Kevin Folsom
Director of Facilities and
Plant Operations
Dallas Theological Seminary,
Dallas, Texas
Podcast: Management Strategy
The Facilities Management Tip of the Day podcast discusses essential maintenance and engineering management issues. Topics include lighting, HVAC, ADA, emergency preparedness, security, plumbing, landscape management and roofing.
News: Screening Fails To Reduce MRSA Infections
Screening patients for methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on admission to the hospital did not reduce the MRSA infection rate, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study of more than 21,000 surgical patients at a Swiss teaching hospital compared the use of rapid screening and standard infection-control measures with infection-control measures alone.
Webcast: Green Restrooms
Winston Huff, project manager with Smith Seckman Reid consulting engineers, discusses green issues that affect plumbing systems, including the growing use of waterless urinals, low-flow water closets, low-flow shower heads, low-flow lavatories, touchless fixtures, and waterless toilets.
What You Say: Green Cleaning?
Green cleaning programs have the potential to improve indoor environmental quality and save money. Does your organization use a green cleaning program?
A Green Greensburg Sparks Hope
Optimism and hope were nonexistent after a devastating tornado rolled through Greensburg, Kan., on May 4, 2007.
The twister destroyed 95 percent of homes and businesses in the town of 1,500. According to an article in TIME magazine, citizens of Greensburg already were falling on hard times before the storm hit. The town’s population was on the decline. Jobs were scarce. High school students left town after graduation.
Then came the storm. Somehow, though, Greensburg fought through the struggles and now has a clean slate on which citizens can rebuild their livelihood. At the center of that reconstruction is green building.
“Our church sometimes costs up to $1,000 a month to heat,” Marvin George, a pastor at the Baptist church in Greensburg tells TIME. “Now, I’m not a tree hugger by any means. But we have to be prepared for a future in which energy costs are only going up.”
The Greensburg City Council passed a resolution in January to certify all city-owned buildings as Platinum, the highest mark in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system…
Lighting Technology: More Than Green
During an interview for a recent article in Maintenance Solutions magazine, Brad Dow, director of properties at Mohonk Mountain House, talked about energy-saving initiatives implemented at his facility.
One of those green efforts addressed lighting in the 266-room hotel, located 90 miles north of New York City. Dow and his department replaced light bulbs in about 95 percent of the areas that could be converted to compact fluorescent technology. Changing the bulbs reduced the hotel’s lighting load by 150,000 watts. But Dow says fluorescent bulbs were not appropriate for certain areas in the hotel, including rooms where art is hanging on the walls.
That brings me to a recent article in The New York Times that highlighted the differences between compact fluorescent and incandescent lighting technology …
Rooftop Solar Technology: How Bright is the Future?
Roofs are about to step into the high-tech era, and the step could create new challenges for facility design and construction.
A recent blog discussed possible practicality challenges posed by installing solar technology on existing facilities. The technology has advanced to the point where manufacturers are ramping up production, and more organizations are scrutinizing it closely as a way to address rising energy costs.
Solar technology is promising, but one important question is whether the relatively new systems will create practical problems for managers related to wear and tear on existing roofs and post-installation system maintenance issues.
Now, an article in The New York Times points out another question facility managers might consider in researching rooftop solar technology: What effect does Moore’s Law have on the decision to install the technology on new or existing facilities? …
Access Board Play Area Accessibility Training
The interactive program covers the scope and application of the accessibility guidelines for play areas, including the number of play components required to be accessible, technical provisions for accessible play equipment, surfacing in play areas, ramp- and transfer-system access to elevated structures, and access to soft-contained play structures.
