Special Report: Energy-Savings Survey

What building professionals are doing to save energy, and which best practices work the best

By Peter S. Kimmel, AIA, IFMA Fellow

FMs have accomplished much in terms of energy-savings measures, but many more are identified that need to be implemented.

November 21, 2008—This very comprehensive survey was a collaborative effort among FMLink, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, and the Association for Facilities Engineering (AFE). It was done to document progress, trends and direction of energy-savings measures in commercial, industrial, government, academic, medical, and other types of non-residential facilities.

The survey asked respondents—facilities and property managers of both corporate-owned and leased space—to address energy-savings practices and products within a single building. The results of this survey will help companies identify their best practices for energy efficiency—which strategies worked well, which didn't, and why—as well as identify opportunities for cost effective energy efficiency upgrades.

The survey was developed by FMLink with support from each sponsoring organization as well as technical support from several members of the USGBC LEED for Existing Buildings Corresponding Committee (EBCC). The survey was run online from August 28 - September 29, 2008. It was promoted through mailings to members and subscribers of each of the collaborating organizations, representing more than 30,000 people. In addition, each organization promoted it through its own Web site. There were 676 total respondents; 268 completed all the questions; the results are based on those who completed the survey.

The survey respondents consumed more than 2.36 billion kWh of electricity during 2007, which is a very significant number, and certainly large enough from which to draw major conclusions. All fuel (electric, natural gas, propane, oil, chilled water, steam, solar) was converted into MMBtu, for comparison purposes—a total of 6,496,000 MMBtu (energy used at the site, not energy consumed from the source, which is much greater) were consumed by the respondents.

This content of this Summary of Findings is presented in more depth, complete with graphs and charts, in a separate report, Energy-Savings Survey: Detailed Findings.

This report, together with the Detailed Findings, resulted in Peter S. Kimmel's being named the winner of the International Facility Management Association's (IFMA's) 2009 Distinguished Author Award.

General conclusions

The survey clearly identified how much the respondents have paid attention to energy conservation, especially in recent years. Part of this is reflected by the significant increase in energy audits performed over each of the past three years, exhibiting the increased need to find solutions.

There was little doubt that the realities of the current economy, coupled with most organizations' budgeting processes, have impacted how audit recommendations have been implemented.

There was a clear trend of respondents who implemented the low-cost, "low-hanging fruit" operational strategies (e.g., sensors, timers), while fewer implemented major capital projects. Nonetheless, both types of upgrades resulted in significant energy savings.

The respondents also showed that they are savvier than ever before. With only a few exceptions (usually those involving some of the more technical items typically recommended by professional engineers), improvements implemented by those who had audits were strikingly similar to those who did not have audits. This indicates that efforts made in recent years by professional associations have made an impact on how building professionals are prioritizing their objectives.Not content to stop where they are, most respondents plan to implement many more energy-saving strategies over the next few years.

The survey also detected two interesting profiles of respondents:

• High- versus low-technical training. While the survey indicated that most respondents are close to being as knowledgeable about many operational areas as professional engineers, there seem to be a few areas where they are not. We found that while the non-professional engineer group was equally likely to implement many of the most effective energy-savings solutions, it was less likely to implement those where more technical expertise was required.
• All-or-nothing approaches to energy savings. For most of the findings, as the percentage of space with an energy-savings strategy increased (e.g., lighting sensors), there were fewer respondents who had implemented them. This is expected. However, in many cases, especially with operational changes that were least costly to implement, there was a noticeable uptick at the extremes where respondents had implemented the strategy for greater than 90% of their space.
  
  Those who are implementing solutions for nearly all their space may be an acknowledgement that some type of improvements require a facility-wide implementation strategy to be effective. The spike at the tails also may reflect the attitude of some organizations with a mindset to implement everything they can to save energy, while at the other extreme, a mindset not to spend anything.

Overall, the survey's results indicate that facilities managers are much more aware than ever before about energy-savings techniques. Continuing education and easily understandable solutions are always needed and will continue to be effective. Energy audits and continuous re-commissioning seem to yield positive results and should be encouraged. As more time passes and it becomes time to replace major capital expense items in buildings, such as HVAC and roofing systems, significantly more savings will be realized. For these savings to be maximized, the building professional may need more information and education.

Most significant findings

Energy-Related Building and System Configurations

Many of the findings below show that there have been great inroads made over the past years, in terms of energy-savings improvements. They also indicate that for some, there still are many opportunities for continued improvement.

Building Automation Systems (BAS). More than three quarters of the buildings greater than 50,000 sq. ft. had Building Automation Systems. 87% of those with more than 600,000 sq. ft. had BAS. We could not identify a reason for why the remaining 13% did not have a BAS—there was no correlation to building age or whether a building was historic; thus, this is an example of an opportunity for significant improvement. It should be noted that most who experienced a greater-than-5% energy savings over the past two years had implemented a BAS.

Customer Education. While most respondents were very aware of many of the technical aspects of the energy-related portions of their facilities, some of the areas were identified as ones where more education may be beneficial:

• 59% did not know the MERV rating for their HVAC filters.
• 50% either did not know or did not follow a standard for their HVAC system (e.g., ASHRAE 90.0, etc.).
• CO2 monitoring for outside air makeup control by a building automation system, and green and white roofing also were identified as areas where more education is required. The former (CO2 monitoring) is often in the bailiwick of professional engineers, and the roofs may not get much attention by a facilities manager until it is time to replace one.

Re-commissioning. Those who have undergone re-commissioning two or more times a year had significantly more energy savings over the past two years than others. There also was a noticeable difference between those who did it once a year and the rest of the respondents (up to 20% improvement, but not for as many as those who re-commissioned twice a year. Those who re-commissioned less than once a year showed at least a 5% improvement in energy savings.

Staff education programs. 41% of the building operating plans included a professionally-developed energy-strategies staff education program. Less than 12% of the respondents said they plan to implement such a plan in the next 12 months.

Lighting sensors. 59% of the respondents have occupancy sensors in their general office space, which shows great strides over the past decade. It also implies that the other 41% of the respondents are in the position of improving their electric consumption by adding occupancy sensors in their general office space. One third of those who had sensors had them in less than 10% of their general office space, so there is room for improvement there as well. Because of the relatively low cost of implementing sensors, this points to another opportunity for education and outreach to increase awareness on low-cost options.

Green roofs. Less than 1% of the respondents have a green roof. 87% said they either don't plan to get one, or if they did, it would be at least five years away. This is not surprising given the long life expectancy of roofs, the cost to replace, and the relatively longer pay-back period associated with green roofs, especially in today's economy.
This also points to an area where public policy could be used to incentivize roof replacements—typically a major capital expenditure. In 2007, during the 110th Session of Congress, the Realistic Roofing Tax Treatment Act of 2007 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and would reduce the depreciation recovery period for roof systems from 39 years to 20 years. No action was taken but it is expected to be introduced again when the 111th Session convenes in 2009.

Insulated shades or drapes. 56% said they have neither mechanically-operated coverings nor insulated shades or drapes.

Green certification. 9% of the buildings had some form of green certification (mostly ENERGY STARŪ or LEED). However, a majority said they plan to obtain such certification in the future. A variety of reasons were offered for not obtaining such certification. The most common reasons were that the respondents said they saw "little value in the designation", followed by "too expensive" and "little management support." Additional education, especially of the "management" may be beneficial here; there also would be value in finding ways to bring down the actual and perceived costs of obtaining certification.

Energy Audits

73% of all buildings greater than 50,000 sq. ft. have had an energy audit. Conversely, 63% of those under 25,000 sq. ft. did not have an audit.
86% of the audits were done in the past 5 years, and 64% in the past three years; 30% were completed in the past year—clearly a result of the recent importance of sustainability and the increased cost of fuel. With the strong trend of their being more energy audits over each of the past three years, these numbers are very encouraging.

Recommendations from energy audits. The most mentioned recommendations were lighting upgrades (with more than 45% for respondents with buildings greater than 50,000 sq. ft.), and HVAC upgrade/replacement (chiller, air handling unit, boiler, pumps, outside air), which were mentioned by 34%. For those with buildings smaller than 50,000 sq. ft., weatherstripping and insulation were frequently mentioned.
The area of energy audits represents another area where public policy could play a positive role by offering tax deduction or rebate programs to help with the out of pocket costs of an energy audit. Several local BOMA associations are working cooperatively with their utilities to bring energy audit programs - at a reduced rate - to their members as part of their overall demand reduction programs.

Energy Savings

Overall, the respondents averaged energy savings of 5-10% over the past two years. 57% of those measured their savings through the money expended on utilities, energy consumed or ENERGY STAR score. An additional 23% used some form of internal analysis. There were more respondents who measured their savings through the money expended than the actual energy consumed, perhaps because those numbers may be easier to track from existing company records.
As mentioned in the general conclusions above, the overwhelming majority of those who saved energy identified the cause as operational changes using equipment or controls (sensors, timers, etc.). Many fewer identified major capital projects—we surmise that this is because fewer people made such changes, in large part because of their cost.
We then examined the percent improvement in energy savings and compared it to some of the buildings' attributes and energy-related policies of the respondents' companies. We noted the largest differences in savings from the following:

• Recent energy audits (in the past three years). Improvement here may be partially due to the likelihood that someone who cares enough to get an audit is more likely not only to follow the recommendations of the audits, but also to follow sound energy management practices anyway.

• ENERGY STAR rules of procurement. For this item as well, it is likely that those who have such rules in place are more likely to follow other sound energy management practices.

• Variable frequency drives (VFDs).

• Lighting sensors (especially in the rest rooms).

Other findings

Green leases. Of those who lease out parts of their buildings, 55% do provide an operations manual with good energy management practices to their tenants. The 45% who do not provide such a manual said they are not planning to have one in the next year.
66% said they don't have a green lease (a lease with legal language to facilitate ongoing implementation of sustainable building practices), nor are they planning to have one. However, we do expect this to grow dramatically over the next ten years—green leases are relatively new, and just now are beginning to be more widely used for new leases and renewals. As more existing leases come up for renewal, it is logical to expect to see green elements added.

Future plans. When asked what they plan to upgrade, install or replace over the next year, no item was named by more than 37% of the respondents. Responses included:

• Minor repairs or corrective maintenance - 37%
• HVAC equipment - 30%
• VFDs - 23%
• Ongoing re-commissioning - 21%

The high number for minor repairs and corrective maintenance reflects the awareness of the relationship between properly-running equipment and energy efficiency. The high number for HVAC equipment may be part of a trend of waiting for equipment to require replacement before it is replaced (because of its high capital cost), and each year, this number will grow until most replace their equipment.
In terms of lighting improvements, "no item" scored over 11%  (replace T8 fluorescents with high-efficiency T8s). Most of the other improvements, such as installing sensors, were mentioned by 6-10% of the respondents. In the case of the low score for lighting, this may be because many have already implemented it.

The survey results indicate that significant progress has been made by the survey respondents and the commercial real estate industry overall to implement environmentally sound and energy-efficient building practices. They also reflect the need for professional organizations to continue providing ongoing education and solutions to facilities and property managers to help them make sound choices using best practices and proven technologies.

The survey was designed and conducted by Peter S. Kimmel, AIA, IFMA Fellow, Publisher of FMLink and a former facilities manager in both the private and public sectors. Each contributing organization (USGBC, BOMA, AFE) provided input and expertise, both in the development and analysis of the survey.

In addition, very special thanks are made to Tom Dietsche, USGBC Research Manager, who organized and spearheaded many of the EBCC efforts, and Charles Anders Hall, PE, CEM, LEED AP of Excel E Solutions, who spent countless hours reviewing and suggesting questions for the survey, and then crunching the numbers used for the analysis. Without the efforts of these two individuals, the survey and the results presented above would not have been possible.

The survey was generously sponsored by three organizations who have made a major commitment to reducing our carbon footprint: McQuay International, Performance Roof Systems, and Philips Lighting.