ARTICLE
HOW TO MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY & SAVE MONEY AT YOUR FACILITIES
When it comes to increasing your facility’s efficiency and cost savings, proactive action is the key. By taking the following preventative steps, you can keep your facility running at optimal efficiency, decrease downtime, and reduce costly repairs.
SAVE WATER
There are various ways you can conserve water (and its related costs) throughout your facility. Some actionable items you can take include:
- Reducing water losses (e.g., leaks)
- Improving the water efficiency of fixtures, equipment, systems, and processes
- Encourage water-saving behaviors among employees and occupants by educating them about water efficiency
- Reusing on-site alternative water (e.g., reusing treated gray water or rainwater to water landscape areas)
CONSERVE ENERGY
There are many things in a typical facility that drain your energy (and your facility management budget). Here are a few ways you can reduce or optimize the power used in your building systems:
SCHEDULED SERVICE
One tip we recommend get your HVAC system serviced before the hot weather settles in. A regular maintenance program can prevent significant problems from happening in the future and lower your monthly bills. Performing this check before summer is essential. Routine HVAC maintenance can prevent costly replacements if it is done thoroughly.
- Proactively manage energy-using equipment: Regular planned preventive maintenance can help identify leaks, repairs, or replacements. You can use a Computerized Maintenance Management System to track equipment inspections, contracts, scheduled preventative maintenance, especially for an extensive portfolio of sites. Using this type of system offers insight into asset performance and can further improve energy efficiency.
- Effectively use lighting and HVAC controls: Lighting that remains on in unoccupied areas/or naturally lit rooms is a significant energy-waster. Installing technology like occupancy sensors or timers can help reduce the amount of unnecessary power going to lighting. Similarly, occupancy-based HVAC control and programmable thermostats can be used to reduce wasted energy from HVAC systems.
- Retrofit existing building systems: Older buildings can be easily updated to be more energy efficient. To maximize the effectiveness of retrofitting, companies should limit their scope to a few broadly applicable measures and invest in a range of sustainable technologies across their entire portfolio.
PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE
Nipping potential issues in the bud before they become major problems is an efficient way to keep facility management costs low. Some of the most important things for your team to regularly maintain are the roofing and plumbing systems.
REGULAR INSPECTIONS
The first step in proactively avoiding costly repairs is regular inspections. Without routine examinations, minor problems hide out of sight and out of mind until they become expensive damages. Make sure that items like plumbing, irrigation, and roofs make it on your inspection schedule.
SEASONAL PLANNING
Changes in the seasons and the weather can result in extensive problems for your facility unless you are prepared. Having a plan to protect your facility from winter and spring storms and other weather changes is an efficient way to proactively take care of the buildings and grounds in your portfolio.
If you’re looking for another way to save time, labor hours, and money, give Rubicon a call! Our reputable facility management company can supplement your team in efficient property management.
