NET EFFECT
5 Minutes with ...
Clark Neilson
General Repair Coordinator
Clark County School District, Las Vegas
FacilitiesNet Forum
Podcast: Management Strategy
The Facilities Management Tip of the Day podcast touches on essential maintenance and engineering issues for managers. Topics include landscape management, HVAC, ADA, emergency preparedness, security, plumbing and roofing.
News: EPA, District of Columbia Agree To Go Green
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has signed an agreement with the District of Columbia to implement major green infrastructure enhancements to protect the Potomac and Anacostia rivers from stormwater runoff. In modifications to a Clean Water Act permit, the district has agreed to undertake measures to stem stormwater flow and pollution, using natural systems, such as trees, green roofs, and vegetated buffers.
News: Access Board Explores Airport Accessibility
More than 80 percent of travelers with disabilities report access barriers at airports, according to a consumer survey, so the U.S. Access Board is examining airport-terminal accessibility as part of an ongoing program to improve compliance and promote effective design.
Podcast: Facilities Focus on CMMS
With hundreds of CMMS applications to choose from, how can managers avoid information overload? What criteria should be used to evaluate the alternatives? Is there truly an optimal solution for any organization? Jim D’Orazio, president of Vista Advantage, discusses successful CMMS specification strategies.
Blog Watch
A Building Like No Other. (That’s the Problem)
It’s easy to see why many organizations are drawn to the designs of famous architects. Their buildings can generate good publicity for a company and go a long way in defining its image.
But a big name on the front end of a project can lead to huge problems on the back end.
Cities are dotted with both old and new buildings that don’t work as the designers intended, and in-house maintenance and engineering departments spend their days fixing the problems. In most cases, managers facing a tough problem can confer with peers in other organizations with buildings that have similar problems.
But in the case of high-profile, architecturally adventurous, buildings, in-house managers and crews generally are on their own when it comes to figuring out what the designer wanted and then making the building operate as intended.
The latest case involves Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a three-year-old, $300 million building designed by Frank Gehry is causing major problems, according to University Officials …
Web Site Illustrates Energy Use
If you’re a stats/metrics/numbers person, and you haven’t yet found your way to the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) web site created by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), here’s a warning: Clear your afternoon.
The massive site contains dozens of spreadsheets that illustrate how buildings use energy. Visitors can find information on just about every building size, type, function, geographical location, and energy use data in many forms. And visitors can compare all that data to previous years to decipher the trends.
Numerous charts and graphs illustrate the data in readable form, as well as information on climate zones, census data, etc. Really, everything you can possibly imagine concerning buildings and energy use is there. And the site provides a simple description of the methodology EIA uses for the survey and highlights changes from year to year …
Green Alleys Target Flooding, Runoff
Alleys can be a forgotten component in a big-city landscape.
Aside from giving us a place to house our trash and park our cars, we don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the cavernous mini-roads. That’s not the case in Chicago, however.
A recent article in The New York Times highlighted Chicago’s Green Alley program, a plan to transform the city’s alleys with environmentally friendly materials, including permeable concrete, asphalt and pavers, and energy efficient lighting. Yes, green alleys.
Chicago has, “more miles of alleyways than any other city in the world,” according to the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) The Chicago Green Alley Handbook, so flooding and polluted runoff are all-too-common byproducts of traditional, impermeable-concrete surfaces. But with green alleys, a permeable surface will allow water to infiltrate the soil below, which avoids flooding and provides an environmental benefit – recharging and cleaning the groundwater – at the same time …
eTool
The Grassroots Advocacy Center
The Grassroots Advocacy Center from Security Industry Association identifies and provides analysis of bills impacting the security industry related to changes in security codes and standards, ranging from video surveillance and biometrics, to fire detection, access control, and procurement law.
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