Though certainly energy efficiency is far from top-of-mind for most facility managers these days, there are still some important steps FMs should take to ensure that even empty facilities aren’t wasting electricity.
These measures go way beyond just making sure telecommuting employees have turned their computers off or that lights are off. The Institute for Market Transformation has published some tips to help FMs get a handle on energy use, even in an empty building. Oftentimes, FMs will still need access to the building to perform these checks. But if you’re lucky enough to have a sophisticated building automation system, many of these oversight and analysis tasks and strategies can be done remotely.
As well, it’ll still be crucial to test backup power for mission-critical operations. It’s not expected that the power grid will go down at any time, but better to be prepared in case.
The IMT article also suggests that now is a great time to do deferred maintenance, if possible, a point made in a recent FacilitiesNet piece as well.
This post was submitted by Greg Zimmerman, executive editor, Building Operating Management and FacilitiesNet.com.
