Green Building Blog

In my seminars for facility managers and building engineers, I sometimes begin with this: “How are HVAC Systems like Facility Managers?” Then I pause, and say, “Nobody knows they’re there – and nobody cares – until there’s a problem!”

True, in a well-run and comfortable building, the employees, tenants and guests should not notice the HVAC system. They have their own work to do. But the minute they are uncomfortable – too hot, too cold, funny smell – the facility manager or the building engineer hears about it. Right?

...And three you may already be doing

As property managers begin to prepare for potentially another cold winter, many have started questioning their current building operations’ energy efficiency. Rising energy costs, aging infrastructure, and inefficient mechanical equipment have piled up to create an operations system in desperate need of repair.

Follow these three must-do steps for success.

“How to Turn Your Existing Building into a High Performance Facility” is one of the most popular talks I give around the country, internationally and in webinars. Why? It works. There are many complicated and expensive fixes you can make to improve the performance of your existing building. And if you’re thinking about them, then you probably should do them. By the way, no self-respecting contractor should make any of those without a proper ASHRAE Level 2 Energy Audit. (For more on that see About Energy Audits.)

There are also many small changes you can make that will make a big difference. We call this “reducing building energy use with proper operations and maintenance (O&M).” Most people think about the typical “low-hanging fruit” like lighting, sensors, making sure systems are turned off when they’re supposed to be, etc. People often overlook these three areas: