Blogs

The Framework for Improving Building Operating Decisions is a research project being conducted at The University of Reading in partnership with Penn State. The goal of the research is to develop a concise and practical web-based decision support tool to help facility managers and facility management...

My name is Amanda Shafer. I am the Director of Human Resources for Cooper Square Realty, Inc . which is located in New York City . www.coopersquare.com Cooper Square Realty, Inc. is a full-service real estate management company offering an extensive array of services, including residential and commercial...

Thank you for the link to Que Centre's CMMS. That is the program I use as the CMMS that is the base for my for my Optimization Plus; what I call DMMS (Dynamic is the D). A lot of CMMS programs install the software and leave tons of blank fields for the end user to fill in. Sometimes they never get...

Ron, I read your reply and then your Bio. My kickoff into this industry cam in 1967 when I joined the Navy with a plan become a Journalist and eventually an English Teacher. The Navy made me a Boilerman and I have been running power plants, buildings, and exchanging heat in some manner even since. You...

What good is technology if people don’t know how to use it? More specifically, what good are high-performance buildings if maintenance and engineering departments can’t maintain them properly? Managers have struggled for years to find and keep qualified front-line technicians, and their frustrations...

I was wondering whether to buy tomatoes as I walked through the mid-sized grocery store in my neighborhood the other day. Like everyone else, I was concerned about getting sick from eating contaminated tomatoes. In the produce section next to the tomatoes was a sign. It reported the concerns about tomatoes...

One day, facility designers will learn it pays to listen to maintenance early in process of designing a facility. Unfortunately, that day still seems far away for many organizations. Chris Matt, the associate editor of Maintenance Solutions , recounted a recent conversation he’d had with a maintenance...

In some form or fashion, all information seems to be on the Internet. For more than a decade now, managers have been able to tap into its power and find information on solving nearly any problem that arose in their facilities. One problem with this information explosion — finding exactly the information...

Roofs are about to step into the high-tech era, and the step could create new challenges for facility design and construction. My most recent Technology blog discussed possible practicality challenges posed by installing solar technology on existing facilities. The technology has advanced to the point...

Crises and breakdowns come and go in facilities, but energy use remains a constantly high priority. It’s nearly impossible to have a conversation with a manager these days that doesn’t touch on using and saving energy. In light of that, it’s hard for me not to be surprised by two results...

Feeling a bit bloated after Thanksgiving? Weary and inefficient? Chances are, your facilities feel the same way. Their HVAC systems struggle to keep up with heating and cooling loads. Their electrical-distribution systems are overtaxed and unreliable. Their plumbing systems work endlessly to keep up...

The first job of any roofing system is to protect a building and its occupants and operations from the weather; anything else is gravy. The balance of benefits quickly shifts, however, when the gravy in question is energy savings. By October 2007, researchers at NIST's Building and Fire Research...