Explore trends and issues impacting our industry
Currently, 282 cities have signed on to the ‘We Are Still In’ Group, and in support, the C40 Cities initiative (now actually 94 cities around the globe) and American Cities Climate Challenge are just two of the organizations that provide for cities to share best practices. Among those best practices are energy benchmarking and disclosure
If you’ve been in facility management long enough, you’ve encountered a few of these problems before: variable speed pumps that run close to 100% much of the time; a chiller that labors with low Delta T; or, worst of all, complaints of hot and cold spots in occupied spaces. So, what do you do? Look
One of the barriers to the new refrigerants is the recognition of flammable refrigerants in building codes. Codes dictate so much about building construction and what mechanical equipment can be used. There are codes for fire protection, building construction, mechanical systems, and other aspects of buildings; all affect the HVACR system. A good article on
Henry Ford once said, “You can have any color you want as long as it’s black”—a slogan that launched the early industrial model. And still today industry relies on economies of scale—and scaling means as little product differentiation as possible within a product line. Industrial efficiency thrives on product commoditization, but in a competitive global
How utility demand response works In recent years, many utilities have started offering demand response programs designed to cut electric consumption during peak times of the day when electricity is in high demand. Each program is influenced by many factors, including the transmission system, the individual utilities involved, and the technology used to trigger a
Revolutions in the science, strategies, and prospects for building performance are happening faster than transformation of the American building stock. Within a decade the frontier moved from more energy-efficient building components to integrated buildings systems, opening dramatically new opportunities. Today the focus for strategic leaders is looking toward holistic buildings within systems-integrated communities that cut
Over the next 30 years or so, the world’s population is expected to skyrocket from about 7.6 billion today to more than 9 billion — and a resounding 70% of people, the UN estimates, will live in cities. This begs the questions: How will we prepare our infrastructure to accommodate such a shift? And, how
Accepting and implementing rapid change has become the norm across America. The growing depth of change in the building sector suggests that traditional resistance to change is not irreversible. Indeed, historical building industry practices are more likely the result of an information deficit than of things inherent to the market. Even knowledgeable building professionals remain
As the world population increases and people pursue higher standards of living, more water is needed in homes and for production of food and products. In fact, by 2050, the UN projects global water demand will increase by 55%. However, fresh water supplies are limited, and groundwater, which is the source of drinking water for
According to conventional wisdom, safety costs money. Risk is the natural order of things, and to escape it we add protective items we believe will keep us safe from harm. Guards, shields, railings — all easily installed, but all cost money. For example, when the NTSB reverse engineered all of the measures under the Federal
