December, 2008

Life cycle costing for buildings just got a big boost in the United Kingdom. With any luck, developments there will be a harbinger of things to come here. “Standardized Method of Life Cycle Costing for Construction Procurement” is the name...

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted the difficulties of finding facility staff for data centers. The day after it came out, I spoke with Philip Meyers, executive director of infrastructure for Morgan Stanley, about the challenges of data...

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...

The bottom line on a building isn’t the price tag for construction. It’s not energy and other operational costs. It’s not what the building can be sold for. Rather, it’s what the building can do for people — people who work...

The green building movement has advanced, not only by leaps, but by small steps. A leap happens when an organization decides to commit to getting LEED certification for its buildings; it marks a transformation in the way that the organization approaches...

I got a surprise reading about results from a new survey conducted by the Uptime Institute . According to the survey , communications between IT and facilities are good or excellent in 57 percent of the companies that responded. In 59 percent of companies...

What does it mean for a facility to be “logical not lavish”? That phrase is one John Balzer uses to describe his philosophy of facility design. In December 2005, Building Operating Management profiled John Balzer , vice president, facility...

I have to admit I was a bit surprised to read that Jacoby Development , which wants to build a green mixed-use development around Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, expects to attract 72,000 vehicles a day to the site once work...

If you’re a facility executive responsible for data centers, the following undoubtedly makes immediate sense. As servers, storage devices and other IT gear get smaller and more powerful, they generate more heat. That translates into greater cooling...

I recently conducted an informal poll of a small number of facility executives – 12 to be exact – who have been good contacts in the past. The questions all concerned construction costs. There was no consensus among this group, which was not...

Rebates for energy upgrades have become more widespread in the past few years. But finding them isn’t necessarily easy. The incentives may not be well publicized, the programs don’t always last very long, and money is available on a first...

There are many reasons to build green. Up to now, public pressure hasn’t been one of them. But that seems to be changing. The Majestic Star casino is a $450 million project planned for a prominent location on the Pittsburgh riverfront. It came under...

Variable–speed drives (VSDs) passed a milestone recently. As many facility executives know, VSDs reduce the amount of energy an electric motor uses by reducing the frequency of the electrical power delivered to the motor. With a chiller, for example...

Suppose you manage a data center that uses the underfloor plenum for cooling. Then imagine that the raised floor extends to the outside walls of the building. And now picture a gigantic hole in the wall that lets two-thirds of the chilled air escape....

From energy and water efficiency, to good indoor environmental quality, to responsible materials selection — it's easy to make a list of the goals for a green building. But what makes a green building? The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental...

You’ve probably heard about the Energy Star Label for Buildings and the LEED green building rating system. Now there could be a new credential for facility executives to aim for, one that shows the organization is prepared for emergencies. Deep...

When you’re thinking about energy-efficient technologies, should you care about oil? When it comes to the energy used by buildings today, coal and natural gas are far bigger fuel sources. Looking to the future, renewable energy sources like solar...

In a sense, they’re ambitious goals. Reduce energy consumption 30 percent by 2012. Use Energy Star benchmarking. Use an energy audit or retrocommissioning to find low-cost, low-risk, high-return ways to improve energy efficiency. Train staff and...

The proliferation of green products is a boon to facility executives who are involved in green building projects – or who simply want to make buildings a little more environmentally friendly than they would otherwise have been. But the flood of...

With high energy prices and rising concerns about global warming, energy efficiency is a hot topic in Washington, drawing support even from some conservative Republicans like Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). So why did an extension of tax deductions for building...

Over the years, interest in energy has ebbed and flowed. While factors like energy cost will clearly continue to influence investments in efficiency and renewables, I believe the current upswing in activity marks a departure from what we’ve seen...

Want to get an idea of building technologies to start considering for projects in the years ahead? Take a look at the public review draft of a proposed standard for green buildings being developed by a trio of powerhouses: ASHRAE , IESNA and the U.S....

CoreNet has a long history of identifying and analyzing trends as they are beginning to unfold. To take one example: Back in the early ‘90s, the International Development Research Council (one of the predecessors to CoreNet) heralded the development...

Is the glass half full or half empty when 61 percent – or should I say only 61 percent? – of facility professionals say that commissioning is not a priority in their organizations? In the latest FacilitiesNet survey , commissioning is very...

Next time you’re wondering if it’s worth trying to justify more energy-efficient equipment, you might check out a Web site that has nothing to do with either facilities or energy. It’s the online home of the Nathan Cummings Foundation...