Paper towels or hand dryers in your bathrooms?

November 28, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Energy Efficiency, Environmental, Facility & Office Maintenance, Facility Management , , , , , 6 Comments


Are paper towels less costly to your facility than running and maintaining a hand dryer? It’s a tricky question, especially if you are a tenant verses an owner.

The debate is usually based on carbon footprint and costs, but for infection control (hospital type environment ) hand dryers have a tendency to be less hygienic than paper towels. There have been experiments carried out and under ultra-violet light the spread of germs caused by the air-flow can be quite extensive.

But both methods have their benefits.  Paper towel probably has a greater environmental impact than hand dryers especially when you consider papers towel’s production (water and energy consumption), packaging (energy consumption), transportation (fuel energy consumption) and storage (energy consumption). You should also consider the labor required to replenish the hand towel, removal of the waste from the bathroom, and then the disposal of the waste from site.

With government legislation requiring buildings to be energy rated, especially the new Local Law 87 in NYC which requires energy benchmarking, having hand towels installed means that as a tenant (typically) you won’t pay the electricity costs that would otherwise be passed on if you had hand dryers installed. Increased energy costs will obviously impact on either your tenancy or buildings rating performance.

A LinkedIn contributor conducted a trial and installed dryers vs. paper towel.  While the dryers appeared to be the better solution (Dyson were the preferred choice), they observed a small increase in their energy costs. As they were looking to reduce overall energy consumption (and thus carbon footprint) to improve our energy rating, they are now considering staying with paper towel.

From a hygienic point of view, the paper towels are more effective as the paper is fresh and clean. The dryers recirculate air within the bathroom and are therefore not hygienic.  Airbone fecal matter is recycled through the air intake, filtering through the filament and germinating until someone starts the dryer again where it is transferred onto your hands.

There are products on the market that are extremely cost effective and energy efficient such as the Dyson airblade which studies show will pay for itself within a 26 month period. They are extremely energy efficient and require little maintenance.

Paper towels can contribute to a significant amount of problems from people putting them into toilets and causing blockages needing to be cleared etc, along with this they are also a fairly costly item that are replenished on a highly regular basis.

The environment should dictate the equipment or facility used or be viewed in such a way as to cover all aspects of the situation and requirements.

How do you deal with Graffiti at your facility?

October 25, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Facility & Office Maintenance, Facility Management , , , , 4 Comments


Graffiti is everywhere; it is unsightly, costly to business and ruins public spaces.  These “taggers” consider themselves graffiti artists and not property defacers. The important thing is to remove any graffiti as soon as it appear, otherwise it becomes an open invitation for others to add to.

What steps you take to maximize protection on the business premises you maintain.

There are actually two issues, that being indoor and outdoor graffiti. For outdoors graffiti, you can use environmentally friendly graffiti removal solutions that are applied over the tag, let it sit and keep it from drying on by reapplying if required (application time is the most important step for good results). You then use high pressure hot water to wash it off.  The hardest removals are porous surfaces which often leave “shadow” effects. The solution dissolves the graffiti and the hot powerful spray gets in at it.

Indoor (primarily bathroom stalls and walls), you’ll want to use less aggressive products trying not to cut into the existing surface paint on walls. Some FM’s report they have had success with surface sealers that repel graffiti, however this makes resurfacing of the area (repainting) difficult. There are other products which is applied on the existing surface that can be peeled off (like a skin) when covered with graffiti.

There are also some very good anti graffiti paints on the market which make it much more easier to remove graffiti.

Here are some product suggestions from FM’s:

Graffiti Armour is a product that provides a clear coat protection to any masonry surface and if anyone tries to graffiti a surface protected by Graffiti Armour it just wipes off with water.
Graffiti Stripper removes graffiti from any unprotected surfaces.
Dymon’s “Scrubs Graffiti Remover” towels

The best approach is probably a combined proactive and reactive approach. Use something like the Graffiti Armor for initial protection and then respond quickly with regards to removal.

Update – November 30, 2012
Mary Arabia-Galgon, Senior Property Manager at Century 21 Advantage-Gold in Philadelphia contributed the following information via the BOMA LinkedIn Discussion Group: “Try as well to contact local graffiti removal community groups. In Philadelphia, we call the Center City District, they come right out and remove graffiti at no charge.

Mary is indeed correct. I did a quick search here in NYC and they have a similar program via the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit called Graffiti Free NYC. It offers free graffiti removal to properties throughout the five boroughs. The program will only remove graffiti from private property below the second story. Barring special circumstances, this does not include lampposts, sidewalks or signage.

How often should you replace the belts of the roof fans?

October 16, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Facility & Office Maintenance, Facility Management, HVAC , , , , , , 1 Comment


Part of routine maintenance is to replace the belts of your rooftop fans regularly. A basic routine might be simply walking past the equipment on a monthly basis during good weather for a visual and audible inspection that may identify developing problems such as chipped belts or bad bearings. Taking the cover off once a year to inspect the bearings, motor and mounts will provide long life and assure the cover removal will not be a 4 hour job if you need to. Also, removal of the cover properly will help correct it. Don’t forget to re-install it so winds do not blow it off the roof.

There are many factors affecting the belts’ lifetime and a number of factors should be taken into account:

• Climate – hot, cold, humid, damp etc.
• Running time
• What the equipment feeds
• Condition of the pulleys
• Pulley ratio
• Motor and drive type
• Quality and type of belt, pulley, motor
• Cracks in belt

Many times it is better to undertake condition based or business critical maintenance in order to identify the best type of maintenance required. Inspections might be performed at best quarterly and minimally, semi annually. Cracking and glazing would warrant change out, although you should be looking at any causes for failure such as pulley misalignment, bearing problems or over and under tensioning.

The first time you replace the belt, measure the diameter of the adjustable sheave and replace it with a proper sized fixed sheave. Adjustable sheaves are “belt eaters”. You should be able to skip a winter visit when the roofs are dangerous if you check the rest of the year.

If you are breaking belts on a regular basis, when the fan is on a time clock start/stop, then try to step up your belt profile. If you are changing belts twice a year for the sake of it, on a 24/7 fan, its time to get yourself a decent Fitter who can adjust your belt tension, and not give it a walk by test. Stock levels of belts should be inline with the amount you use and if you have a few different types of belts on site, try to standardize your belt sizes so that you don’t need to stock many.

A laser tool can be used to ensure alignment on the semi-annual preventative maintenance and when new belts are installed.

Most drive belts only last about one year. It is, therefore, a good practice to change them annually. If you do not do this, they often end up breaking and creating downtime and a service call. Some exhaust fan belts can break without anyone initially noticing until odor control becomes a problem.

If the belt supports a very critical safety function like a hazardous materials fume hood, you should check it more often to make sure it’s not out of adjustment or any other part of the ventilation system is having problems. And replace the belt at the first sign of wear, or perhaps even yearly even if it looks good just to be safe.

TV Studio Flooring – How do you get those smooth Camera Moves?

August 2, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Construction, Facility & Office Maintenance, Flooring, Uncategorized , , , , , , , 4 Comments


A television studio client of ours faced a flooring problem in a recently acquired turn of the century building (the one before last). How do you take a rough, rotted, timber plank floor and make it level and smooth suitable for television cameras and pedestals to glide easily on? The photo above depicts a typical smooth studio floor (photo credit: Ronacrete).

Television and film stages are unique in that floors have to be hard enough and dent resistant so the weight and constant use of sets, equipment, ladders, scissor lifts, audience risers and audiences, lighting trusses and day to-day demands of carpenters don’t cause the floor bonding to sink in. They must be smooth so the wheels of a camera pedestal will glide or truck around smoothly without bumps, dents and vibrations that would cause the camera lens to shake.  Camera “dollies” or “pedestals” in TV and production studios need floors that are seamless and super-flat simply because cameras must track smoothly during taping or filming. They also need some acoustical value to mitigate sound transmission in what should be a quite box.

I was general manager of NYC television studio and faced similar flooring challenges.  One 3,600 sq ft stage had resin over vinyl tile and the tile warped causing the top coat resin to buckle. This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72IITaox0FE shows a similar situation where the studio floor disintegrated in spots. The problem here was over coat disbondment.  The solution was to remove the existing surface and resurface with epoxy build system and coated with high definition chemical resistant coating.

There are several solutions that studios deploy that were discussed in a LinkedIn discussion group.

1. Double overlayed plywood floors floated on a hard foam base.

2. Plywood and gypsum sandwiched floors.

3. Concrete can be used but of course the weight becomes an issue.  A structural engineer should be consulted to calculate the load and approve its use.

4. Topping the wood with self-leveling resin that is super tough on a busy TV studio floor is the most popular solution.

Ardex makes self-leveling portland based concrete toppings that are often specified for TV studios. K-500 can be applied 1/4 inch to 1 1/2 in thick and can be tapered down to 1/16 inch for thresholds. Mixed with pea gravel it can go up to 5 inches thick. K-500 can be coated with a quality floor paint/sealer (see recommendations) in 24+ hours. SD-T is the “fast track” version and can be applied 1/4 inch to 2 inches thick. SD-T can be coated with recommended floor paint in about 2 to 4 hours. Prep, prime and let dry, pour the topping and let it cure, then cover with appropriate floor paint.

Each new studio set may potentially require floor repainting so the floor screed must be able to withstand this constant paint application and removal.  A good high chemical resistance paint should be applied for this purpose.

To reduce the noise in a studio floor, an EVA rubber floor underlayment can be used to mitigate noise transmission if you aren’t using big pneumatic pedestals. EVA stands for ethylene vinyl acetate. It’s a plastic foam material and does not actually contain any rubber. This material is also known as acetate.

Another option is TV Tiles which are made in large 36 inch squares that provide a flat, smooth floor for television studios.

What have you used?

What Have You Done For Your Tenants Today?

July 12, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Commercial Lease, Facility & Office Maintenance, Landlord , , , , , Leave a comment


Publisher’s note: Many tenants just don’t feel the love from their landlord. They are sometimes treated as if the landlord is doing a favor by allowing them in their building. You hope the property manager’s primary concern should be all about customer service, tenant satisfaction and retention. But often that isn’t always the case. Here’s what every tenant wishes to tell their landlord.  Enjoy, Richard Neuman

By Linda Day Harrison, CPM, CCIM, Contributing Columnist

If you think being a Property Manager is about maintenance, utilities, contracting, technology advances or troubleshooting, you are sadly mistaken. Property Management is about “Customer Service” first. The entire purpose and being of a Property Manager is about tenant satisfaction and tenant retention. There is nothing else it is about.

With each maintenance item, utility bill, new technology and contract signed, it is about the end result: Customer Satisfaction and Service. It is probably the last thing you hear folks talk about or plan for or think of, and it should be the first! Each day you are on the job you need to start your day with: What have I done for the tenants today? If you ask that question and honestly address it, you will be an excellent Property Manager. Remember, if the tenants are happy, the building owner should be happy.

Now, I know there are some building owners who are never happy and will never care if the tenants are happy. There are always a few bad apples in every batch, but for the most part, savvy building owners who really care about the bottom line do get it. It is really the naive building owner who does not get it. Quite simply, tenant retention is everything about Property Management.

With times being so tough it forces many to realize that their treatment of their tenants will surely rear its ugly head if the tenants have not been considered first. When you think about it, this just makes good business sense. Why would any business operate against the customer? Why would any business plan its operations around annoying customers? It makes you wonder sometimes when tenants are treated badly or ignored. That is absolutely insane. Why would you not answer the phone with each ring or respond like a lightning bolt with each work order request? I say it is pure training and education. Most folks who are trained or mentored are not always taught the importance of being nice and the simple rule that the customers come first.

Today it is paramount. It is not optional. The tenants must be considered and respected or they will move. It is that simple. When you look at the massive effort it takes to find a NEW tenant! OMG, you are lame if you do not treasure the tenants you have. If a tenant moves, that should be like a knife in your heart and it should hurt really bad. Nobody wants to lose a tenant today.

Now I realize that there are tenants who go out of business; but I am talking about a tenant who moves to another location. You must avoid that at all costs! You should never let a tenant leave your building. All of the staff must have that drilled into their heads. It must be the #1 thing they eat, drink and sleep, literally. It should be like propaganda on everything they use or work with. Make it your tag line and make it stick. Put it at the bottom of every timesheet, email or on every work order ticket. No matter what you do, every single member of the operations, housekeeping, security, contracting, suppliers and so on, must know this is your entire reason for being.

Once you are sure each member of your team is committed, the next thing is to create your program each year. Literally walk through each month of the year and create a theme or program or whatever you can do. It must involve everyone. That means, contracting services, staff members, and any other groups who touch your tenants must be on board with the plan. Include your contracting service vendors in the events and in sponsoring the events. The motto must be – We are in business because of the tenants and we appreciate the business very much!! That can be said in a ton of different ways, but you get the drift. Create a code word that equals your message.

If you come to the building every day with that message in your head, it will make a difference. Just think about being in the tenants’ shoes. How do they see the building, the staff, the contract service vendors? Do they see a group of folks they are proud to work with or do they see sloppy and messy or rude folks? All of that makes a difference and can make a tenant move as a result.

There is no room for error here. The Property Manager is the leader of the team and the leader must think of the tenants in every project, every thought, every maintenance plan, etc. How you ask? Well first of all communication is the #1 thing. Today there is so much technology you can use for free, especially email. Be sure all of the occupants of your property know what is going on. That is the most effortless and basic thing you can do. For instance, if you are doing anything to improve the building, tell them about it. Also let the tenants know what to expect. That is the most basic rule of customer service. Hang signs, hand out flyers, whatever you can do. Plaster it in the restrooms, whatever works for your configuration or building traffic flow. Nobody wants to walk in to the office and ask, what is going on. They should already know. Give all tenants advance notice!! Do not wait until the last minute. Why? Because that tenant may be planning a big event themselves, or they may have VIP visitors coming to town. Encourage them to tell you about their significant visitors or meetings. Why? Because you can help to welcome those visitors as well. You can spread the word to the staff to be on the lookout or to help people get into the building with boxes or whatever. It is jumping through hoops and making them feel special.

There are so many ideas on tenant retention and most of them are truly common sense and not rocket scientist level stuff. They are old fashioned and traditional courtesies or ideas that show people you care. Your goal is to have the nicest and friendliest staff in the world! If you can create a powerful team, you have it cinched. If you have cranky or ornery folks among you, they will have to go if they fail to follow your leadership. I am sorry to say, but you will have to hire nice people who can deliver the best customer service possible. Do not compromise that point. You can always give folks a chance to change, but if they do not change, they must be asked to leave.

Just remember to ask yourself – What have I done for the tenants today? – and if you do that simple thing each day, you will be on the road to excellent Property Management and superior Customer Service which all lead to high levels of tenant retention that you can count on at your property.

Written by Linda Day Harrison, CPM, CCIM. Linda founded theBrokerList.com in an effort to create efficiency and streamlined operations for the commercial real estate industry, including, property and facility management, leasing and brokerage.

66.5 Best Energy Efficiency Tips for Your Office or Facility

June 26, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Environmental, Facility & Office Maintenance, Facility Management, HVAC, Lighting, Technology, Tenant Improvement, Vending Machines , , , , , 2 Comments


Having a good Energy Philosophy will reduce energy consumption in your office or facility. Here’s some of the best recommendations from professionals who discussed the topic in a LinkedIn discussion group.

GENERAL
1. In the 1980′s it was called Management by Walking Around. Get out and peek into those nooks and crannies of your buildings. The messier the mechanical spaces the more likely inefficiencies hide there.
2. Look for puddles, piles of fallen insulation, and clouds of vapors.
3. Listen for cycling boilers, screeching belts, and thumping bearings.
4. In the morning, drive around your complex looking for plumes of steam, melted snow, water, ice, any anomalies.
5. Identify champions for specific topics (e.g. monitoring energy efficiency of small office equipment such as printers, kitchen equipment, PCs etc); switching lights off overnight (obvious but how many buildings are still illuminated at 10pm!).
6. Identify an ‘out-of-hours’ working area Create an energy efficiency profile.
7. Review your utility billing history and watch for unexpected use patterns. Once that is completed, have a supplier provide a thorough retro-commissioning study and be sure that your existing equipment is performing to design specification. Don’t even think of considering new equipment or systems until this is done!
8. Negotiate a better deal with your utility provider – this will not reduce consumption but will reduce cost.
9. Determine whether your supply of lighting and HVAC match the needs of the users.
10. Become familiar with EPS’s Energy Star. This is a free web site that provides a great benchmark for you to evaluate where your building stands as compared to others. The web tool takes into account your weather pattern, building type, age, etc. so it is normalized in the comparison.
11. Find an Energy Broker that can put your Electric use out to be bid on by several energy suppliers so that you can procure the best rate.

HVAC
12. We all like to think our mechanics catch things. Do not assume. Take time to read work orders even if you have assigned their approval to a supervisor. Many times end users resign themselves to inefficient conditions after repeated calls.
13. Always watch for the “schmoozer” mechanic who visits, talks, blames management or poor engineering, and never does anything.
14. Schedule equipment operation for business and non-business hours.
15. Deploy Variable Speed Drives VSD’s (aka VFD - variable frequency drives) for Motors in HVAC system 3hp and above. At a minimum they can be used for setback, saving energy at times of low load. At a maximum they can be controlled in various variable flow situations to use the absolute minimum energy required to meet your requirements.
16. TXV (Thermostatic Expansion Valves) systems should have their TX valves checked and adjusted periodically. Correct TXV adjustments are critical to system efficiency.
17. Optimize utilization of BMS (Building Management Systems) for HVAC operation.
18. Conduct performance audit of all the equipments and, if required, replace the old equipments with energy-efficient one’s wherever required.
19. Increase your cooling water set point a few degrees. Control the room temperature ranges tighter and be sure that every BMS point is performing as designed.
20. Hire a trusted contractor to perform a level 2 or 3 Energy Audit.
21. Deliver the right amount of energy to HVAC systems - static pressure in the ducts, % of outside air, filtration, air changes per hour, ect.
22. Shut down the AC for the weekend(s) unless specifically requested.
23. Adjust IT room temps to 69 or 70 where possible.
24. Proper building pressurization will affect how your process burners operate, as well as have an impact on your chiller and other compressor systems in the building.
25. Every 5 years check the ductwork and air handling units to see if they need cleaning.  Clean them if they need it.  Clean the coils and cooling towers every year or more if they need it.
26. Make sure that any heating you are using is as energy-efficient as possible – modern boilers use much less energy than old ones, and are far better for the environment. Make sure that the heat and energy they produce is not lost though bad insulation, too! Make the heat you pay for count.
27. Where feasible, HVAC air balance and HVAC secondary pumping system saves money.
28. Deliver the energy just in time.  If no one is there don’t run your air handlers/lights. If no one is in the lab, cut back the Air Change rate from 6 to 3.
29. Install ambient control on chiller starts and staging of chillers.
30. If you have economizer controls on your air handlers, are they working correctly?
31. If you have a large campus, consider connecting the buildings heating and cooling so that you can operate as a central plant with redundant equipment, instead of separate stand alone building systems.  Even if you have only 3 buildings and each has its own chillers and boilers, there will be many times when you can support all three by only firing the equipment in one building up and few times when you can’t support the load by running two instead of three. When they’re not connected you practically always have to have each buildings equipment like chillers, running, all the time even if the load is extremely light.  That not only uses a lot of expensive electricity, it also makes it hard to service any one building during business hours.  When they’re connected you can do practically anything you want including replacing equipment, during normal business hours, and all of your buildings can still be up and running.
32. Don’t have big chillers running at min capacity 24/7 to support very light loads, like computer rooms in huge office buildings.  It there are a few small 24/7 loads in a much larger environment that only needs to be on 12 hours a day 5 days a week, install separate smaller equipment to support that load. When chillers are running, they consume a tremendous amount of power, even if they’re just supporting a bare minimum load.  It’s much better to have one fully loaded chiller, than 2 supporting light loads and even better to shut the big stuff off and run a small A/C unit to keep your computer room cool when the building is empty.

LIGHTING
33. Upgrade your inefficient lighting to energy-efficient fixtures. If you upgrade your lighting you can reduce the number of fixtures and remove real demand from your load.
34. If you retrofit to a Digital Lumens LED Intelligent Lighting System, you can save up to 90% on your lighting bills.
35. Install lighting timers.
36. Replacing T12 fluorescent bulbs with T5′s or LEDs.  Installing LED lighting can give you an ROI of 1-3 yrs saving 75% on the lighting portion of the electric bill.
37. All parking lot lights do not need to burn all night in some areas.  Only a few security interior and exterior lights should burn after closing depending on location and security needs.
38. Retrofit all Neon signs to LED’s.
39. Install Motion Sensors for rooms that don’t need the lights on all day – including closets.
40. Turn lights out when not in use, like the board room. If there is no one in a section, floor, area then turn off the lights.
41. Go past your building after dark and see if its lit up like a Christmas tree.
42. Use daylight instead of turning on office lights, where you can.

JANITORIAL
43. For retail operations, have the janitor(s) come into the store in the a.m. with the early stocking crew. Clean the sales floor first.  If the sales area is tile, have the closing crew sweep the floor the night before so that the janitor moves out onto the floor with the scrubber prior to customers coming into the store. Both the stocking crew and the janitor can work with half lights.  The rest of the cleaning chores can easily be done with customers in the store.  If your a.m. customer foot traffic is high reverse the order of chores and have the scrubbing and buffing done at or just before closing.  It usually takes the closing crew 20 or more minutes after closing to get out of the store, this is an ideal time to run the buffer.  The janitor goes out the door with the closing crew.  (The janitor does not take the trash out, have one of your employees do it.)

ROOFING
44. If you are in need of roof repairs, or replacement, look into cool-roofing / cool-wall solutions which helps reduce energy usage from air conditioning. Cool roofing allows you to reduce your cooling costs by 20-30%
The Department of Energy has also put out a cool-roof calculator to show the energy savings that you can realize from these systems. Most states and even the federal government offer rebates if you install a cool roof. http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/facts/CoolCalcEnergy.htm

MEASURE AND METER
45. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it! Identify your areas of intensive energy use and get them metered. Feed the data into a central monitoring and targeting software system to track any deviations from optimal performance.
46. Benchmark performance against other similar buildings within your portfolio, audit the best performing sites to identify best practice and then audit the worst performing sites to apply the lessons learned and adopt further no cost, low-cost or capital cost improvement projects that may extend to involve some of the solutions outlined above.
47. Use infrared video to document areas of heat loss or excess heat.
48. Add CO monitoring in underground parking so ventilation only runs when air quality is threatened.
49. Good on-line monitoring and energy analysis software that allows you to: (1) Benchmark all your facilities, helping to decide where to focus your budget. (2) Use whatever hardware (meters) you have already installed in your facilities. (3) Integrate with your BMS variables, controlling them when it’s necessary. (4) Alert you in non-energy-efficient uses (5) analyzes your load curve and gives you automatic recommendations.

WATER
50. Conduct water audits, installing smart meters, reducing bills, finding the best tariffs and best times to buy etc.
51. Install water aerators in taps.
52. Most people think only of water savings when replacing old shower heads with more efficient low flow.  But, the energy to heat the water must be also be considered when calculating overall savings.  Low flow heads generate savings from the reduced cost of heating the water.
53. Water used for Urinals is one area where many facility managers give a pass. 40% of water bill is contributed by usage in Urinals. There are Eco-Cubes which can be used in Urinals which minimises the usage of water in Urinals.

DEMAND RESPONSE
54. Demand Response programs pay larger users of electricity significant dollars for their commitment to reduce electric usage during periods of instability on the electric grids.

PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE
55. Planned preventive maintenance is regular, repetitive work done to keep equipment in good working order and to optimize its efficiency and accuracy. This activity involves regular, routine cleaning, lubricating, testing, calibrating and adjusting, checking for wear and tear and eventually replacing components to avoid breakdown.

BATHROOM DRYERS
56. Replace old hand dryers with energy-efficient units as they can use 80% less energy.

ELECTRICAL/POWER
57. Look into high-efficiency transformers for loads that cycle significantly. “Right” sizing, a transformer minimum load, whenever it is powered, is about 1.5% of its rated capacity. This is independent of the plug load. Utility rebates, where available make this a very cost-effective approach.
58. Consider double ended load centers; if the load is no longer critical or the utility has combined the A&B feeds both transformers would consume 1.5% .
59. Closing the tie bar and shutting off one feed on a typical industrial load center can save about $3,000 per year.
60. Install a power factor correction unit at main incoming electrical supply feed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor. Payback is usually 2 years
61. If Line Loss is a concern for your business due to the amount of motors generating your equipment, look into a new Inductive Capacitor. Upgrading from an old capacitor greatly reduces the amount of electricity lost by recycling the escaping electricity. Businesses usually see a 20%-40% reduction in electricity.

Note: The introduction of Power Factor Correction capacitors is a widely recognized method of reducing an electrical load, thus minimizing wasted energy and hence improving the efficiency of a site and reducing the electricity bill. Beginning January 2011, New York State’s large electric customers, for example, have begun paying for reactive power via a penalty payment. Improve your facility’s power factor and you can reduce or even eliminate the reactive-power costs. The payback is impressive and will provide many indirect benefits as well including LEED points, increased system capacity and improved power quality. Power Factor Correction Devices stores excess power until needed, that if unchecked, would have been wasted as heat, by air conditioning compressors, fans, pumps, appliances, machinery and other inductive motors. Power factor correction can be an important part of utility cost control but know that power factor correction has real value only when the utility has power factor penalties that are applicable to your facility, (not everyone will benefit).   A discussion with your local utility provider is always advisable to determine if correction is warranted (and to what level) to maximize the ROI on your investment.

SOLAR
62. Depending on the facilities, Solar is good way to off set peak energy usage.  Depending on the requirements and the building, you can effectively supplement your energy usage with solar cells.  They are able to get cost down to 7 years on ROI and effectively hedge a specific portion of your energy costs over the long-term.

VENDING MACHINES
63. Conventional vending machines can use an average of 3000-4000 kilowatt-hours (Kwh) per year per machine.  They may also use older style refrigeration units that produce heat, which contributes to higher air temperatures in offices etc, increasing the running costs of AC.
64. Savings of up to 50% can be achieved on energy usage when changing to new machines running on ‘flash boilers’, efficient refrigeration and LED lighting.
65. There are proximity switches which put the machines in ‘stand by’ when not in use and can switch them off altogether overnight in an office where they will not be used.
66. Water filter units for hot drinks machines, will reduce lime-scale in hard water areas, allowing the boilers to operate to maximum energy efficiency.
66.5 Remote intelligent media modules can allow a machine that has a fault to report its own problems, which calls an engineer out or allows online maintenance to be completed.

Why does this list end at 66.5?  Because this is simply a primer for opportunities to make your office or facility more efficient. There are dozens more but this should get you started.

High Traffic Medical Flooring Choices. The Options are “Loaded”.

May 10, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Facility & Office Maintenance , , , , , , , Leave a comment


When it comes to medical environments which include private practice, diagnostic centers and hospitals, there aren’t a lot of flooring options to accommodate high foot traffic, the daily load of rolling heavy equipment and infection control.  The flooring system has to be hard wearing and practical and you need a heavy duty flooring with a very high psi so the flooring will stand up over time. You can’t leave the flooring selection to luck.

So what is the best flooring choice for these applications? Here’s some advice from the experts who talked about it in a LinkedIn Discussion Group.

Sheet Vinyl has the fewest seams and integral coving of the base and is the best for infection control.  However, if you move heavy object, like a bariatric bed, moveable OR table it will leave temporary indentations that will rebound after a short time. If the traffic pattern with the heavy equipment is consistent you’ll get permanent wear, especially if the floor prep is shoddy. You may see degradation of the underlayment where carts go thru doorways and halls.  Some considerations for sheet vinyl: Be careful with the prep especially if you plan on a wood grain and then a top coating of wax. The wax amplifies the trowel and subsurface discontinuities in the floor prep.

Most VCT and many sheet vinyls are dense enough to resist showing track marks of rubber casters of heavy equipment, if they are applied over a non-compressible substrate. For extra precaution or in operating suites, use seamless with welded seams and integral base.  In hospital environments the codes often dictate seamless with welded seams in some areas for infection control.  Seamless and integral base allow thorough cleaning. VCT tile is not recommended product where infection control is an issue since VCT shrinks over time and then the joints are even bigger.

Antimicrobial Resin epoxy flooring is durable and seamless, has recycled material content, low VOC and a good life cycle cost than sheet goods & VCT.  The science is based on an amino compound constantly emitting ions of silver that kill any bacteria which has settled on the surface of the floor.  As for the substrate, if it is in poor condition then a self levelling coat would be applied to the floor before the antimicrobial top coat would be applied.

In lieu of paying a high dollar for epoxy resin or a welded seam floor, however, clients often pick VCT and Carpet. A powerbond product is a thin, fairly dense cushion applied to the back of a piece of carpet, but it will still be difficult to push heavy carts and portable xray equipment over it and it may lead to employee injuries. Some manufactures like the Tandus carpets with the powerbond back work well in high traffic areas and usually make nice unnoticeable seams.

Where VCT is used, the flooring contractors should use Ardex K15 or Ardex feather finish to level the floor and remove any concrete imperfections.  Floor prep of this quality is not cheap although the end product is well worth it.  Proper handling of the VCT is also most critical.  It should be delivered several days in advance, stacked properly and in a controlled environment.  These items listed above will result in very tight seams in the VCT, but VCT and sheet vinyl can dent, crease and maybe tear.

Biobased tile (BBT) is a good and greener alternative to VCT.  But you still end up with lots of maintenance (and labor) on a floor that will continue for its lifetime.  Make sure these areas are accessible for regular stripping and waxing, and not a 24/7 high use area that can only be shut down every couple of years for a day to re-do the floors.

Manufacturers require a minimum of 72 hours curre time on adhesives before any load can be placed on them.  It can dimple or leave permanent depressions depending on wheel load.  It does not repair easily. And when it does dimple, expect a finger pointing battle as to who is responsible, and the manufacturer will not admit responsibility. Other options include rubber flooring and sealed concrete.

You should ask all the questions about all the type of carts and equipment being used in your medical facility.  Get detailed info from equipment manufacturers regarding the psi load their cart will exert on the flooring and then you need to select a flooring and underlayment product that will stand up to those loads.

Get Ready for the T12 Phase Out

May 3, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Facility & Office Maintenance, Lighting , , , , , , , , 2 Comments


In 2010, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced plans to phase out T12 lamps in favor of the newer and more energy-efficient T8 and T5 lamps. The DOE also offered incentives to people willing to make the switch. However, those incentives may expire soon.

This July, U.S. lighting manufacturers will stop production of many T12 lamps in order to comply with DOE regulations. The T12 lamps that are still produced will be much more expensive. Since most T12 lamps will no longer be available, people will be forced to upgrade to T5 and T8 systems. That means the federal government won’t have to offer incentives to retrofit – people will have no other choice. Manufacturers can still sell the T12 bulbs until their stock runs out. Plan to see the price of the T12 increase dramatically as demand becomes greater than the supply.

While upgrading your facility’s lighting may seem costly, the benefits far outweigh the initial costs. Replacing a T12 system with a T8 or T5 system provides energy and cost savings. For instance, by switching to T8 lamps, you can reduce energy use by 33% and save $12 per fixture per year. If you have 1,000 fixtures, that adds up to $12,000 a year in savings.

In addition, T8 and T5 lamps last longer than T12 lamps. Though a T12 lamp lasts for 28,800 hours, a T8 lamp can last for 36,000 hours and a T5 for 52,000. And, upgrading to a T8 or T5 system offers fast paybacks with payback periods of one to three years.

The LED lights retrofit the standard T12 & U lamps are cost effective with an ROI of 1-3 yrs. on average. LED lights run time is 50,000-100,000 hours and come with 3 or 5 year warranties.  Recent improvements in LED technology have caused LEDs to be a superior alternative in many cases. LED fixtures generally use less energy while producing a similar light with good color rendering characteristics. Rebates for LED systems usually fall into a “custom” rebate program, which generally confers more financial incentives from local utilities. When evaluating LED solutions, the high initial cost of LED fixtures can be offset by greater electrical savings, longer life during frequent switching.

A simple, free lighting assessment determines what replacements are needed and gives you a full report on savings, ROI and carbon reduction.

So, if you haven’t replaced your T12 system with a more energy-efficient system, take advantage of those government incentives while they’re still available.

LED, Lumens, Kelvin…WATT are you talking about?

May 1, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Electrical, Facility & Office Maintenance, Facility Management , , , , , , 10 Comments


Just when I mastered CFLs and accepted the phaseout of T12 fluorescents, 100W and 75W bulbs, enter the LED bulb. Anyone who has tried to shop for these bulbs is probably as frustrated as I am when trying to find a 100W “equivalent” bulb. These bulbs don’t yet exist on store shelves and the word “equivalent” is a useless gauge to determine similar light outputs of incandescent, CFL and LED.  I have yet to find any equivalent equivalents.  Yes, you read that correctly.

Simply trying to find a suitable 100W ”equivalent” LED table lamp replacement has become an infuriating chore.  Most stores don’t yet carry a wide variety of options to suit what I believe to be standard lighting for everyday use.  It’s a hodge podge of shapes, styles, output, color temperature and energy used that I’m sure will change as the technology matures and more options are brought to market.

First some terminology:

  • A Watt is the amount of power consumed by a bulb per hour
  • Lumens are a raw measure of light output
  • Kelvin is color temperature – 2,700K (indoor soft white) to 5,600K is bright white like a fluorescent.

To replace the 100W table lamp bulb with an LED equivalent, I settled for a funky Philips 17-Watt (75W equivalent) LED Soft White (pictured above).  It does produce a nice light, albeit less Lumens than I desired.

For my kitchen, I searched for an 85W equivalent LED recessed downlight, but the stores don’t yet carry it either. I settled for lower output 65W LED “equivalent” lights (Ecosmart 10.5W / 2,700K / 575 Lumens LED).  The packaging claims it replaces 65W bulbs so I thought the room would be dimmer, but my room is actually brighter than the 85W CFL bulbs they replaced! Arghh! The product is a pretty neat one-piece replacement can with integrated trim that’s easy to install.

Watts used to give us a good idea of how much light a light bulb would produce. But as bulbs now produce more light (or lumens), Watts have stopped being a useful guide to brightness.  As LED bulbs continue to improve in efficiency, you can find two 65W equivalents that can give quite different levels of light output, perhaps as much as a third more or less. It’s not to exaggerate power (consumption), but older and less efficient LEDs could use older and less efficient electronic driver circuits. Big box stores have a chart that does a fairly good job of explaining the differences between Lumens, Kelvin across incandescent, CFL and LED. If only the product were consistent with the claims.

Be careful to check color temperature as that varies from bulb to bulb too.  The four 65W equivalent Ecosmart downlights (575 Lumens) I replaced were listed as soft white (2,700K). Three of the lights were soft white while the fourth was noticeably whiter at about 3,000K.

So how easy is it to replace a 85W flood?  Bring Tylenol or Acetaminophen equivalent.

Summary
- Watts are no longer useful as an indication of the brightness.
- Lumens have taken over to measure the brightness of a light.
- Color temperature (Kelvin) describes incremental color, from Soft White to Bright White.
- LED’s are more energy efficient than CFLs. A 19W CFL (75W) could be similar to a 10.5W LED or half the energy used.

A Guide to Outsourcing Facility Management Services – Needs, Price and Value

April 24, 2012

Richard M. Neuman Facility & Office Maintenance, Facility Management , , , , , , , , 3 Comments


British author John Ruskin once said, “It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”

When the decision to outsource facility services is made, both parties must be immersed in the partnership with high levels of trust on both sides. Both need to create a seamless organization that focuses on outstanding service that avoids the “them & us” and promotes the team. Outsourcing should not be awarded based on price. Never discard the contractor with the higher price as that contractor might save you money in the long-term and there is always room for negotiation. Where you can, negotiate fixed costs and ensure the contractor will get in touch with you before they do any work outside the scope of the contract. If you are aware of a potential additional costs in advance, you can make the decision as to whether you get quotes from others first, or in fact, whether the asset is worth maintaining at all.

A first step would be to take a critical look at your organization and honestly answer the question regarding which parts are working well and which are not. Outsourcing is not an answer to fixing systemic problems of an organization and doesn’t necessarily equate to cost savings. It is often a case of groups needing clear vision and if change is needed, a gradual approach is often more successful.  If, for example, you already have in-house staff you should be benchmarking the current service against industry standards. If the performance measures well, then outsourcing is probably not an option.  If it is not broke, do not attempt to fix it.

Outsourcing Evaluation Process:
RFP’s must be written with a detailed specification and specific RFP response format to provide clear and concise levels of service expectations. Additionally the specification must contain a response format with very specific key questions which must be answered in writing and are to be used as evaluation tools for Facilities evaluation team. Use of an evaluation matrix using the questions from the RFP response sheet as weight evaluation points listing the highest to the lowest valued criteria for selection. The end result of this process provides the Facilities evaluation team with the lowest qualified and documented bidder. The RFP to vendors should request contract fees for a 3 to 5 year periods with options for renewal for years 4 and 5. The contract should have fixed incremental pricing increases for the duration of the contract and contain an early termination clause for failure to perform to standards.

This process has several very key advantages:

• It serves has an educational opportunity for the professional and technical development of the Facilities staff during the research and evaluation process. Depending on the products or services being evaluated each vendor is more than willing to provide an education in their industry, services, technical attributes of their products and services, comparative analysis of the products and services and exposure to the corporate culture of the perspective vendors and how they would meet the Facilities team requirements.
• The establishment of a long-term vendor who could serve as adjunct facilities staff to support business operations. With corporate standards, the vendor could meet with internal clients where appropriate to determine needs and develop order specifications for review and approval.
• Eliminate the need for in-house staffing to perform 24/7 shift work requirements for those services requiring such staff.
• Enhance budget development based on business projections and estimated product demand.

There are advantages to outsourcing various services such as:

• House Keeping – elimination of staffing and training requirements, cost and service level control.
• Security – elimination of staffing and training requirements, cost and service level control combined with reduced liability.
• Furniture – established standards, improved product availability turn around and the use of the sales team as extended staff members to develop purchase orders. Not to mention excellent product pricing.
• MPE Services – this would provide for professionally trained staff to operate and repair such systems on a 24/7 basis. This would reduce or eliminate the need to tie up capital to maintain a component and parts inventory. Eliminate the cost and requirement for training a large internal technical staff.
• A/E – Interior Design – provides professional services on an as needed basis and reduces the need for a large initial staff, yet provides for timely response time required services and established rates.

When reviewing bidders’ responses to your RFPs, be sure to look at the overall responsiveness of the prospective service provider to the RFP. Don’t look simply for price. Does it contain information on the service provider’s experience, qualifications, and current references? Do you know who will be responsible and personally overseeing your project until its successful completion? The successful bidder should do an outstanding job putting together a package telling you how good they are and why you should place your confidence in their services. Some RFPs even go as far as providing you with sample potential issues which may arise during the contract term, affecting how service providers will deliver their service. They’re looking to see how the service provider would address and manage these issues. If “all of the above” can be provided to you during the RFP process, then the best service provider will surface among the crowd, validating their ability to provide the best service equal to the value that’s on your books.

There is no one model that fits all.  Outsourcing anything successfully can only be achieved with clearly defined pro forma. Unfortunately, very few people take the time to clearly define the scope of work. Those who think that the contractors that provide outsourced services are your friends who will look out for your best interests without a clearly defined contract have a rude awakening in store for them.

Quality has to start with expectations from a well developed manager. There must be a competent and well-trained in-house staff both in technical staffing and the professional levels that will have the skills sets to manage outsourced vendors.

The phrase “you get what you pay for” might be more than a bit cliché but perhaps no other combination of words more aptly describes the fate of many lowest-bid maintenance contracts in today’s commercial buildings industry.

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