Question:   How Can Post Occupancy Evaluation help you or DGS do a better job?

Now, more than ever since the Oil Embargo of 1973-74, we are faced with a crisis of energy availability, and the availability of cash to pay for it.

Therefore, it is more critical than ever that State office buildings be designed for improved energy efficiency. This means such common practices like using variable speed drives rather than the older fixed-speed motors and various kinds of vanes to restrict air flow. This means limiting glazing, making it and more resistant to heat loss and heat gain. This means limiting infiltration of air, and minimizing the deliberate intake of air beyond the levels necessary for maintenance of proper air quality. These are just a few of dozens of opportunities to save energy.

However, no matter how much efficiency is built into a project, it is always possible and unfortunately -- expected -- that the actual operation of a building will degrade over time, as the routine of meeting tenant demands gains precedence over the inherent energy efficiency of a building. "Cookie-cutter" designs where identical air handlers repeat through floor after floor and space upon space soon degrade, where some of these supposedly identical remain efficient, where others start to use more and more energy.

This loss of productivity occurs due to the "little things" -- such as dampers that don't close fully, or pilot positioners that get tweaked, or valves that aren't methodically maintained. It also occurs due to changes in the ways tenants use the system, like turning on whole floors so one person can work on a weekend day, or where a "computer room" outgrows the space allocated to it, and then moves out into spaces that were designed for less intensive uses.

This also occurs due to a lack of information. A modern, well-designed energy management system will subjectively identify not only the renegade air handlers, but also provide objective information that can lead to operational changes, maintenance changes, and even design changes.

So, with a "view from the trenches", as an employee who gets the "trouble calls", and who has to maintain an energy management system for some five million square feet of space, what I see as most critical is the involvement of the people who maintain the systems in the process. We are the people who are left after the design engineers, architects, project managers, inspectors, contractors and subcontractors are all gone. That is, the tenants and us. Please be sure to have us be a major part of the entire process, including the Post Occupancy Evaluation process, as we move in and see "how things really work".

Nick Cimino, Winning Entry
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