by Brianna Crandall — February 26, 2014—Facilities management professionals are “highly committed” to maximizing energy improvements in buildings, but still lack metering and monitoring tools to establish accurate baselines and track progress, according to a new survey, Report: FM Professionals’ Expectations and Experiences of Improving the Use of Energy 2014.
The online survey carried out by the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) and the National Energy Foundation (NEF) during October 2013 asked approximately 13,500 FM professionals about their experiences and expectations of improving the use of energy in buildings.
A full 90% of respondents knew their annual energy costs, but only half of them knew how the buildings were performing compared with design. Nearly a third were not comparing the building’s performance over time.
Three-quarters of respondents said they were working towards a relative percentage energy reduction target, although the survey found they had varying levels of confidence in achieving these. Although 40% of respondents use building management systems, monthly consumption data is still the primary data tool available to most FM professionals to navigate the complexities of energy management.
FM professionals estimated that even if the desired technology and behavior changes were made, only a further 10% reduction in energy use was possible. This is considerably less than the savings found by the best energy improvement projects, according to BIFM and NEF.
The 62 respondents to the survey were predominantly at manager level or above (93%), and nearly a fifth of these were senior executives or equivalent. There was an equal split of public and private sector respondents (43% each). One in four respondents worked in large organizations with more than 5,000 employees, while nearly half of respondents worked in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (22% in organizations with 50-249 employees, 20% in firms employing 250-499 staff).
Kerry Mashford, CEO of NEF, said, “FM professionals are uniquely placed to tackle the gap between predicted and actual energy performance in buildings, but are constrained by a lack of access to the scope and quality of data they need.”
Lucy Black, chair of the BIFM’s Sustainability Special Interest Group (SIG), added, “The survey highlighted a sophisticated understanding of the interplay of technology, behavior and processes in achieving energy savings. However, there could, and should, be more aggressive targeting to achieve energy improvements.”
