Evaluating Climatic Influences on the Technical Performance of Built Infrastructure Assets

Asset performance evaluations serve as a benchmark that can be used to make asset manufacturer selection decisions, i.e., choosing the brand of manufacturer that provides the highest performance among all brand competitors. Understanding the environmental conditions to which assets are subjected provides facility managers another data point to understand asset performance. This research builds upon a previously published performance-based manufacturer selection metric by investigating the linkage between asset performance and exposure to local climate, using chiller and air handler data from 20 United States Air Force installations. The link between environmental factors such as Heating Degree Days (HDD); Cooling Degree Days (CDD); Solar Irradiance; and a variable that accounts for relative humidity, and asset performance is investigated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) testing and correlation coefficients. The results reveal that most assets, regardless of location, (1) possess a moderate to strong performance; and (2) cumulative climate exposure and asset manufacturer selection influence asset performance. This work highlights the need for facility managers to consider the influence of climate on technical performance and use it as a decision criterion in manufacturer selection.