Ready to see what smart chiller plant automation looks like
When up to half your building’s energy bill rides on your chiller plant, ignoring it is no longer an option. With the right intelligence layered in, your plant can transform from a hidden drain to a visible advantage.
Know More about Chiller Plant Automation (CPA Page)