Energy-Efficient Operation and Maintenance for Office Buildings

Commissioning Activities & Documentation Checklist ENERGY STAR® for Officess Rebuild America Guide: Fifteen O&M Best Practices for Energy-Efficient Buildings (PDF 1.2 MB)

Energy-efficient building designs and components will only save energy and money if they are functioning as intended. Building commissioning is critical to ensuring that a new office building and the systems within it perform in accordance with the design intent, contract documents, and the owner's operational needs.

Equally important is the development of a strategic operation and maintenance (O&M) program that specifically targets energy efficiency and performance. This ensures that initial energy savings become ongoing savings. In existing office buildings, a well-crafted O&M program can save 5% to 20% on energy bills without a significant capital investment.

	Green Opportunities for Leased Buildings It is becoming increasingly feasible to negotiate energy and environmental elements into your building lease. Depending on the lease provisions, tenants may be able to specify equipment upgrades, repairs, or maintenance requirements that impact on indoor air quality, energy consumption, and water use. Learn more about green opportunities for leased spaces.

Building Commissioning Ensures Proper Function

The process of building commissioning involves systematically evaluating all pieces of equipment to ensure that they are working according to specifications. This includes measuring temperatures and flow rates from all heating and cooling system devices and calibrating all sensors to a known standard. It also involves reviewing the sequence of operations to verify that the controls are providing the correct interaction between equipment.

Building commissioning activities include:

• Engaging a commissioning authority and team
• Documentation
• Verification procedures, functional performance tests, and validation
• Training

The benefits of building commissioning reach far beyond ongoing energy savings to include improved thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Improved system function eases the building turn-over from contractor to owner, and with proper documentation, building owners and managers see improved operation and maintenance.

For more information on building commissioning, including a Commissioning Activities and Documentation Checklist, see Building Commissioning.

Strategic O&M Programs Optimize Energy Performance

Well-crafted O&M programs targeting building energy performance can save 5% to 20% on energy bills without a significant capital investment. These programs include routine, preventive, and predictive actions.

To create an effective O&M program:

• Ensure that up-to-date operational procedures and manuals are available.
• Obtain up-to-date documentation on all building systems, including system drawings.
• Implement preventive maintenance programs complete with maintenance schedules and records of all maintenance performed for all building equipment and systems.
• Create a well-trained maintenance staff and offer professional development and training opportunities for each staff member.
• Implement a monitoring program that tracks and documents building systems performance to identify and diagnose potential problems and track the effectiveness of the O&M program. Include cost and performance tracking in this analysis.

For more information on developing an energy-smart O&M program and measuring your building's energy performance, see the Operation and Maintenance section of this site. Another helpful guide is the Fifteen O&M Best Practices for Energy Efficient Buildings (PDF 1.2 MB), which offers strategies to help facility managers, energy managers, and property managers integrate energy-efficient operations into their O&M programs. The ENERGY STAR Web site has interactive tools to help you track and manage your energy use.

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