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THE FACILITIES MANAGER’S ENERGY PRIMER

Stephen Platt

SOME BUILDINGS ONLY DRAW A PROFILE OF YOUR INCREASINGLY ASKED TO

FIDDLING WITH THE CONTROLS

AMBITIOUS FIRST ACTIONCHEAP BUILDINGS MAY NOT

GIVE THE BEST VALUE

NOT JUST TECHNICAL ISSUES HIGHER ELECTRIC CONSUMPTION

PRELIMINARY SURVEY

DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

FOREWORD

We welcome the opportunity to introduce this publicationwhich is the result of collaboration between the British Instituteof Facilities Management, the Department of the Environmentand the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and resultsfrom a project managed by the Building Research EnergyConservation Support Unit (BRECSU) as part of the DOE'sEnergy Efficiency Best Practice programme.The impact on theenvironment of human activity is significant. It is estimated that15% of the UK’s total energy expenditure comes from non-domestic buildings. With all organisations seeking ways in whichthey can improve their cost control and enhance theirprofitability, attention to the organisation’s energy use will aidthe balance sheet and contribute towards improving theenvironment.

Deciding where to start, an ad-hoc or systematic approach, whatenergy conservation may include and how to measure thebenefits may be some of the questions which you are facing.This guide will assist managers from non-technical backgrounds,by providing a general overview or stimulate interest in energyefficiency from other key stakeholders helping the moreexperienced facilities manager. In easy stages you will learn howto reduce running costs, gain ideas for actions and where to findfurther sources of information.

Applications of the ideas and techniques in this guide shouldlead to benefits for business and the environment.

Jeremy Bayliss Derek Paxman

President ChairmanThe Royal Institution The British Instituteof Chartered Surveyors of Facilities Management

THE FACILITIES MANAGER’SENERGY PRIMER

Endorsed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the British Institute of Facilities Management

THE ROYALINSTITUTIONOF CHARTEREDSURVEYORS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The contribution of the members of the Advisory Panel isgratefully acknowledged: Charmaine Shakespeare, Symonds FM plc; John Fessey,Longman Group (UK); Mike Ellerker, Ernst & Young; EddieMurphy, Ernst & Young; Robert Pinson, Bennet Pinson; FrankHennessy, Nuffield Hospitals; Chris Engert, Procord; StephenAldridge, Trinder Aldridge.

A development workshop was supported by the followingorganisations:Bank of Ireland Mortgages Bennet Pinson British Institute of Facilities Managers Building Research Energy Conservation Support Unit Cambridge City Council Cambridgeshire County Council Edwin Watson & Son Ernst & Young Halifax Building Society J Sainsbury plc Land Rover Group Longman Group (UK) Ltd Milton Keynes NHS Trust National Westminster Bank Nuffield Hospitals Procord plc Prudential Property Division Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Royal Mail Symonds FM plc Trinder Aldridge Trust House Forte Hotels Turner & Townsend University of Edinburgh William H Brown

This publication was prepared for the Department of theEnvironment by Dr Stephen Platt ofCambridge Architectural Research Ltd. © Crown copyright October 1996

THE FACILITIES MANAGER'S ENERGY PRIMER

CONTENTS

PART 1 OPPORTUNITIES 1

Managing energy efficiently 2You have a hundred and one things on your plate. Energy management may only be yourconcern for a small proportion of your time – if it is formally a part of your job at all. Sowhy should you bother about it?

Needs and opportunities 5A facilities manager who can deal with the other parts of the job should have no difficultywith energy management. A key to success is understanding the organisational framework.Organisations are not static and processes of change throw up opportunities that can beexploited to gain energy efficiency improvements.

Environmental impact 13Organisations need to pay increasing attention to the environmental impact of theiroperations. The principles of the green agenda have gained widespread acceptance – buthow can good intentions be turned into action? There are many established techniques thatthe facilities manager can make use of.

Building projects 19Involvement in major building projects is the exception rather than the rule for facilitiesmanagers. But these projects – whether new build or refurbishment – give a specialopportunity for higher standards of energy efficiency. This chapter explains how to keepenergy efficiency high on the agenda.

Buildings in use 27The broad principles of energy efficiency are relevant to all organisations, but the waysthey are applied in practice vary widely. Key features of an organisation’s building stockcan tell the facilities manager what approaches to energy efficiency are likely to besuccessful.

PART 2 PRACTICAL STEPS 33Eight steps that the facilities manager can take to upgrade energy management.

PART 3 FURTHER INFORMATION 56Performance indicators, useful tables, where to turn for help, and bibliography.



HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

This guide to managing energy efficiently gives an overviewrather than detailed guidance. It will be particularly relevant tosomeone from a non-technical background for whom energymanagement is only one aspect of the job.

Parts of the guide will also be of interest to more experiencedfacilities managers, for example those who have recently takenup a new post or see an opportunity to reactivate interest inenergy efficiency in their existing organisation.

We have used the term ‘facilities manager’ to refer to anyoneconcerned with the interaction between buildings and theiroccupants. You may have a background in engineering ormaintenance, or perhaps have experience in personnelmanagement or accountancy. You may operate within anorganisation’s structure, or in a specialised facilities managementconsultancy.

The purpose of the guide is to help you think about how tointegrate energy efficiency into all aspects of your role in themanagement of facilities. In this respect its main objectives are:

! to help you to reduce energy consumption and running costsof your building

! to improve your own understanding! to give ideas for action! to help you enhance your influence with other people in your

organisation, especially with senior managers! to give pointers to further sources of information.The chapters can be read in any order – not necessarily in onesitting. Most of the detailed guidance is in Part 2 of the guidewhich can be dipped into at will. What we would suggest is thatyou get an overview of what the book contains so you can referback to it when you want particular help.

PART 1 OPPORTUNITIES

1


MANAGING ENERGY EFFICIENTLY

You have a hundred and one things on your plate. Energy management mayonly be your concern for a small proportion of your time – if it is formally apart of your job at all. So why should you bother about it?

The case for energy efficiencyEnergy efficiency can save money. Saving energycould release funds for other activities within yourorganisation – improving patient care in a hospital,for example, or developing new businessopportunities in the retail sector. Energy may beone of the largest controllable costs for yourorganisation, and thus a handy source ofimprovements to profitability.

Environmental issues have also come to theforefront, both as a motivator for individuals tocooperate in energy-saving initiatives and as animportant aspect in client relations.

Energy efficiency means providing the required

environmental conditions for building users atminimum cost – in other words, increasingvalue for money.

Staff costs immensely outweigh expenditure on thebuildings that house them. This means thatimproving working conditions can bring savings instaff effectiveness that greatly multiply cash savingson fuel bills.

Energy efficiency is an indicator of all round

management effectiveness. You can demonstratethe impact you are having in this area, improvingyour department’s profile within your organisationand advertising your own talents. Even if yourorganisation as yet places no special emphasis onenergy efficiency, your competitors may.

2


What impact can you have?Your role as a facilities manager may involvemaking strategic decisions with wide-rangingimplications for energy use.

Some of these have immediate energy useimplications, for example fuel budgeting. However,many others have indirect energy implications; forexample, decisions about space standards couldinfluence how much heating is required. Selectionof furniture systems can have an impact on howefficiently the heating and air-handling systemswork. Even activities unrelated to energy – forexample specification of a security system – couldbe linked with monitoring energy use, through anautomated building management system (BMS).

The diversity of the facilities manager’s activitiescan be broadly categorised as:

1 Providing accommodation and services whichallow your organisation to meet its coreobjectives.

2 Providing a comfortable and satisfying workingenvironment for people in your organisation.

3 Using resources efficiently and reducing costs inthe provision of this accommodation.

Trying to improve the energy efficiency of thebuildings you occupy needs to be set in the contextof these overriding objectives. So energymanagement is but one aspect of good facilitiesmanagement and efficient resource utilisation.

Buildings and energy useThe interaction between buildings and the peoplewho use them is complex. Three factors contributeto the energy efficiency of your building:

! fabric (building design and materials used in itsconstruction)

! services (environmental systems, includingmechanical and electrical plant)

! operation (occupants’ use of the building andtheir awareness of energy efficiency issues).

3


Interaction of the three factorsFabric, services and use can account for a ten-foldvariation in energy operation between similar buildings.Plan depth, orientation and façade design can account fora variation of about 2.5 times. Differences in buildingservices extend the range to about 5 times and variationin building operation extends this to 10 times.

Any of these three areas could offer scope forimprovements in energy efficiency, and there is amultiplier effect if you make progress in more thanone area. The first imperative is to get a feel forhow your building is performing now, and howmuch potential there is for improvement. Thisbenchmarking process is described on pages 35-36.

Systematic or ad hoc approach?

4


There are two basic approaches to improving energyefficiency. Either you adopt a systematic approach andbegin by confirming who is responsible for energymanagement and securing top management support oryou adopt an ad hoc approach and start anywhere youbelieve you can make progress and demonstrate the valueof energy efficiency.

The approaches are not entirely different – manyorganisations begin in an ad hoc way and then adopt asystematic approach later. Also the ad hoc diagramsuggests a logical order to the steps you need to take togain control of your energy consumption. But moreimportant than following this slavishly is to choose as yourfirst step something that is clearly achievable and then tofollow up on this success. Your choice of approach willdepend on your own circumstances, particularly on thesize of your organisation and its corporate culture, butalso, to some extent, on your personal style.

Systematic Approach

Ad Hoc Approach

NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES

A facilities manager who can deal with the other parts of the job should have nodifficulty with energy management. A key to success is understanding yourorganisation. Organisations are not static and processes of change createopportunities that can be exploited to gain energy efficiency improvements.

Organisational culturesEvery organisation has a different set of prioritiesand operating conditions so that no two will evergo about the same task in exactly the same way,even if they are in the same business. Howpriorities are expressed to some extent defines therespective cultures, perhaps influenced by thedominant personality of a single charismaticindividual or a particularly strong mission. Someorganisations care for the environment and turnthis into a unique aspect of the culture, helping toset the organisation and its products apart fromcompetitors. Others believe in keeping costs downabove all else; or in service to the customer.

Many facilities staff are experienced at ‘reading’ theculture and some can intuitively understand whatwill work and what will fail in a given situation. Inorder to be effective, it is essential to work in

sympathy with your organisation – but also to

take opportunities which present themselves.

Your starting point will depend on the existingskills, interests and objectives of your organisation’sstaff. A technologically-oriented company maynaturally gravitate towards excellence in buildingservices or information services, and naturallyrecruit more people with these skills. A companywhich has a strong personnel department mayappoint its facilities staff from its ranks, and theymay then naturally focus on health and safety,

5


Corporate CultureA simple model of corporate culture based on theformality of an organisation's management structureand the timescale over which it plans. Although one ofthese cultures may predominate, most organisationscontain a mix of cultural types

housekeeping, personnel and other non-technological matters.

Needs and prioritiesIn most organisations core objectives come first.Unless there are very well argued reasons forintroducing green initiatives like energy efficiency,they will not be given priority.

Energy efficiency is just another form of goodmanagement practice which happens to haveindividual, organisational and environmental aswell as cost payoffs. There are several similar areaswhich can also fall within the responsibility area ofthe facilities manager – building maintenance, forinstance, cleaning, personnel programmes orhealth and safety initiatives.

All of these share common management featureswhich may include:

! Regular auditing or monitoring of performance,whether for space occupancy, energy, routinemaintenance, risk (insurance) or health andsafety reasons.

! Checking performance against pre-definedobjectives, standards, indicators and industrynorms.

! Dealing rapidly with problems when they occur,especially those which directly affect the work,comfort and health of staff, and being able todeal with situations which may be risky ordangerous.

! Clear communication of changes in procedures,design changes or changes in customary policieswhich affect staff and/or users, and the ability todeal with users’ problems when they arise.

Because facilities tasks have a common basis,involving similar techniques and methods,excellence in any one of them can contribute toexcellence in most or all of them. The veryactivity of monitoring performance and acting

on the findings helps to ensure that the total

environment is being properly looked after.

6


People sometimes say that plants grow better ifyou talk to them every day. It may be true, but itcertainly is not the talking, it is the constant‘performance monitoring’ which is critical.

A virtuous circle?Experience shows that organisations which excel atany one of these tasks – planned maintenance, forinstance – will eventually find that they excel at theothers. For example, research evidence shows thatoffice buildings which have comfortable andhealthy staff are also likely to be more energyefficient than the norm. There is no directconnection – energy efficiency does not causecomfort or satisfaction by itself but there is anindirect relationship via good managementpractice. As comfort is also linked to staffproductivity, there is convincing evidence insupport of what can be referred to as a ‘virtuouscircle’ where health, comfort, satisfaction,cleanliness, staff productivity and energy efficiencyare all linked together and tend to reinforce eachother, underpinned by a common body of effectivemanagement procedures.

The offices at One Bridewell Street, Bristolillustrate that high performance standards can beachieved through good management practicethroughout the briefing, design, fit-out andoccupancy stages. High performance is the resultof expertise and attention to detail rather thanhigh-tech design solutions.

Office energy costs usually account for only 1-2%of total occupancy costs including salaries and itoften seems a wasted effort to reduce these further.But if effort spent on energy efficiency alsocascades through the organisation so that otherinvisible benefits are gained in health, comfort andproductivity then this gearing effect will quicklypay for the extra cost.

7


Strategic planningForte plc (formerly Trust House Forte), the internationalhotel and restaurant group, has had an energy-efficiency policy since the mid 1970s, when the oil crisisfirst made clear the likely social consequences of finiteenvironmental resources. The policy and itsimplementation has now become a part of thecompany’s normal operation, so that energy mattersalways have a place in the group’s strategic planning.In this way, environmental thinking has becomeinternalised in the company culture, and is no longerperceived by staff as a costly extravagance. A clear linkhas been demonstrated between costs and benefits,and interest engaged at board level. Energy efficiency isnow the norm for facilities managers.

One Bridewell Street

One Bridewell Street Bristol, pre-let by the developerMEPC to Arthur Young (now Ernst and Young), is farmore energy efficient than most air-conditioned offices.

Because well-developed management and qualitycontrol procedures are in place and the building usedsimple and robust designs with good user controlinterfaces, efficient energy performance figures areachieved. The building is also extremely comfortable forits occupants.

Keeping complexity under controlAll buildings impose some kind of managementcost, as they all need cleaning and maintaining tosome extent. However, as buildings become morecomplicated, especially as lighting, heating, coolingand control systems are introduced to servicedeeper plan forms – or to satisfy notions ofcorporate ‘prestige’ – so the management costsincrease more rapidly. Facilities managers are oftenaware of the inefficiencies and costs of buildingswhose complexity outruns the capability ofmanagement resources to cope.

Part of your job may involve coping with theconsequences of unnecessary complexity, forinstance occupant discomfort, tortuous services,incomprehensible controls and dangerousactivities. There are two solutions: simple androbust solutions which help to reduce managementand cost overheads, or seek more resources to helpmanage problems created by physical design.Either strategy may help, but the first is muchmore efficient than the second.

Responding to changesHealth, productivity, satisfaction, comfort and

energy efficiency all tend to be found together

because they all share common good practice

management features. Rapid response to changesin these features is most important to maintainstandards in the organisation. Generally speaking,if your organisation has clear goals which are wellcommunicated, rapid decision-making andresponse, with a good understanding of costs andperformance, it is also likely to be energy efficient.

Response time applies to many different aspects ofthe building – the speed with which the buildingadjusts to human comfort requirements; the easewith which furniture and partitioning layouts canbe changed; how fast the cabling can bereconfigured; the speed with which complaints aredealt with; how fast graffiti is erased and theeffectiveness of maintenance and repair regimes.

8


It is essential to match the physical characteristicsof the building with those of its control system andthe needs of its occupants. The more a building istuned to user needs, and how these change overtime, the better people will like it. This is why it isnot sufficient to provide facilities ‘just in case’ theywill be required, leaving them running whenpeople are not present, because this is intrinsicallywasteful and inefficient. It also shows again howenergy efficiency is connected to goodmanagement elsewhere in the building. The morethe physical and technological systems – fans,pumps, lights, heaters and chillers – switch offwhen not required, the more demand is beingproperly met. So sensitivity to demand and speedof response is critical to good performance.

OpportunitiesIf energy management is only a part of your

job, you will need to focus your efforts to

achieve success. Decide where you stand the mostchance of achieving an improvement and build onthat success.

At a series of energy management workshopsorganised by BRECSU in 1993, 470 facilitiesmanagers were asked what they thought was theirbest opportunity to make progress in energymanagement in their organisation. Their answerswere categorised into the four main areas shown inthe box Opportunities for improvement.

Around 60% of respondents saw their bestopportunity in the area of incentives or promotion.This emphasises the importance to many facilitiesmanagers of an organisational approach toimproving energy performance, and may give yousome ideas for applying to your own situation.

The best time to make a major improvement in

your org a n i s a t i o n ’s environmental perf o rmance is

when a significant change is being considere d. Seebox Changes that create opportunities for the kinds ofthings you need to look for.

9


Opportunities for improvement

Incentives! obtaining top management commitment! implementing an energy policy! offering incentives to individuals or departments

Promotion! publicising cost savings! promoting energy as a ‘green issue’! marketing inside and outside the organisation

Accounting! local responsibility for energy use! energy accounting! investment appraisal

Expertise! broadening personal experience/knowledge ! staff training in good housekeeping! incorporating energy measures in new-build/refurb

Changes that create opportunities• Relocating, acquiring new premises or rationalising

the existing estate

• Altering the organisation’s areas of activity orrevising product/services mix

• Refurbishing existing premises/plant/equipment• Making major plant/equipment/materials purchases• Renewal of contracts for maintenance to premises,

plant and equipment

These are your major opportunities for makingsignificant improvements to your organisation’senvironmental impact. Notice they operate overdifferent time scales. They happen infrequently.So, when such changes are proposed, you need toseize the opportunities they represent. If you missthem, they will lock your organisation intounnecessarily heavy environmental impacts forlong periods, potentially ranging from a year toseveral decades. Use the set of questions in the boxChecklist for change to help you prepare for whatneeds to be done.

It should be clear from this list of questions

that you will not be able to bring about the

changes you are seeking by yourself. Sometimesyou will need to work with – even build allianceswith – other people inside your organisation, someof whom you have never cooperated with before.Sometimes you will need to look for advice andsupport from outside.

Energy management matrixTo be successful organisations need to adopt a

balanced approach to energy management.There is not much sense in having a highlysophisticated information system if the informationis never used by managers.

To help facilities managers measure theirorganisation’s approach to energy management,the Department of the Environment has publishedan Energy Management Matrix. This is describedin detail in BRECSU/DOE General InformationReports 12 and 13.

You can use the matrix to draw a profile for yourown organisation. The shape of this profileindicates where energy management is more or lessadvanced and where attention needs to be directed.

10


Checklist for change• In what order are opportunities likely to occur? • Will any of them occur in the next six months?• Are these the ones you should concentrate on first?• Will others initiate them without consulting you?• How can you influence their decision-making?• Are there changes you should be initiating yourself?• What do you need to do now to be prepared?• With whom do you need to consult or negotiate? • Who has the authority to sanction the decisions?• Who holds the budgets that will need to be tapped? • Should you act as a broker between these people?

Different profile shapes imply different problemsand suggest different courses of action:

1 A flat line at the top of the matrix meansexcellent performance. The problem is tomaintain this high standard.

2 A flat line in the middle or low down means lessadvanced performance. Possibly you have onlyjust started to think about energy management.

3 The u shape indicates that policy andinvestment are more advanced. This is a riskyshape. Adopting a corporate policy andinvesting in energy efficiency means that seniormanagement attention will be focused on youbut the other areas of energy management areundeveloped and this puts your effort at risk.

11


InvestmentMarketingInformationsystems

Motivation

1

2

3

4

0

Energy Policy

Organising

Active commitment of top management

Formal policy but no commitment from top

Unadopted policy

Unwritten set of guidelines

No explicit policy

Fully integrated into general management

Clear delegation and accountability

Delegation but line management and authority unclear

Informal part-time responsibilty

No delegation of energy management

No awareness of the need to save energy

No information system or accounting for consumption

No marketing or promotion

No investment in energy efficiency

Only low cost measures taken

Investment with short term payback only

Same appraisal criteria used as for all other investment

Positve discrimination in favour of 'green' schemes

Extensive marketing within and outside organisation

Comprehensive system with effective management reporting

Monthly monitoring and targeting for individual premises

Monthly monitoring and targeting by fuel type

Invoice checking

Regular publicity campaigns

Some ad hoc staff awareness training

Informal contacts used to promote energy efficiency

All staff accept responsibilty for saving energy

Motivation patchy or sporadic

Some staff awareness of importance of energy saving

Most major users motivated to save energy

The Matrix

Locate your own organisation on thematrix by:

1 Considering each column, one at atime. Mark the place in each column whichbest describes where you think you arecurrently located. You can put your mark inthe middle of the square, between squaresor anywhere between 0 and 4 on the scale.

2 Joining up your marks across thecolumns to produce a graph line.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7The Profile! provides a diagnostic tool for assessingenergy management in your own organisation

! helps you focus on one area to attempt tomake progress

4 The n shape is the opposite condition. Thestructure is in place and motivation is high, butthere is no corporate commitment and nomoney for investment so little is likely to beachieved and this effort will be wasted.

5 The trough reflects good performance on allfronts but one and this imbalance may holdback achievement on a broad front.

6 The peak shows that one area is more advancedthan the rest and since there is no support forthis advance this effort will also be wasted.

7 Imbalanced profiles show that again effort islikely to be wasted because some areas are moreadvanced than others. About a third of delegatesto the workshops drew this kind of profile.

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

There is little doubt that facilities managers are increasingly being asked tothink ‘green’. The principles of the green agenda have gained widespreadacceptance – but how can good intentions be turned into action?

Thinking greenOrganisations need to pay increasing attention tothe environmental impact of their operations.However, the extent to which you are currentlyexpected to take action on this front varies. Youmay work for an organisation that has alreadyintroduced an environmental policy. Perhaps yourorganisation has even decided to comply with theBritish Standard in this area, BS 7750, or theEuropean EMAS (Eco-Management and AuditScheme) and is setting about introducing anappropriate environmental management system.Maybe reducing your organisation’s environmentalimpact, through improved management of itsfacilities, has already been written explicitly intoyour job description. If you are in any of thesepositions, then you need to be able to recogniseand act upon the opportunities open to you to helpyou to deliver these responsibilities.

Or you may work in an organisation that hasn’t gotan environmental policy. If you do, the likelihoodis that it will introduce one in the foreseeablefuture, even if only in response to growing UKgovernment and European legislation anddirectives, if not because of pressure fromshareholders, financial institutions or consumers.In this case, your organisation’s ability to show thatit is making progress on this front will becomemore important over time, as clients, customers,and staff become more aware of green issues

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through the publication of indicators showingwhich organisations are performing best.

It is important to draw a distinction betweenlegislation which you have to comply with, like theHealth and Safety at Work Act, and codes ofpractice which are voluntary, like the BS 7750. (Seethe box UK and EU legislation.) The BritishStandard assumes, for instance, that compliancewith existing legislation is the bedrock minimumagainst which your organisation measures itsenvironmental performance. The Standard dealswith the kinds of management structures, actionplans, and review processes you need to put inplace to make successive improvements over time.Outside of the Building Regulations (which onlyapply to new buildings and extensions), action toreduce energy consumption remains voluntary inthe UK at present. So this chapter concentrates onvoluntary actions which, like the Department ofthe Environment’s Energy Efficiency Office’s BestPractice programme, describe managementpractices and technological opportunities aboveminimum statutory requirements.

Although voluntary at present there will be

increasing pressure to comply with these

standards. If you attend to them now you will savemoney and hassle in the future.

Identifying environmental impacts The mix of fuels that your organisation consumesgives rise to varying amounts of carbon dioxideemissions which contribute to the threat of globalwarming through the so-called Greenhouse Effect(see the CO2 emissions box). If your buildings haveair-conditioning systems that are operatinginefficiently, then you may be releasing CFCswhich deplete the ozone layer. Both of theseimpacts occur at the global level.

The electricity you consume may be supplied bypower stations that are emitting sulphur dioxide,harming plant and animal life not only within theUK but far away amongst our Northern Europeanneighbours.

14


UK and EU legislation and codes of practiceIt is important to draw a distinction between mandatorylegislation and codes of practice which are voluntary.

MandatoryHealth and Safety at Work Act 1974

Environmental Protection Act 1990

COSHH Regulations 1989 and 1990

EEC Workplace Directive 1989

Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment)Regulations 1992

Noise at Work Regulations 1989

VoluntaryBS 7750 Environmental Management System 1994(revised version)

EC Eco-Management and Audit Scheme 1993

BRE Environmental Assessment Method 1990

BSRIA Environmental Code of Practice 1994

DOE Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme

(Making a Corporate Commitment campaign)

CO2 emissionskg/kWh pence/kWhdelivered

Electricity 0.68 6.37

Coal 0.32 0.99

Petroleum 0.28 0.97

Gas 0.19 1.31

1993 Figures: Building Energy Efficiency Group, BRE.

Electricity produces four times as much CO2 as gas andcosts five times as much.

As facilities manager, there are strategic decisionsyour organisation makes over which you have nocontrol. But you do need to be aware of theirenergy and environmental impact – not leastbecause, overall, they may undermineimprovements you make in how much energy isconsumed inside your buildings.

If your organisation has chosen a location whichmeans that most of your staff have to commute towork by car, then this will add to pollution at thelocal level, both in terms of traffic noise andcongestion, as well as reducing air quality throughharmful emissions. Transport is the fastest growingarea of energy consumption in the UK.

Strategic decisions, like choosing a location foryour new premises so that staff can use publictransport, can be more important than day-to-dayoperational decisions about whether you userecycled paper or switch to low energy light bulbs.If you are responsible for reducing yourorganisation’s environmental impact, you will haveto operate at both these levels:

• strategic – infrequent actions with largeenvironmental impacts

• operational – frequent actions with smallenvironmental impacts.

How regularly and how well you clean yourpremises – both in terms of plant and equipmentand furnishing and fittings – will also affect airquality inside and outside your buildings.Inadequate maintenance to cooling plant andequipment, for instance, can lead to the risk ofoccupants and even passers-by contractinglegionnaires’ disease. Inadequate internal cleaningcan lead to allergic reactions, affecting occupants’health, increasing staff turnover and absenteeism,and so reducing your organisation’s productivity.

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The box Environmental impact shows a wide rangeof impacts. which your organisation may be havingon the environment. Depending on where you arelocated in your organisation, and how yourresponsibilities are defined, you may be required tointroduce policies and practices to manage any oreven all of these.

Looking at this list may help you to assess whereyour own responsibilities currently lie and who elseyou need to collaborate with, inside yourorganisation, in order to deliver an effective andcomprehensive environmental strategy.

Just how significant is energy?Buildings consume about half the energy used inthe UK and are responsible for a similarproportion of CO2 emissions. Although energyconsumption isn’t your organisation’s only

environmental impact, it is probably one of its

most significant. Facilities managers haveestimated that it represents somewhere between25-50% of the environmental impact that they arepersonally responsible for reducing. Energyconsumption is certainly involved, in one way oranother, in most environmental impact.

Properly managing your energy consumption maybe the only area in which you can reduce yourorganisation’s environmental impact withoutimposing additional costs. Indeed, making yourorganisation more energy efficient will often leaddirectly to cost savings. So gaining control overyour energy consumption, and managing thisresource more effectively, are good ways to startimplementing an environmental strategy.

But success on the energy front alone is notenough. Successful environmental managementrequires a holistic, integrated approach. You needto make progress across a broad range of fronts

and avoid over concentrating on single issues.Above all, you have to guard against making

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Environmental impactInternal Thermal comfort, glare, air quality, noise,allergy risk from toxic materials and processes, qualityof cleaning

Local Air pollution (CO, CO2, NO2) and noise fromcommuting and from on-site operations; landcontamination; water pollution; Legionnaires’ diseasefrom cooling systems

Regional SO2 pollution from electricity generation andCO2 pollution from transport energy consumption

Global CO2 emissions contributing to globalwarming; CFC emissions contributing to depletion ofozone layer; depletion of finite resources, eg energy,hardwoods, top soil, bio-diversity

improvements in one area that lead to higherenvironmental impact in another.

Identifying prioritiesIt isn’t possible to be categorical about what youshould do first. This will depend on a large numberof factors, including:

• the nature of the organisation you work for andits types of activities and operations

• your range of environmental impacts and theirintensity

• whether you have a fully developedenvironmental strategy in place or are juststarting out down the road to effectiveenvironmental management

• whether you are responsible for formulatingpolicy or simply implementing one that hasalready been decided elsewhere

• the level of corporate commitment you candepend on and the extent to which this has beentranslated into access to resources, staff time orexternal expertise.

For all these reasons, facilities managerslegitimately disagree about what should be givenpriority. What you need to do is identify what ismost appropriate in your own particular case.

One of the most important factors affecting yourchances of success is your personal style – how youlike to get things done – and how well this mesheswith the circumstances you find yourself in.

Some people prefer a systematic approach toenergy management:

• defining a policy

• gaining corporate commitment for it

• getting the right management and auditingsystems in place

• assembling a robust database about currentperformance

• drawing up a short-term action plan, and

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• developing a long-term programme of work.

Others like a more ‘ad hoc’ approach:

• narrowing in immediately on a substantive issuewhere rapid achievements are possible, and

• using these achievements to signal the benefitsof ‘going green’.

These two approaches, the ‘systematic’ and the ‘adhoc’, have their strengths and weaknesses. Youneed to choose one that best suits you and thecorporate culture of the organisation in which youwork. In the medium-term, it is worth trying tomesh these two approaches together into acoherent whole, through a series of short-termgoals underpinned by an adequately resourced,long-term strategy.

Setting goals and performance indicatorsOn the energy front alone, there is a widespectrum of ways in which you can set yourselfgoals and targets. It is important here to be clearabout what you are actually trying to achieve. Isyour aim solely to save your organisation money?If so, you can probably do this through buyingyour fuels more cheaply or by installing equipmentthat will make you more productive or efficient.But, while both of these measures may reduce yourbills (energy and/or staff costs), the first won’treduce the amount of energy you consume and thesecond may actually increase it (whilst deliveringimproved output). Even if your goal is to reducethe amount of energy you consume, is this to bemeasured in an absolute or relative way?

Senior management may be keen to reduce energyconsumption, but they are unlikely to be willingfor this to occur at the expense of core businessobjectives. Core objectives may involve growthdiversification and possibly a more energyintensive mix of products. The aim, of course, is toachieve the required level of output for theminimum use of energy.

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TargetsDefine targets and performance indicators which arerealistic and will work in your organisation.

Set reduction targets:• per heated area (m2) volume (m3), or• per member of staff, or• per unit of production or service delivered Report results by:• reduced consumption, fuel by fuel, or• reduced fuel bills, section by section, or• reduced CO2 emissions, section by section

BUILDING PROJECTS

Involvement in major building projects is the exception rather than the rule forfacilities managers. But these projects – whether new build or refurbishment –provide a special opportunity for higher standards of energy efficiency. Thischapter explains how to keep energy efficiency high on the agenda.

‘Let’s build!’From time to time the facilities manager’s routineis interrupted by a dramatic event – a new buildingor a major refurbishment project. Suddenlybudgets are measured in millions of pounds insteadof thousands and all the defects and difficulties youhave learned to live with are up for grabs. It’s anexciting opportunity – but a challenge. How doyou make the best of it?

It is vital that your organisation’s requirements

and objectives dominate the project, and this

includes your energy efficiency objectives.

This chapter describes some factors that will affectthe ultimate energy efficiency of the new building,and suggests some ways that you as facilitiesmanager can contribute to, and influence, theproject. This advice should be relevant for anyproject involving significant expenditure onbuilding work other than routine maintenanceexpenditure, including new build, refurbishmentand fit-outs or re-fits.

Briefing and commissioning are critical pointsin the dialogue between users and theconstruction industry.

In briefing the design team you describe thebuilding you require, including its energyperformance, and in commissioning you checkwhether you are getting what you ordered. Seethe box The building process.

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The building processThe development of a new building begins with aproblem or a need. Pre-design studies lead to thecrystallisation of a brief. The facilities manager shouldbe fully involved at this stage. The initiative then passesto the design and construction professionals who turnthe brief into reality. Their work is monitored by thefacilities manager who returns to centre stage oncommissioning.

Pre-design – when to build, what to build, where to buildMany of the facilities manager’s most critical inputsare made before the design stage is reached. Theproject really begins with the emergence orperception of an accommodation problem or need,often caused by growth, by new activities, or by theobsolescence of existing buildings.

The most important single pre-design decision isthat a new building is needed. No subsequentdecision will ever have as much impact. Is a newbuilding really needed? Consider, for example,whether rationalising the use of existing buildingscould solve the accommodation problem.

Early decisions have the most impact whileomissions are difficult and expensive to remedylater.

About 65% of the cost-critical decisions in abuilding project are made by the time the brief iswritten, about 25% are made during design, andonly about 10% during construction. Yet only 15%of the expenditure goes on pre-design and designactivities, and 85% is spent on construction itself.A similar pattern applies to energy use – almost allof the energy-critical decisions are made beforeconstruction begins, and the pre-design phase isthe most important of all. See the box Diminishingeffect of decisions.

Let’s assume that a new building is the rightsolution. Some key issues that must be addressed inthe pre-design stage are outlined in the box Pre-design – key points. Some of them may not appear tobe energy-related issues, but in fact basic factorslike the size of building and its location have adramatic effect on energy consumption.

The role of the facilities manager in these vital pre-design studies will vary from organisation toorganisation and project to project. Certainly thefacilities manager will not work single handed;often professional advisors are brought in even atthis pre-design stage.

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Diminishing effect of decisionsAbout 65% of the cost-critical decisions in a buildingproject are made by the time the brief is written, about25% are made during design, and only about 10%during construction. Yet only 15% of the expendituregoes on pre-design and design activities, and 85% isspent on construction itself.

A similar pattern applies to energy use – almost all ofthe energy-critical decisions are made beforeconstruction begins, and the pre-design phase is themost important of all.

Pre-design – key pointsLocation – An energy efficient building in a locationreached only by private car might easily cause a netincrease in energy consumption.

Incremental change to stock – Aim for the greatestincremental improvement in performance of yourorganisation’s whole stock of buildings, don’t focusnarrowly on the new part. Can poorly-performingbuildings be taken out of use?

Energy inflation – Be aware of the tendency forrefurbishment projects to cause increased energyconsumption, due to improved performance standards.

Activity analysis – There must be an accommodationproblem or you wouldn’t be thinking of a new building,but take the opportunity to think really carefully aboutwhat kind of building would be most appropriate.

Organising the projectNearly all building projects will involve designersand builders from outside your organisation.

You should ensure that your building is

designed by people who know about energy in

design.

The best way of assessing whether prospectivemembers of the design team are well qualified foran energy efficient project is to study their previouswork – have they been involved in projects whereenergy efficiency was an important priority, anddid they come up with convincing ideas? – as wellas their general background and approach. Toidentify practices with a track record of energyefficient design, there is a central advisory body aswell as professional institutions. Or you could alsolook through architectural and constructionjournals and books – see the box Finding an energyefficient designer.

When energy efficiency is an important designobjective you should consider adding an energyconsultant to the design team – put forward thisidea if the team do not do so themselves. Theadvantage of such an appointment is that an energyconsultant can focus specifically on energy,whereas it is only one of many issues which arecompeting for the attention of the team members.Also, a non-specialist may not be familiar with thelatest developments in energy efficient design.Additional consultants will increase the bill forprofessional fees, but successful advice pays foritself many times over in the lifetime of thebuilding.

Briefing for energy efficiencyBefore the brief is written, you should make surethat the objective of energy efficiency is agreed andaccepted within your organisation – that yours isnot a lone voice. You will need allies. The moresenior their positions in the organisation the better– ideally you want the top person to be decisivelyon the side of energy efficiency.

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Finding an energy efficient designerWho you appoint as your design team is critical toachieving an energy efficient design. But finding anenergy efficient designer is not easy.

Networking:Use your contacts in the facilities management world.

Free advisory service:Energy Design Advice Scheme – with regional offices,supported by DTI. EDAS holds a register of consultants.

Case studies: DOE publishes a series of case studies of energyefficient buildings – available free of charge.

Periodicals:Architects’ Journal, Building (both weekly)Books:Visit and browse at the RIBA Bookshop (66 PortlandPlace, London, and in Belfast, Birmingham, Cambridge,Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham); the BuildingCentre Bookshop (Store Street, London); or the RICSBookshop (Great George Street, London).

Professional bodies:RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) – contact theClients Advisory Service

RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors)

CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building ServicesEngineers)

Your organisation’s basic commitment to energyefficiency must be communicated to the projectteam from the outset – it should be raised whenyou are interviewing prospective project teammembers. It must be stated in the written brief andre-stated throughout the briefing dialogue.

All projects try to satisfy multiple criteria, butgenerally a few high profile issues ‘lead’ the project– they are the ones which mould the basic designconcept and the ones which are least compromisedif there are conflicts between competing criteria.Energy efficiency should be in the position of a‘leading’ objective.

Your objectives for the building project must becommunicated effectively to the design team viathe project brief. If they are not properly briefedthere is a danger that they will make decisionsbased on their preferences – or their last client’spreferences – and not on yours. There is no single,foolproof formula for briefing. It is almost always aprocess involving interaction between the clientand project team, but a central feature is usually awritten document – the brief.

The task of writing the brief can be handled indifferent ways: as an internal exercise by the clientorganisation, by specialist consultants appointedbefore the main project team, or as the projectteam’s first task. Here we are concerned with whatthe brief says about energy – see the box Briefingfor energy efficiency. Energy performance is only onepart of the brief, and it will not be the largest part.If you want an energy efficient building youmust say so in the brief.

Simply stating and re-stating your commitmentestablishes energy efficiency as a project objective.That may be all you say about energy efficiency inthe brief, relying on the project team to ask theright questions and make the right designdecisions. But such a non-specific brief does notactually help the project team very much – they areleft to interpret your priorities on your behalf; nordoes it help you to know for sure whether the endproduct meets your expectations.

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Briefing for energy efficiency• Brief may (should?) evolve during design.• Don’t try and create a fictional, ‘perfect’ brief.• It is easy to write an impossible brief – always check

for feasibility.

• Get the project team to accept the brief formally.• If you state your brief as a set of performance

requirements the project team have maximumflexibility to consider design alternatives.

If you can state your energy efficiency targets morespecifically, everybody will be in a better positionto reach a successful outcome.

A thorough energy brief contains information ofthree types, describing:

1 your performance requirements, withoutspecifying how the project team should achievethem;

2 any design features that you want the projectteam to include in the building;

3 background data that the project team needs toknow in order to make the right energy designdecisions.

Performance requirements Briefing throughperformance requirements is extremely powerful,pinning down the project team’s targets but givingthem scope for imaginative solutions. There aremany sources of information to help you selectappropriate energy performance targets. Or youmay decide to use specialist consultants to setperformance requirements in the brief. Theperformance indicators you use should bemeasurable in the finished building – otherwiseyou will never know whether they have been metor not. (An example of an unmeasurableperformance indicator would be, ‘energyconsumption to be lower than the average of allnew buildings completed in the same year’.)

Design features As well as specifyingperformance requirements, you can use the brief totell the project team what specific design featuresyou want in your building. This applies to energyand environmental design just as much as tomaterials, spatial features, etc. You may wantcondensing boilers, natural ventilation, highefficiency lighting, and so on. But remember thatthe brief describes a problem, not a solution. If thebrief encroaches too far into design matters youmay find the designers have to keep coming backto ask if they can make changes to the brief; or,what is worse, they may fail to explore fruitfuldesign options.

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Background data The brief also tells the projectteam about aspects of your organisation that affectenergy efficient design. How many people willthere be in the building? doing what? how manymachines? of what type? what are the hours ofoperation? are the activity patterns stable orvariable? – and so on.

Important issues relate to capital investmentpolicies: some energy efficient design optionsincrease building cost in exchange for reducedrunning costs. Does your organisation have a long-term or short-term time horizon? is there amaximum payback period? or a minimum rate ofreturn on investment? (see also ‘Capital spending’,p.54).

Having got all this information, or as much of it aspossible, into a written brief you must still expect adialogue with the project team. They may ask youquestions which do not appear to have anyrelevance to energy efficiency, but which may becritical to the choice between design options. Forexample, if a handful of people sometimes worklate, you may need a completely different methodof controlling the lighting.

Do not set targets that are incompatible – like, forexample, asking for both natural ventilation andconstant, cool interior temperatures which couldonly be achieved with air-conditioning. Your briefshould set challenging but achievable targets.

Design and constructionOnce you have briefed the project team you haveto judge their proposals in terms of all the criteriaset out in the brief, including energy efficiency.

Be a demanding client. Insist that the project teamexplain the energy strategy and preferably presentquantified predictions of energy performance. Ifyou have set performance standards in the brief,ask for performance data for the design proposals.Where alternative options are under consideration,ask for comparative data to justify selections.

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An issue that is likely to come up in the appraisal ofdesign proposals is lifetime energy use, includingenergy used in construction, during the life of thebuilding, and even in demolition and re-use ofmaterials. The energy used in the manufacture andtransportation of the materials in a building and inthe construction process itself is known as abuilding’s embodied energy – see the box Embodiedenergy. The numbers are significant; for example,the embodied energy in a typical new officebuilding is approximately equal to the energy usedto run it for five years. If materials have to bereplaced several times in the life of a building, theembodied energy of each replacement should beconsidered in the lifetime energy use. These ideasare still in their infancy and it is too early to expectmost design professionals to present calculationsfor lifetime energy, but this will definitely changeas research data becomes established and theseideas are more widely accepted.

Do not give approval to the design until you arereally satisfied that it meets your objectives – itmay be difficult to make changes at a late stage ofdesign but it is even more difficult onceconstruction has started, let alone when thebuilding is finished.

Projects under construction have to be carefullymonitored, but it is unlikely that new issues willarise that have a major impact on energy efficiency.The main mechanism for monitoring constructionis usually a monthly report which tends to focus onprogress and cost. Regular site inspections mayidentify unforeseen issues – it is often difficult toanticipate fully what a building will be like fromdrawings. It is problematic to make late changes –but if changes are necessary, the sooner the better.

Commissioning and useAlong with briefing, commissioning is a criticalstage in the users’ dialogue with the project team.In the brief you tell the project team what youwant, and in commissioning, the project team handover what they have provided.

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Embodied energyEven though the quantity of energy consumed in abuilding during its lifetime will be many times theenergy consumed in its production, there are a numberof reasons why reducing embodied energy is importantfor environmental improvement:

• The manufacture of many building materials isinherently energy intensive, but there are significantdifferences in the energy consumption of alternativeprocesses.

• Manufacturing processes often have the opportunityfor using low grade energy in place of high gradeenergy, i.e. minimising the use of electricity.

• There are wide differences in the embodied energycontent of alternative materials, so savings could bemade without having to make design changes.

• Savings in the embodied energy in a building aremade at once, whereas savings in the energy used in abuilding accumulate over many years.

In the worst case, it is only when the building isfinished that the facilities manager actually getsinvolved. If this happens to you, try to ensure thatyou are at least involved in commissioning and thatthe design concept and all the systems in thebuilding are fully explained to you, so that youunderstand how the building is expected to work.

The procedures for commissioning should be fullyspecified in the original brief – see the boxCommissioning new buildings. Only after all aspectshave been carried out satisfactorily is the projectfinished. Commissioning includes inspection andapproval of all parts of the completed building andworking demonstrations of all components,including energy-consuming plant andenvironmental control systems. Particularattention should be paid to control systems,especially where innovative or complex controlsare incorporated. Malfunctioning control systemsare an extremely common cause of sub-optimalenergy performance and the facilities manager’srole is absolutely vital in preventing this.

Every new building should be handed over with a‘user handbook’, prepared by the project team. Itshould include full information about the building,how to use it and how to maintain it, includinghealth and safety aspects of maintenance. Aftergaining experience of using the building, thefacilities manager may be able to augment andimprove the manual for the benefit of futurefacilities managers during the life of the building.Facilities managers should also keep it up to date.

The new project is now a building in use and theadvice on monitoring and management set out inthe chapter Buildings in use applies. With a newbuilding you have an added incentive to monitorperformance to make sure that the exciting ideas ofenergy efficiency you dreamed about at theinception of the project turn into reality.

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Commissioning new buildingsCommissioning procedures should be set out in thebrief. For electrical and mechanical plant thecommissioning procedures can be lengthy and detailed– they are set out in industry-standard manuals. Thebasic principles, which apply to all aspects of thebuilding, are:

• Inspections for completeness and quality.• Testing, demonstration and instructions on all

electrical or mechanical systems.

• Training in the use of the building and equipment.• Full documentation including ‘as built’ drawings

and specifications, suppliers’ names, maintenanceschedules, service contracts.

• Testing and approvals certificates from all statutoryand other bodies.

• Health and safety data about cleaning andmaintenance of the building.

• Meter reading for all services and utilities.

BUILDINGS IN USE

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the managementaspects of gaining control of energy in existing buildings. Part 2 provides moredetailed advice on technical and financial aspects of energy management.

‘What’s the problem?’Managing buildings ought to be fairlystraightforward; after all we have been creatingshelter for large complex activities for thousands ofyears. Of course buildings have become moresophisticated, but not to the same extent as, say,transportation. So what is the problem?

Ask facilities managers and, with a wry smile, nineout of ten will tell you it’s the people. If only thestaff would behave sensibly and not fiddle with theheating on a Monday morning or if only peoplewould turn the lights off when they weren’tnecessary. Facilities managers will also say they faceparticular problems in their organisation – thelighting in a television studio creates overheatingproblems, or the widely differing age and types ofbuildings on a hospital campus pose complexcontrol problems.

Facilities managers have a point. The job is mademore difficult because most of the occupants wantto be able to get on with their job without havingto think about the building. What if the buildingresponded spontaneously, like our skin or ourheart, to the changing needs of its individualoccupants? Systems are available that allow us tocontrol all aspects of the internal environment andmake it responsive to changes in the weather andoccupancy. Isn’t the answer to automate?

We know that well thought-out buildings that havebeen designed to avoid obvious problems are much

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easier to manage and more pleasant to work inthan badly designed buildings that overheat orhave little daylight. But we also know that time andagain highly automated buildings fail. As in mostthings there is a happy medium, and it is up to youas the facilities manager to find it. But you are notalone. There are tried and tested ways of doingthings and solutions to the problems you come upagainst. You can tap into this communal wisdomby joining a local energy management forum orby employing an outside consultant to adviseyou.

Different types of buildings in different industriespose very different management problems, whichmakes it difficult to give a simple description ofhow you should go about managing your premises.Nevertheless there is a common thread that can beadapted and applied to most situations and thisthread provides the eight steps to gaining controlof energy consumption that are introduced later inPart 2. First though we will look at some of the keyfactors which create differences.

Some of these have been discussed in the chapteron Needs and opportunities. What goes on in yourbuildings; the corporate culture in which you haveto operate; the attitudes of staff and buildingoccupants to energy efficiency and topmanagement interest and support will all influenceyour approach to energy management and the styleyou adopt. Two aspects of the building stock itselfwill also have a big influence: tenure and buildingtype.

TenureAttitudes to energy conservation action vary withtenure. If you are an owner occupier there will bestrong incentives for both reducing running costsby good management and for upgrading your stockby investing in energy efficiency. If, on the otherhand, you are a tenant there will be less incentiveto invest in capital projects. Although mostlandlords do not have to pay for energy used intheir buildings there will be circumstances, for

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example when tenants are exerting pressure for arent reduction, where it is important to increaseenergy efficiency in order to reduce service chargesand thus maintain the headline rent.

Whether you occupy the whole of the building oronly a part will also affect your energymanagement. There is little incentive to be energyefficient for tenants occupying part of a buildingon a service contract where the energy costs areapportioned by floor area. It is importanttherefore to ensure that service charges arebased on metered consumption for the part ofthe building you actually occupy.

The same reasoning would also apply on a campussite such as a university or hospital where youwanted to introduce cost-centre accounting tomake individual departments responsible for theirenergy consumption. Apportioning charges on anybasis other than actual consumption is unlikely tohave the desired effect. So unless you can discretelyidentify consumption by local metering do not optfor departmental budgeting.

Building typeThe type of buildings you occupy will determinehow you need to go about energy management.Some types of buildings are much more difficult tomanage than others. For example campus sitessuch as acute hospitals are more complex thansmaller, simply serviced buildings such as schools.The more complex the problem the greater theneed to employ full-time energy management staffor contract out your energy management.

The size of your building portfolio will alsodetermine your approach. Managing 3000branches is obviously of a different order tomanaging a single shop or office building and willneed standardised procedures and computerisation.Some buildings consume much more energy thanothers so the potential savings are much higher andconsequently the return on effort is much greater.

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Building tenure

Tenancy Control Low cost Capital consumption measures investment

Owner occupier yes yes yes

Full repairing yes yes yes

Service contract indirect interest no no

Landlord no financial maybe maybeinterest

Building type

Campus eg hospital, or widely dispersed diverse stock

Widely dispersed similar buildings eg retail chains, banks

Highly serviced buildings eg air-conditioned office

Simply serviced buildings eg schools

more complex less complex

large portfolio

small portfolio

Possible pitfallsSometimes our best intentioned efforts to improveenergy efficiency and reduce waste can fail.Introducing new technology to improve efficiencycan turn out to be ineffective or evencounterproductive. Ill thought-out managementmeasures to reduce costs or motivate staff can turnout to have the opposite effect. So you must try toavoid doing more harm than good.

Technological pitfalls

! The technical measure is not used as envisagedbecause it is too complex for people tounderstand, so it gets disabled.

! Dramatic malfunctions occur as a result offactors that the designers failed to anticipate,often because they did not understand how thetechnology would be used.

! The fix imposes limitations or rigidity onbehaviour that people don’t like so they subvertits use.

Management pitfalls

! Inconsistent top management support whichproduces uncertainty and lack of direction.

! Re-organisation which creates chaos at thesharp end of building management andmaintenance with a loss of continuity andcontrol.

! Bureaucracy that spawns paperwork andadministrative ritual rather than any realimprovement.

! Incentive schemes based on dubiousapportioning of costs which lose credibility andbecome a disincentive.

Reducing waste is important, it makes theorganisation more cost effective, it reduces theimpact on the environment and it has spin-offeffects on all other aspects of good managementand healthy organisations. But facilitiesmanagement can itself become a waste. If you get

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lost in the technology or get sidetracked by thedata then you will be wasting your own time andeffort and your organisation will be the loser.

So beware. Often you are on your own with littleguidance from above. Regularly ask: am I using mytime effectively? Is there a simpler way of doingthis that would get there quicker and more easily?

The answer is to keep it simple, involve others

in the process and remember what you are

trying to achieve.

This chapter has provided an overview of buildingsin use. Part 2 gives detailed tactical guidance aboutmanaging energy in buildings.

Gaining controlPart 2 of this primer provides eight Practical Stepsto gaining control. Twenty facilities managers froma wide variety of organisations in the public andprivate sector helped devise the steps. They arepresented in a logical order from Step 1:Preliminary survey to Step 8: Capital spending.

As we suggested in the opening chapter, you canstart anywhere. If you are new to facilitiesmanagement or if your organisation has onlyrecently begun to think about energy managementthen start at the beginning and work through thesteps systematically.

The eight steps provide an overview. The intentionis to help you clarify what is possible and practicalin your own circumstances and to guide you towhere you need to look for help.

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Practical steps

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PART 2 PRACTICAL STEPS

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PRELIMINARY SURVEYTake a quick look round your buildings to see how they operate and tointroduce yourself to people. The aim is to identify which parts of the buildingand what plant is causing energy waste.

Walk round the site and buildings at differenttimes of the day and different days of the week.Don’t focus on energy but look at how the wholebuilding operates. Which parts get too hot orremain too cold?

Look at the fabric. Where is heat lost throughinadequate insulation, ill-fitting windows or opendoors? Is the heat loss due to inadequatespecification or to poor workmanship? Make a noteof how this heat loss might be reduced and use thisinformation in your Plan of Action.

Check the lighting. Choose mid-morning on anovercast day. Which lights are left on when theyare no longer needed? What kind of lamp fittingsare being used? Are they kept clean? Find theswitches. Could these be relocated to make thelighting more efficient?

Check temperature and time controls and relatethese to how the building is supposed to operate.

Talk to the maintenance staff and checkmaintenance records. Telephone the previousfacilities manager. Where are the problems?

Talk to the occupants as you walk round. What dothey think of the building? Try not to raiseexpectations but don’t pretend staff and theirattitudes to the building don’t exist. Check sicknessrecords. Are staff in some parts of the buildinggoing sick more often than others?

A Practical Guide to Energy Auditing in Buildings,(BRECSU/EEO, 1994), provides matrices to helpyou assess and record the performance of hotwater, space heating, lighting and building fabric.

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BENCHMARKING CONSUMPTIONThe first step to gaining control is knowing how much energy you areconsuming and whether this is much more than you could be using with bettermanagement.

To assess your energy consumption you compareyour performance against national averages fororganisations in the same sector as yourself. Twotechniques are presented: one needing little data;and one that needs a great deal but provides moreinsight into how you might improve.

Benchmarking energy costThis is a quick and simple technique designed togive you a rough idea of how efficiently you arecurrently using energy in relation to other similarorganisations in your sector and secondly toindicate what the total savings are likely to be fromgood energy management.

The technique is based on the strong relationshipbetween size of operation and energyconsumption.

To use this benchmark you will only need figuresfor your total energy spend last year in £ and yourtotal turnover or revenue. Calculate whatpercentage energy is of total revenue and thencompare your figure with the table in the boxEnergy costs.

If your buildings are in the ‘Problem Building’column then you need to act immediately anddevote effort and resources to investigating andtackling the problem.

To report energy savings to motivate staff as part ofan awareness raising campaign it may help totranslate energy costs into other units such asnumber of teacher days in a school or number ofpatient attendances at a clinic.

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Energy costs

Building Sector Average Problem Performances BuildingConsiderable Need to room for act improvement immediately

Retail 0.5–1% >1%

Banks and agencies 0.8–1% >1%

Nat. vent. offices 1–2% >2%

Hospitals 1.5–3% >3%

Higher education 3–4% >4%

Transport termini 3–5% >5%

Local authorities 2–3% >3%

Source: Data collected at EEO Energy ManagementWorkshops in 1993 and 1994 attended by nearly 2000 UKenergy managers.

Benchmarking energy consumptionTo give you a sharper indication of your energyperformance you can compare your energyconsumption with norms for your building sector.As well as allowing you to benchmark yourperformance against other organisations thistechnique also allows comparisons between similarbuildings in your estate.

Part 3 provides a table of Performance indicators fordifferent building types which summarises theinformation in the Introduction to Energy Efficiencyin Buildings series published by the DOE.

To use this benchmark you will need figures foryour total energy consumption of each of the fuelsyou used last year and accurate estimates of yourfloor area. The figures for consumption you willget from your invoices. Using Table 1 Convertingconsumption in Part 3, translate these units ofenergy into kilowatt hours.

Get photocopies of all your energy bills for the lasttwo or three years. It might also be appropriate tobegin your systematic collation of energy data byestablishing a steady stream of copies of futureinvoices to be sent to you. This data will benecessary for monitoring your consumption.

The figures for floor area may be more difficult toobtain and depending on the size of your portfoliothis exercise will demand time and effort. ThePerformance indicators table indicates whether youneed treated or gross area.

You may have figures for gross area from cleaningcontracts or lettable floor area from estate agentsand if you are confident that these figures arereliable then use them. If figures are not availablein your property records then you will need tomeasure from plans of your buildings and you willneed to check that they are up-to-date.

This technique gives a fairly crude indication ofthe scope for improved performance. This meansthat you should not use this benchmarkingapproach if you cannot get reliable floor area dataaccurate to 10-20% of the true figure.

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LOW COST OPPORTUNITIESBefore you have to spend any real money to get savings there are many low costmeasures you can take. This is the low hanging fruit you need to pick to get thesupport and funding for bigger projects.

Even if you have been engaged in energymanagement for a good while, a fresh eye canproduce new ideas or a change can open up newopportunities.

Look for the obvious: ensure that you buy yourenergy at the cheapest price, that you are burningfuel efficiently and that you are not wasting energyby overheating your buildings or by lighting themunnecessarily.

Energy procurementThe market for energy has been opened up to eventhe smallest consumers and ensuring that you arebuying your energy at the cheapest price could

save your organisation about 15% of your

energy bill.

Gas

In future, the gas supply industry will be fullyderegulated. At present there are more than 30companies eligible to supply gas to sitesthroughout the UK.

The larger the supply the larger the discount onprices is likely to be. Different supply meterswithin the area of a site can be collected intoadjacent supplies.

You should go out to tender for your gas supply. Tonegotiate the best price, when presenting your sitesfor tender, aggregate the individual supplies intothe largest units possible. Greater savings arepossible when individual organisations form aconsortium and negotiate together.

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BUYING YOUR ENERGY AT THE CHEAPEST PRICEWILL CURRENTLY SAVE YOUR ORGANISATION

ABOUT 15% OF YOUR ENERGY BILL

Electricity

In April 1994 the electricity supply industry wasfurther deregulated to allow sites with maximumdemands of 100 kW to become eligible to receivesupply from companies other than their regionalelectricity company (REC).

If your maximum demand in any three months ismore than 100 kW or your total annualconsumption is more than 200 000 kWh per yearyou should go out to tender for your electricitysupply. To negotiate the best price when presentingyour site for tender, you must have an accurateprofile of your demand throughout the year. Aswith gas, greater savings can be made whenindividual organisations form a consortium andnegotiate together.

The main ingredients of successful negotiation

are: detailed and accurate information aboutconsumption over the past two to three years, aprofessional invitation to tender sent out to alleligible suppliers, intensive negotiation with theshort list of tendering companies and a spreadsheetto analyse and compare the ten to fifteen bids youreceive.

There is also plenty of proprietary softwareavailable and, for those of you who would like help,consultants can help you with this process.

Controlling heating and hot waterParts of the same building lose heat to the outsideat very different rates. Some parts of a buildingmay be used for much longer hours than the rest.For these two reasons all but the smallest buildingsneed to have the heating system zoned. Heatingthe whole building outside normal hours becauseone small part is in use, or over-heating the wholebuilding to bring the coldest part up to therequired comfort level, leads to large wastage andpoor temperature regulation.

Efficient zoning and the sensible siting ofthermostats is thus the key to efficient heatingcontrol.

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Controls

Look for the obvious. Check time controls – roomsshould only be heated when that heat is needed bythe occupants. Check thermostats – is thebuilding heated to the right temperature? Upgradecontrol systems where you can out of revenuesavings.

Controlling the use of electricityIn most buildings your consumption of electricitymay be only a quarter of that of gas or oil, but thecost of that electricity will typically be 50-60% ofyour total energy bill. This is because electricitycosts per kWh, on average, are five times that ofgas. In addition burning fossil fuels in powerstations produces three to four times the CO2 andsulphur dioxide per kWh of delivered energy asdoes burning gas or oil in your boiler. So managingyour electrical energy is as important if not moreimportant than space heating and hot water.

There are two key ways to reduce consumption:

1 install correctly sized energy efficient

equipment

2 switch it off when you don’t need it

You may buy your electricity on a maximumdemand tariff. This means that in addition to theunit charge for the total number of units used andthe standing charge based on the supply capacity inyour contract, you will also be charged for themaximum demand in any half-hour period in themonth.

Demand management thus becomes a key

aspect of your energy management role.

Keeping your electricity costs down becomes aquestion of trying to smooth out your demand andavoid short periods of very high consumption. Thissmoothing benefits the electricity industry and thenation as a whole because increased demand can bemet by existing power stations rather than buildingnew ones.

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Usage is charged by kVA rather than kWh. This isbecause some equipment, for example olderfluorescent tubes and electric motors, imposes aninductive rather than a resistive load. Thisinductive load needs a magnetising load in additionto the load current, so although it does notcontribute to the power used it does result in anincrease in current and consequently kVA drawnfrom the supply.

The ratio of power to current is known as thepower factor. Since the supply company imposes acost penalty you need to aim for unity, or inpractice a power factor of 0.96. This is achieved byinstalling capacitors near the supply company’sboard. Suppliers of power factor correctionequipment will be able to survey and advise you.

Note that power factor equipment can go wrongand when it does it dies catastrophically andwithout telling you. Your power factor may dropfrom 0.96 to 0.7 and you may then not notice thisfor three, six or even twelve months or more. Thiscan cost you a lot of money since it will mean youare paying 30% more than you need for yourelectricity. So check your power factor monthly.

Lighting

Lighting will be a substantial part of your energybill, probably in the region of 20-40% of the totalcost of energy. Reducing lighting consumptionis an important part of energy management.

You can reduce consumption by either reducingthe load, by delamping or by installing moreefficient lamps, or by reducing operating hours, byswitching off the light manually or by installingtime switches or occupant and/or daylight sensitivecontrols.

Compact fluorescent lamps are four to six timesmore efficient than tungsten bulbs and last abouteight times as long so they save both in terms ofenergy and maintenance costs. Slimmer 26 mmfluorescent tubes with high frequency ballasts are30% more efficient than the older switch start

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38 mm fittings. These high frequency lampsproduce no noticeable flicker so cause less eyestrain and headaches when working on computermonitors. The efficiencies and colour rendering ofhigher output lamps, in particular high pressuresodium lamps, has also improved dramatically.

There is sufficient daylight in most buildings tomeet lighting requirements for a major part of thetime the building is occupied. Yet lights getswitched on in the morning and then left on longafter they are no longer needed. Lights shouldalways be switched off when a room is unoccupiedor when there is sufficient daylight. It is a myththat it is cheaper to leave lights on no matter whattype of lighting is used.

Maintenance of light fittings is also important. Thegradual accumulation of dust and dirt on reflectorsand diffusers can reduce light output by more than30%. In all but the smallest installation, therefore,it is good practice to maintain fittings on a plannedbasis.

Small power

It is wrong to assume either that the use of smallpower is bound to continue increasing into thefuture, or that nothing can be done to curtailcurrent usage without reducing your organisation’seffectiveness. A survey has predicted that powerdemand per person is likely to halve over the nextdecade (BRECSU Energy Consumption Guide 35),due largely to increases in machine efficiency.

Here are some guidelines for reducing wastefulprovision or use of small power:

! Don’t make over-generous assumptions ofelectrical demand, especially for future use.

! Select equipment with low power demand,especially during idle periods for intermittentlyused items like photocopiers. In the case ofpersonal computers, pay attention to VDUpower consumption and look out for innovativefeatures such as flat screens and automaticswitching to idle mode.

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A MUCH HIGHER LEVEL OF ELECTRICITYCONSUMPTION FOR OFFICE EQUIPMENT?

! Make sure equipment is turned off at the end ofthe working day, or when unused for longperiods. If there are perceived problems withrebooting PCs or other equipment, it is likely tobe due to a technical fault: service or replace theequipment.

! Avoid unnecessary over-specification ofsupplies.

The following DOE publications will be of help:Econ 35 Energy Efficiency in Offices: Small PowerLoads; FEB 9B Economic Use of Electricity inBuildings; GIL 06 Energy Efficiency in OfficeLighting; GPG 158 Energy Efficient Lighting inIndustrial Buildings; FEB 12 Energy Managementand Good Lighting Practices; all of the Introduction toEnergy Efficiency in Buildings series.

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PLAN OF ACTIONIdentify opportunities for improvement and priority areas for action. Keep itsimple and win support from your line and senior management.

To avoid losing sight of what you are trying toachieve you need to focus your efforts and devise aplan of action. The timescale for this plan will varyin different circumstances. But a useful periodmight be over the next two years.

Your first action is crucial. You need to be able todemonstrate success in order to gain the topmanagement support you need to invest in energyefficiency measures.

Careful analysis of your profile on the EnergyManagement Matrix (pages 10-12) will help you todecide which key area to focus on first. This firstaction does not have to be too ambitious or long-term. It might be something quite modest. Thetwo most important things are that it is successfuland that it fits into your plan and will lead on toother action and improvement.

Make a list of all the opportunities you havespotted to improve energy management and reduceconsumption. Define what action will takeadvantage of these opportunities and make a roughestimate of how much the action is likely to costand how long it is likely to take. Then try to orderthe opportunities in terms of priority, taking intoaccou

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THE FACILITIES MANAGER’S ENERGY PRIMER Stephen Platt - … · 2019. 5. 19. · example specification of a security system – could be linked with monitoring energy use, through