ACG Member and EMA Board President Chris Smith, CxA, EMP, Jacobs Engineering and AABC Board Member and Vice President Josh Green, TBE, Environmental Test & Balance Co. published “Improving Long-Term Energy Efficiency with Commissioning” with FacilitiesNet.

 

Facility management and ownership issues only arise when the facility is built and operational. More than two-thirds of a facility’s total cost is typically associated with operating and maintenance costs over the facility’s entire life cycle. Energy often accounts for a large portion of these costs. In addition, the operating conditions of many facilities are changing due to newer usage, redevelopment requirements, evolving technologies, and new concerns about energy and sustainability. To understand and understand the status and operations of their facility, owners often consult with a consultant to assess the status of the facility (FCA). To maximize the potential for owners to benefit from their facilities, facility assessment services should expand to include energy, commissioning (Cx), and testing and balancing (TAB).

 

Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) typically focuses on a static review of the condition of the facility and individual components in terms of age, design, construction, method and materials. The FCA procures building data, including postponed maintenance and defects, and informs the facility’s operating staff. Normally, all systems, including the skin of a building, are considered to determine the current condition of the asset. FCA results provide asset classification and lifetime estimates that support deferred maintenance schedules and replacement information based on “similarity” that supports ongoing asset operations. FCA is based on static physical analysis, provides limited performance data and does not address operational or energy performance of facility systems.

 

This article is a follow-up to an APPA webinar hosted by Green and Smith in November 2021 that discussed methodologies and key components for developing site condition assessments related to building mechanical/electrical systems; Estimates and associated budgets are aligned with the owner’s strategic goals for energy, sustainability and resiliency to prioritize project implementation based on weighted factors of estimates and goals; measurement and verification strategies to assess project performance to improve the building stock and achieve various energy and sustainability goals.


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