Sustainable Facilities Tool U.S. General Services Administration

http://buildingdata.energy.gov/femp

http://www.pnnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/pnnl-20761.pdf

https://buildingdata.energy.gov/femp

http://buildingdata.energy.gov/femp

Utilize an integrative team to determine the best strategies to optimize building performance.

Provides total building sustainability guidance for designing and operating high-performance green buildings. From site location, to energy use, to ...

Consider leveraging submetering information to provide accountability and incentives for building operations teams through score cards or performanc...

No matter how sustainable a building may be in design and construction, it can only remain so if it is operated responsibly and maintained properly....

Optimizing operations and maintenance (O&M) strategies for building equipment technologies and systems improves operational efficiency, reduces ...

When employing sustainable lighting strategies, financial benefits can be realized from several sources including energy savings from proper control...

When employing sustainable HVAC strategies, financial benefits can be realized from several sources, including energy savings from proper controls, ...

Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) for Building Design and Construction (BD+C) addresses HVAC systems through a number of prerequi...

Improvements in indoor environmental quality have the potential to reduce liability to building owners, increase the resale value of the building an...

Finding: $2 billion estimated annual value of work performance gains from avoiding high temperatures in the winter.Scope: Lawrence Berkeley National...

A recommended approach to developing and managing a cost-effective, sustainable waste management program is to: Form a multi-disciplinary team to r...

Consider coupling photovoltaics with a planted roof to optimize performance (see Solar/Photovoltaic).

Data provides important input to the design process. The availability of focused data can help establish direction for designing, building, and main...

A submetering system enhances building performance and resource use of existing building systems (see System Bundling).

Within the federal sector alone, estimates put annual expenditures for water and sewer services between $500 million and $1 billion. Similar estimat...

Construction and renovation projects pose a unique threat to indoor air quality. IAQ management plans should be instated that emphasize the protecti...

In aggregate, improvements in IEQ have been estimated to have potential annual savings of: $6-14 billion from reduced respiratory disease $1-4 b...

Planted roof systems have a significant impact on the building's overall energy and material consumption. Take into consideration these impacts when...

A planted roof enhances the performance of existing building systems (see System Bundling). This lowers the operating costs and, when replaced, resu...

Submeters eliminate utility billing problems associated with arbitrary ratio-based measures (e.g. square footage) that favor high volume users over ...

Portfolio Managers are responsible for the overall performance of building operations and the management of projects for an assigned set of properti...

Submeters offer an exciting look into a building's energy consumption. While submetering systems by themselves have no direct impact on resource use...

Encourages improved building performance and energy management by requiring Federal agencies to install building energy meters and submeters as requ...

Views to the outdoors provide building occupants with not only natural daylight but a visual connection to the environment. This visual connection h...

The owner wants to maximize the project’s return on investment as well as the overall building’s market value. As a result, the building...

Persistent outreach and education are vital to reduce consumption and waste. The Property Manager, who is most often the building’s Recycling ...

The term "biophilia", meaning love of nature, is increasingly being used in high-performance building design. The goal of biomimicry is to recreate ...

One of the best ways to save energy is to measure and manage it. There are two basic methods for managing resource use: through improved resou...

Americans spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors1 and as a result their comfort, health, and work performance rely heavily on indoor e...

By consuming 17% of the building’s total electricity consumption and further influencing overall energy demand by the waste heat it emits, lig...

The integrative design process understands that buildings, their components, and their use type and surroundings are interrelated. Involving all sta...

Lighting Ecosystem Lighting in the workplace can be better understood as an ecosystem that includes lighting design as just one component of a netw...

Water contaminants in mechanical process equipment can form deposits, scales, or carryover if not properly expelled through blow-down. These deposit...

The occupant’s health and productivity is directly affected by the IEQ and therefore their well-being should be considered throughout the inte...

Occupant IEQ surveys often report significant dissatisfaction with building acoustical performance. The acoustical engineer is tasked with creating ...

The Mechanical Engineer conducts energy modeling and optimizes the HVAC system. The Mechanical Engineer’s perspective is important at the plan...

The GSA P100 Facilities standards establishes various requirements for several tiers of high performance federal buildings, with more stringent requ...

The lighting engineer is responsible for ensuring that all lighting regulations are met, interior and exterior spaces are sufficiently and elegantly...

The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct 1992) amended the National Energy Consumption Policy Act and gave federal agencies the authority to enter into ...

Interior space not only impacts materials and resource use, but also is critical to human performance through safe and healthy interiors that promo...

Studies have demonstrated likely productivity gains attributed to increased occupant comfort of 0.5 – 5% from direct improvements in the quali...

Cost Savings Submetering itself does not reduce utility costs, but the data can guide management strategies, investment, and operational decision...

Some water system components, when bundled together, can significantly reduce overall building energy consumption as over eight percent of total ene...

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) amends EPAct 1992 and establishes a number of energy management goals for federal facilities involving co...

Submetering systems must be installed and maintained properly by trained and motivated O&M staff to achieve the design performance objectives. O...

Enhances building performance by utilizing metered data to recognize system inefficiencies and energy anomalies. Identifies energy-consuming load...

Resource audits based on metered data help to determine the value of making investments in system retrofits and replacements to improve a building's...

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are responsible for providing thermal comfort and fresh air to building occupants. This is...