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Last month in Building Operating Management , I interviewed a number of Energy Service Contractors (ESCOs) for a piece detailing how the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and ESCOs were working together to reduce the carbon footprints of buildings around the world. Those of you who work for educational...
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High school students have no idea you exist. OK, let’s put that more accurately: Many of the most promising candidates for vacant technician jobs in maintenance and engineering departments know little or nothing about the maintenance profession or its specific jobs. Given that blind spot, it is...
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The change in administrations in Washington, D.C., is likely to mean many changes in the way federal agencies and departments operate, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) probably is no exception. OSHA’s aggressiveness in enforcing workplace safety laws tends to vary by...
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Something is going on here. I can't quite figure out if it's a growing appreciation of building maintenance and the trades or if it's just a series of nice coincidences. Whatever it is, it's worth a closer look. A comment from myFacilitiesnet member ieqwoman on one of my previous blogs...
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As institutional and commercial facilites struggle under the weight of a sagging economy, managers understandably look to new products and technology to help their organizations lower their costs. But how about a no-cost source of savings? It seems to good to be true, but it is. Maintenance and engineering...
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What is the first thing you see when you drive alongside a major college or university campus? How about walking up to a massive hospital complex? Typically, the first thing that catches the eye of occupants and visitors is the organization's landscaped areas. With first impressions being extremely...
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Are you nervous about specifying a vegetative roof? Does the thought of planting vegetation – and testing the waterproofing capabilities of your roof while irrigating those plants – make you cringe? You are not alone. Many facility professionals are hesitant to jump on the green roofs bandwagon...
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Admit it. Maintenance and engineering management generally hasn’t been considered a trendy profession. And the shortage of front-line technicians that has plagued maintenance and engineering departments for years is pretty strong evidence people generally don’t see jobs in facilities maintenance...
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Time is money. No group of professionals has come to realize that fact more than maintenance and engineering managers. With that thought in mind, welcome to myfacilitiesnet, a new social networking site for managers in commercial and institutional facilities. The idea behind this community is to build...
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Presidential candidates make a lot of promises. It’s part of the game, so nobody believes they’ll keep most of them. Presidents-elect do the same thing, but maybe there’s a difference. Maybe — given they’ve already won election — there is reason to hope a president...
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Why does deferred maintenance matter, anyway? After all, buildings have operated for decades and even centuries in less-then-ideal conditions. Despite a few complaints from occupants and the occasional visitor about leaky plumbing, drafty doors and windows, water-stained ceilings, or peeling paint, many...
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The dire condition of facilities in the District of Columbia (D.C.) Public School District is no secret. The district’s reliance on deferred maintenance and its lack of facilities planning has resulted in crumbling schools and plenty of negative attention in the media. But it appears the district...
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Risk comes with the territory for professionals managing high-profile buildings. But that doesn’t mean maintenance and engineering managers still don’t get butterflies before undertaking huge renovation projects or mechanical-system retrofits. Jeffrey Plutz, director of engineering at the...
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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...
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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...