Review of possibilities and necessities for building lifetime commissioning

The article presents review of possibilities and necessities for a practical application of lifetime commissioning in building facilities. The implementation of life-long commissioning of buildings implies energy efficiency, ensures a rational use of energy and thereby decreases CO2 emissions. Therefore, first the term “commissioning” is explained in the article. Commissioning necessities, which are induced by different operational faults, the new laws driven by idea for decreasing CO2 emission, and benefits, are explained, too. Besides USA's and European laws for the energy performance of buildings, the Norwegian state of the art in this area is also presented. The difference in terms and methods for fault detection and diagnosis are elaborated in the article. Finally, examples of different commissioning tools are briefly introduced and compared. In order to make building sustainable and encourage energy savings, potential commissioning users are suggested.