Sustainable Facilities Tool General Services Administration

http://energy.gov/eere/buildings/building-technologies-office

http://energy.gov/eere/buildings/advanced-energy-retrofit-guides

http://energy.gov/eere

http://energy.gov/eere

Optimize ventilation rates and energy efficiency to find a comfortable, healthy, and energy efficient solution.

Occupant behavior plays a critical role in achieving the designed energy efficiency of lighting systems. Energy modeling accuracies can often vary b...

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

EISA 2007 established energy management goals and requirements, of which a sustainable lighting strategy is necessary, for federal buildings. It est...

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) established a number of energy management goals for federal facilities involving components of a sustaina...

The National Energy Consumption Policy Act (NECPA) serves as the underlying authority for federal energy management goals and has been regularly upd...

Energy Efficiency Best Management Practices

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

The National Energy Consumption Policy Act (NECPA) serves as the underlying authority for federal energy management goals and has been regularly upd...

Energy Efficiency Best Management Practices

Minimum Energy Efficiency Performance

http://energy.gov/eere/femp/water-efficiency-federal-buildings-and-campuses

http://energy.gov/eere/femp/best-management-practices-water-efficiency

The lighting systems must be commissioned, and integrative design processes should be employed. A 30% reduction in energy use compared to ASHRAE ...

Assessing existing lighting conditions and incorporating a building management plan to ensure lighting component upgrades are carried out as desig...

HVAC systems must be commissioned, and integrative design principles should be employed. A 30% reduction in energy use compared to ASHRAE Standa...

At least 15% of each agency’s existing building facilities and building leases (above 5,000 gsf) must comply with the Guiding Principles for...

EISA 2007 established energy management goals and requirements, of which a sustainable lighting strategy is necessary, for federal buildings. It est...

The Environmental Policy Act of 2005 offers tax incentives for many energy and sustainability improvements that planted roofs can provide. A tax inc...

Water and energy go hand-in-hand in a relationship often referred to as the "water-energy nexus." Financial cost savings are achieved through not on...

IEQ improvements can save $10-30 billion from reduced symptoms of sick building syndrome.Source: Fisk, W.J,”Health and Productivity Gains from Bette...

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

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

Green Globes certification for NC projects directly necessitates a sustainable lighting strategy in the categories of Site, Energy, and Indoor Envir...

Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) for Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M) addresses HVAC systems through a number of prereq...

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

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...

The estimated benefits of a 30% reduction of dampness and mold in offices include 1.5 million days of avoided absence per year, worth $0.5 billion...

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

The architect has as much or more impact on the HVAC system than any other member of the integrative team. An architect’s decisions - the building ...

Human behavior and interaction with the building space plays a critical component in achieving holistic sustainability. Desired gains in energy effi...

Water leaves the cooling tower system through evaporation, blow-downdrift, and basin leaks and overflows, and therefore has to be replaced. Since co...

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

FAR Subpart 23.4 – Use of Recovered Materials and Biobased Products: This policy governs the use of products containing recovered materials an...

Human behavior and interaction with the building space plays a critical component in achieving holistic sustainability. Desired gains in energy effi...

Dealing with existing buildings undergoing change will involve the Facility Manager. The facility manager should work with architects and lighting e...

The lighting system is primarily addressed in the Energy and Indoor Environment categories of Green Globes for Existing Buildings. Incorporating hig...

High efficiency plumbing fixtures (toilets, urinals, faucets, and showers) can lead to significant water savings. FEMP BMP #6 gives some guidance on...

Green Globes for Existing Buildings encourages cognitive implementation and metering of water heating equipment for energy efficiency measures. With...

An upgrade that results in a 35% increase in lighting efficiency could save over $0.18/sf/yr.Courtesy: E Source; data from Right Light Consortium ...

Executive Order (EO) 13834, "Efficient Federal Operations", directed Federal agencies to pursue "reductions in building energy use and implement ene...

Your electricity bill tends to have several line items, such as costs for generation, distribution, and taxes. Some of these are related to consump...

Executive Order (EO) 13834, "Efficient Federal Operations", directed Federal agencies to pursue "reductions in building energy use and implement ene...

Commercial buildings have significant opportunities to conserve the quantity of water needed for daily operations through thoughtful design of the b...

The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) requires facility managers, as defined by the act, to complete comprehensive water evaluations throu...

Energy efficiency projects, resource management strategies, and energy benchmarking all have two things in common. 1. well-executed programs help t...

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

Executive Order (EO) 13834, "Efficient Federal Operations", directed Federal agencies to pursue "reductions in building energy use and implement ene...

High-efficiency lighting tends to have very long life. Technologies like LEDs, which today have longer payback periods when considering energy alone...

Water efficiency measures do more than conserve water; they conserve a significant amount of energy as well. Federal facilities use sixty billion Bt...

Submetering can be a financially viable component of energy management by informing improved energy consumption management. It is important to remem...

Wayne Aspinall Federal Building Explores the energy-efficiency design features of the Wayne Aspinall Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Gran...

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

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

The HVAC system has a tremendous impact on natural resources, through electricity, gas, and other purchased energy as well as water consumption, mat...

A sustainable water system reduces not only overall water consumption but also the associated energy demand. Take steps to optimize the system&rsquo...

The integrative design process understands that buildings, their components, and their context are interrelated. Observe this principle by involving...

Planted roofs have synergistic benefits that result in energy saving and stormwater management; they are an attractive alternative to traditional ro...

People’s behavior is a critical factor in a building’s energy use and can often account for significant changes in the amount of energy ...

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

The integrative design process understands that buildings, their components, and their context are interrelated. Whole-building systems observe this...

The process of ensuring that your building is operating properly starts with commissioning. In general, commissioning is the process of ensuring tha...

Industry trends have shown that well-designed submetering systems can provide energy savings at varying levels of action. With unstable utility pric...

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

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

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

A lighting upgrade can cut energy bills, improve the look of a facility, and boost employee morale, but all those benefits can fade away if the new ...

Typical Federal Office Building Potable Water UseA typical Federal office building with 200 employees uses about 3,000 gallons of water in one day...