As we kick off 2016, one thing is clear: we are dedicated to revolutionizing the way our industry conducts facility management.

Familiar with Performance Contracting?

Makes two of us. We weren’t satisfied with the long term results of performance contracting. That’s why we set out to create a new program. Before we share our successes and lessons learned, we want you to know exactly what we mean when we say our approach is ‘different.’

What We’re Not, and Never Will Be

(You read it right, we said never)

We don’t take energy saving shortcuts. We will take a long look at your facility. If you are experiencing high utility costs, replacing light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs is not the solution. There could be an issue with your HVAC system’s schedule or a piece of equipment that needs repaired.

Performance contractors are incentivized to rip and replace equipment. They may look at a piece of equipment, see it’s not operating correctly, and order to replace it entirely. This eats up operation funds and is only a short term solution.

Our Approach

We partner with you to complete programs not projects. A Strategic Energy Maintenance Program includes a holistic approach to facility management. Our team of engineers evaluate the entire facility. This ensures we uncover the root cause of your problems and develop a complete maintenance plan that meets your needs and your budget. As part of the program, we offer ongoing training and education for your facilities staff so things continue to run smoothly after construction is complete.

We use advanced solutions and data analytics to justify facility upgrades and create proactive capital planning. Our building intelligence software includes a portal customized for your buildings. Whether you have been in maintenance or operations for 20 or 2 years we will help you make more informed decisions every day through real time views into your facility operations.

 Click HERE to see more on what facility optimization means to us.

Your HVAC equipment and controls are speaking to you. Their language is data. And this data is accessible with a Building Intelligence Program in place, but many teams either lack the staff count to spend time reviewing building data or may not have been trained to know where to look in the first place.

Our expert team has come up with the 5 most overlooked data points that can help you optimize your healthcare facility operations.

Space Temperature Trend logs

This is one of the fastest, easiest and most accurate methods to verify temperature setback controls are working correctly.

Equipment run time logs compared to building loads

Are you running two chillers even though the load can be handled by one chiller? This happens most commonly with boilers.

Variable speed drive loading logs

Are your vfds ramping up and down with the load?  If a vfd stays at full speed there may either be an equipment problem or an opportunity to achieve energy savings.

Reheat valve position logs

Are all of the reheat valves on an air handler modulated?  If so, there may be an opportunity to perform supply air reset and achieve energy savings. The same condition applies to monitoring chilled water temperature and the most critical air handler chilled water valves.

Equipment cycling logs

Are all of the compressors on a condensing unit receiving the same number of starts?  If not, the compressor that is cycling the most may be in danger of premature failure.

Using these 5 data points will help you understand how your healthcare facility is functioning and learn what you can do to improve efficiency. For more info, or to talk with one of our experts, contact BCS Performance Solutions.

TIP # 1.  Check Your Thermostats

Programmable thermostats are an easy way to reduce energy costs during the winter. But they have to be used correctly to provide the benefits you’re looking for.

• Make sure the clock is properly set.
• Set it to the occupied temperature at least an hour before staff arrives.
• Begin the temperature set back up to an hour before the last person leaves.
• Don’t set back more than 5 degrees.

TIP # 2.  Shut Off Your Cooling System

If you have separate heating and cooling systems, and if system design allows, shut off your cooling system. If you leave your cooling system on during the winter, it will fight with your heating system to maintain the set temperature, raising your energy bill and causing unnecessary strain on your equipment.

TIP # 3.  Plan A Quality Assurance Review

Start recommissioning before winter begins. Oftentimes equipment is not working optimally throughout the year but goes unnoticed. When freezing temperatures arrive, the small problems can easily turn into large ones. Planning a quality assurance review with a team like Performance Solutions can not only improve comfort but substantially reduce future work orders.

Bonus Tips

• Make sure the glazing is closed on your storm doors and windows.
• If your facility uses chillers, take advantage of “free cooling” by increasing outside air flow.

Our Approach

At Performance Solutions, we care about your comfort and your capital planning. Oftentimes small changes in your winter weather routine can dramatically reduce the stress on your systems and your pocketbook.

If you want your facility to run smooth year-round and for years to come, choose a partner with the experience and knowledge to make it happen.

If you’ve had an energy audit or typical condition assessment, you’re likely to create energy savings. But without the right partner, you may miss critical repairs and not identify underlying deferred maintenance.

With Performance Solutions, we’ll provide a fix that covers maintenance and energy needs, works within budget and provides future savings through building optimization.

Here’s the approach that has recently saved a healthcare client 15% of their annual budget.

New Equipment Isn’t Always The Answer

At Performance Solutions, our expert team  does more than a walkthrough of your facility. We take the time to review your assets and analyze all the factors that go into facility management – utility records, work orders, HVAC equipment, controls, air and water flow, geography of your building, and historical weather data.

By truly understanding your facility before we start planning what needs to be replaced or repaired, we can focus on low cost / no cost ways to optimize your facility. Oftentimes we discover that systems are in good condition, but they are being overworked and not functioning within the original design intent.

By creating a building optimization plan, like the one we created for St. Catherine’s Hospital, we can reduce stress on units and plan for maintenance, resulting in substantial savings.

St. Catherine’s Hospital

The administration at St. Catherine’s Hospital was worried they would have to spend top dollar to replace equipment in order to address patient discomfort from unpredictable temperature control and humidity issues in critical care areas.

By truly understanding their facility and gathering detailed operating data, our team was able to address these issues, not by replacing equipment, but repairing and improving the operations of their existing assets, so the equipment was no longer running excessively.

In the end we were able to provide St. Catherine’s Hospital with consistent temperature and humidity levels in surgery and ICU, while producing over $180,000 in annual savings.

A Partner Throughout The Process

At Performance Solutions, our expert team will not only fix it right the first time, we will stay with you through the duration of the program to ensure your capital budget plan works for you and that your team reaches their energy savings goals.

If you want your facility to run smooth for years to come and alleviate the stress of planning your capital budget then you need a partner with the experience to uncover the real problem and the passion to reach goals.

If you’re ready for a partner committed to improving the way your facilities operates contact Performance Solutions today!

It’s time to rethink your facility management strategy and abandon the status quo. The engineering days of Duct Tape and WD40 have passed, and the trend of only looking at lighting savings is nearing its end.

Discover the three strategies that Performance Solutions recommends to companies preparing their facilities for the future.

Strategy #1:  Make Data Your Friend

Benchmark your facilities against themselves. We recommend that our clients check the past few years of their utility bills and look for anything that stands out.

By looking at utility bills, the State of Missouri noticed one prison with astronomical natural gas costs. The culprit: a steam leak. This steam leak was not causing any harm, but was wasting resources. What costed the state 300k upfront to fix, resulted in 400k in annual savings.

You might not uncover savings this large at your facility, but without collecting and examining the data, how do you really know?

Strategy #2:  Harness the Power of Technology

The advent of advanced building technologies enable building owners and managers to see significantly more data than in the past. Most facilities have controls that pull information from multiple points but who reviews the data?

Implementing a Building Intelligence Program, allows you to monitor your facility in real time. Seeing real-time interval energy data overlaid on BAS operating data not only helps you understand how your facility is performing, but also enables you to make informed short and long term decisions to get the most out of every dollar spent.

Strategy #3:  Use a Holistic Approach

Asset management is crucial, dollars aren’t always everything. You simply can’t optimize your facility management if you haven’t determined the assets you own, their current condition and impact on the rest of your building systems. Without this valuable information, you could be putting yourself in a risky situation.

After a tragic incident in one facility, a building owner decided to do a full audit of their asset database. In reviewing their assets they discovered only 19 of their 21 buildings had sprinkler systems. By reviewing their facilities and all their assets they were able to take preventative measures to avoid another tragedy.

To learn about other building owners experiences, check out our case studies and read about the organizations that partnered with us to build a data-driven building optimization plan.