A Wal-Mart store in Jane, Mo., and another in Rogers, Ark., were under the same mandate from company CEO Lee Scott: Eliminate 30 percent of energy used in stores in the short term.

One of the first areas the company’s engineers attacked was refrigerated food cases. Typically, fluorescent lights in the cases burn 24 hours a day. During fall 2006, the two stores served as test sites for the installation of LED display lighting controlled by Watt Stopper occupancy sensors in refrigerated cases. The sensors turn lights on when customers approach the cases and turn lights off when they leave the area.

During the six-week test, data loggers showed the case lights remained off 44 percent of the time in the Jane store and 47 percent of the time in the Rogers store. Based on those results, the company concluded it could realistically expect LED case lighting to be off more than 40 percent of the time by installing sensors.

When examining the total energy savings for the project, the company found the connected load was reduced by 43 percent because LEDs require less power than fluorescents. Overall energy savings realized by changing from uncontrolled T8 fluorescent lighting to occupancy-sensor controlled LED lighting, which generates less heat and requires the compressor to run less often, turned out to be 92 percent. These incremental savings represent close to 3 percent of the total energy usage of the entire supercenter store.

An additional 450 stores are set to be retrofit with LEDs by the end of 2007. The company calculates the cost of replacing the fluorescent lighting with LEDs controlled by sensors will be paid back in approximately two years. Those measures are part of the energy and environmental agenda set by Scott, who has called for all stores to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that sustain resources and the environment.

WATT STOPPER/LEGRAND

The goal for the 120,000-square-foot Lewis and Clark Building in Jefferson City, Mo., was a Gold certification under the USGBC’s LEED for new construction rating system. That’s an ambitious goal, but the building, home to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, did even better: It earned a Platinum certification, the first state office building to hit that mark.

While many factors, including operable windows and photovoltaic roof panels that generate 2.5 percent of needed energy, led to the building’s certification, none were more critical than the air conditioning system.

The building uses 24 custom configured Vision air handlers and two model WSC high-efficiency centrifugal chillers manufactured by McQuay International.

To cut daytime energy use, the system generates chilled water at night and stores it in a cistern under the building for use during the day. The air handlers are part of an under-floor air distribution system that produces a floor-to-ceiling airflow that results in relatively uniform air temperatures in the space where people actually work — from the floor to a height of about six feet. The air handlers’ cabinets can be sized on two-inch increments for both height and width without limiting the component selections available to meet the requirements of the application. That allowed the design team to specify 24 air handlers of varying sizes with no need for custom-fabricated equipment.

In addition, two high efficiency centrifugal chillers can run down to 10 percent of full load without using a hot gas bypass. The units also use HFC-134a refrigerant, which has no ozone depletion potential or phase-out schedule.

The building saves about $90,000 in annual energy use compared to conventional buildings of similar size.

MCQUAY

Government buildings are the definition of public facilities. Implicit in their mission is to serve the public good. In a growing number of cases, that means making public buildings green.

In 2004, the Johnson County, Kansas, government made a commitment to construct facilities that would be conducive to employee productivity and serve as educational models of environmental stewardship to the community.

For the 127,000-square-foot Johnson County Sunset Drive Office Building which houses six county departments and more than 300 employees, the county chose low- and no-VOC materials to provide an improved indoor working environment. The interior finishes include reclaimed redwood taken from a deconstructed local building, recycled glass content in the lobby’s terrazzo floor and systems furniture fabric made from corn. The office building also offers bicycle storage and showering facilities to encourage employees to bike to work, and provides 17 hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles for employee use.

For floorcovering, the design-build team chose a modular carpet constructed of Antron Legacy nylon containing a minimum of 35 percent recycled content, says Neal Angrisano, deputy director of facilities for the Johnson County facility management department. The trees surrounding the facility served as an inspiration for choosing the carpet pattern. The carpet fiber is certified as an Environmentally Preferable Product by Scientific Certification Systems.

ANTRON

Archibus
FM Enterprise is a modular, scalable software solution with open system architecture that offers connectivity to other enterprise applications, such as finance and human resources systems. Software allows users to create unified reports that support multiple currencies in both metric and imperial units, connect to remote offices and publish data on the Web using XML, and distribute information via the Internet and Intranets with FM Web Central. Software integrates with AutoCAD for faster drawing and asset symbol creation.

Bentley Systems
ProjectWise is a scalable collaboration system used by teams to manage and share CAD and geospatial content, project data and Microsoft Office documents. Facility data are securely related to the engineering drawings and other documents that are maintained in the software. The system can be used with both DGN and DWG files, and Web-based reporting capabilities allow a wide range of recipients to access or create reports.

Tririga
The company’s facilities management software helps manage space assignment, utilization and planning, relocations, services, budgeting and cost management in a single environment. The software automates management of portfolio, space, service, relocation, contract, asset, inventory and procurement, and finance. System allows visual management of locations, assets, people and organizations using AutoCAD and MicroStation.

MRO Software
Maximo asset management system is built on a single software platform and delivers a view of production, facilities, transportation and IT asset types across an organization. Product consists of six management modules — asset, work, service, contract, materials and procurement management. System allows for development of programs for preventive, predictive, routine and unplanned maintenance.

Mainstream
CrossForm software maintains a history of maintenance actions. System’s capabilities include dispatching corrective and preventive maintenance orders, asset and inventory management, Web interfaces, wireless/mobile solutions, and more than 300 reports. The solution also features background transmissions and a work order completion wizard.

Aperture
View is a management system that enables organizations to visually manage their space and occupancy and automate manual processes. Employee location, department assignments and space use can be modified through Web-based forms using a standard Web browser and space chargeback reports. System maintains a single, up-to-date repository that contains all information about space and occupancy.

Syclo
Smart Suite Work Manager delivers work orders, daily tasks and service requests to employees working remotely. Employees verify status and work completed and access key data points. System enables asset, customer, or transaction histories and other critical information to be delivered using mobile devices. Data are uploaded to enterprise systems to generate follow-up work orders, status reports, customer invoices, charge backs and more.

Famis Software
Occupancy Management tracks updates to location and cost information on workspace, equipment, personnel, buildings and sites, leases, space utilization, ownership, availability, status and costs. System allows users to plan and execute moves of assets and personnel. System generates and tracks move orders automatically from graphical displays and provides graphic information management features to address resource management functions. The system employs Autodesk MAP to interactively link space, personnel and database.

Facility Wizard
Projecto manages multiple capital, construction, and facilities projects and is focused around project budgeting and cost accounting, with tools for scheduling, reporting, and team collaboration. Software allows user to find, sort, and view list of projects; sort and compare projects by square footage, cost, project manager, department and phase; compare current and original budgets broken down by general ledger cost category; and track project costs in-depth.