Talking Points
Part 1: Dan Hounsell: Building Star Program Targets Energy Efficiency
Part 2: Chris Matt: LEED Fosters Facilities Education
Chris Matt: LEED Fosters Facilities Education
By Chris Matt, Managing Editor - Print & E-Media - June 2010 - Green
How well do you know your facilities? What types of activities do you undertake to expand your knowledge and better understand the intricacies of building operations?
Pursuing certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's rating system, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), allowed an engineer I spoke with recently to take an in-depth look at one facility's maintenance and operations activities.
The experience has provided him with lessons he can apply to other buildings pursuing LEED certification or undertaking initiatives to improve their environmental responsibility.
"It was a huge learning curve," the engineer said of the LEED-certification effort. "It felt like I was doing a giant book report on the campus. I had to learn about transportation. I had to learn about recycling. I had to learn about purchasing. It was very educational for me to get (familiar) with the campus."
While talking with managers for this month's Roundtable on energy benchmarking, the book-report comment seemed applicable yet again. Benchmarking facility energy use forces managers to delve deeply into the performance of buildings and equipment.
Without generating an energy baseline, managers and technicians too often operate on assumptions related to building efficiency or do not realize the improvements they can make, sometimes without expending a lot of time and money.
Whether through benchmarking energy use or pursuing LEED certification, becoming more familiar with facilities operations is a practice managers and technicians undoubtedly should seek out if the opportunity presents itself.
Agree? Disagree? Have something to say? We want to hear from you. Visit myfacilitiesnet.com/members/Chris-Matt/default.aspx, and "Start a Conversation."
Chris Matt offers insights gleaned from conversations with managers who make key maintenance and engineering decisions in commercial and institutional facilities.
Comments
Chris Matt wrote re: Chris Matt: LEED Fosters Facilities Education
on 7/23/2010 9:33:41 AM
mdstanberry:
Thanks for the comments. You make some great points throughout. Have you tackled a LEED project at your facility? If so, I'd be interested to hear how it went. Feel free to message me directly if you'd like. Have a good one.
Chris
Dean Stanberry wrote re: Chris Matt: LEED Fosters Facilities Education
on 7/19/2010 3:00:45 PM
In many cases, organizations do not have well documented or benchmarked facility operations. The person designated as the "facility manager" may be more coorectly termed the facility mechanic. Essentially, there is often a disconnect between leadership, business operations, and facilities. FM today is more of a business function than a mechanical function.
A business operation would not think of running without an operation plan, metrics on key functions & financials, or best practice processes. Facilities, on the other hand, is rarely funded to this level of support. Whether it is the inability of the facility managers to adequately articulate their needs, or shortsightedness on the part of leadership - the net effect is the same.
The act of pursuing LEED certification forces the participants to confront gaps in their operational processes. Individuals who pursue LEED accreditation quickly discover the gaps in their own skill and knowledge set. While LEED alone will not close all of these gaps, but I fundamentally agree with the assertion that it fosters facilities education.
