East End State Office Complex

Overview

The East End State Office Complex houses the CA Department of Education and Department of Public Health across five LEED-certified office towers constructed in the early 2000s. Despite its relatively new design, the complex struggled with failing mechanical systems, siloed proprietary BAS controls, and rising energy costs. CEG was engaged to deliver a performance contract that would renew infrastructure, consolidate controls, and achieve deep energy savings without disrupting daily operations

Solutions

CEG consolidated multiple proprietary controls systems into a new open-source Tridium Niagara front end, replaced failed hardware with Distech controllers, and added SkySpark automated fault detection for ongoing optimization. In the central plant, three failed natural gas chillers were replaced with two right-sized 165-ton pony chillers, allowing two 1,275-ton chillers to setback ~6,700 hours annually. VFDs were installed on chilled water and condenser pumps, and non-functional AHU supply and return fan VFDs were replaced. Nearly 30,000 lighting fixtures were retrofitted with LEDs and integrated with daylight harvesting controls, cutting load and reducing maintenance.

Results

The project achieved $950K in verified annual cost savings, reduced energy use by 25,900 MMBtu, and cut water use by 448,000 gallons. Site-wide energy use intensity dropped 36%, lowering the campus EUI from 0.058 to 0.041 MMBtu/SF/year. These measures avoided 4,600 metric tons of GHG emissions annually while extending equipment lifespans, enhancing resiliency for the data center and telecom rooms, and reducing lighting maintenance costs.