Meeting that demand requires a clear understanding of the technologies reshaping the industry and how to apply them in the real world. We’ve identified several emerging technologies that should be on every Facility Manager’s radar. We’ve categorized them by their primary impact: Energy and Operations.
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A new form of solar panels is officially entering the US market, offering a more aesthetically pleasing alternative to traditional rooftop solar. The European company Roofit.Solar focuses on a technology called building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where the roofing material itself is the solar panel. These integrated systems minimize visual impact, which is often a consideration for historic buildings or aesthetically sensitive campuses.
Heat pump technology has undergone a significant transformation, overcoming past performance limitations, especially in colder climates. Recent studies, such as those conducted by organizations like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), confirm their viability and efficacy even in regions with harsh winters, making them a crucial technology for decarbonization efforts nationwide.
Geo-exchange (or ground source heat pump) systems remain one of the most effective ways to heat and cool facilities using the stable temperature of the earth, providing high-efficiency heating/cooling regardless of external weather conditions. The financial viability of these systems has been significantly boosted by the continued availability of federal and state tax credits, which can substantially lower the first-cost hurdle, making the long-term ROI even more attractive. Innovation in this area focuses on optimizing the drilling process and improving heat transfer efficiency to reduce installation costs and land usage. For instance, Minnesota-based Darcy Solutions has pioneered "turbo-charging" mechanisms that utilize the high thermal conductivity of moving groundwater. By drawing heat from an aquifer rather than static soil, these systems allow for significantly fewer wells to achieve the same energy output, maximizing efficiency while minimizing site disruption.
The next generation of Building Automation Systems (BAS) is moving toward smarter, more flexible control architectures. New, non-proprietary controllers, such as those utilizing the EnOcean standard, are entering the market, offering a cheaper and more adaptable alternative to complex, expensive proprietary BAS. While the EnOcean standard itself does not incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), this shift gives facility managers more freedom in system configuration, allowing them to leverage AI and machine learning capabilities to control systems through a smart server. This setup allows for the autonomous reconfiguration of system points and optimization of performance, constantly fine-tuning a building's operation for peak efficiency and minimal energy waste.
The next step beyond intelligent controls is using data analysis to constantly monitor and diagnose the operational health of your building portfolio. These platforms connect directly to your existing Building Automation System (BAS) to continuously ingest real-time operational data (e.g., temperatures, setpoints, valve positions, equipment runtimes, etc.). For example, a platform like ClockWorks utilizes proprietary FDD algorithms to automatically detect and diagnose operational faults and inefficiencies, turning raw data into opportunities for low-cost or no-cost corrections.
These modern systems replace traditional keyways with battery-powered mechanisms, providing detailed audit trails and simplifying access control for staff and visitors. Cutting-edge systems now explore "direct line of sight" non-connected power charging, eliminating the need for complex hardwiring at every door.
Capturing accurate "as-built" conditions for existing facilities has traditionally been a time-consuming and expensive process, often involving professional surveying or manual measurements. Tools like Polycam (a mobile and desktop application) are democratizing this process by leveraging LiDAR and photogrammetry capabilities found in modern smartphones and tablets. The SHG team can partner with your facilities staff to rapidly scan rooms, entire floors, or building exteriors to generate accurate, georeferenced 3D models and 2D floor plans. This allows for near-instantaneous documentation of spaces for renovation planning, capital project management, and simply maintaining a digital twin of the campus.
From the March/April 2023 Net Assets Magazine
For most educational institutions, mission and vision are inextricably linked to buildings. Skip Matoon, the retired Head of School at Hotchkiss, was fond of saying “Place is the wellspring of identity.” If “space” is also “place” then building stewardship is required.
And for most independent schools, the physical assets are worth more than the fiscal assets and are far more complicated to manage. They don’t provide monthly statements of their value, and even more importantly, they are fixed depreciating assets that require the explicit rather than passive management from all levels of the organization to ensure that they are properly managed.
Management of a campus needs to include the buildings, the interstitial landscape between the buildings, which as the pandemic has reiterated is even more important, and ensure that the space is efficient and well taken care of. A frequent folly is to build more without repurposing what we have. In doing so we create balance sheet liabilities for future generations, and we ignore the opportunity for a” twofer” — getting two things for the price of one. For example, renovating with one-time capital relieves the operating budget or plant reserve from a liability and provides a competitive advantage for the future.
Our nonprofits need to think about building with a long-term focus. This means using life cycle cost analysis to build better buildings. High performance buildings have pivoted better during the pandemic. So, for the owner who pays all costs — construction, operating and renewal — there should be no short term “value engineering”; striving to lower the total cost of ownership should be the overarching principal.
Imagine a building with no energy cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory of zero. It is possible and feasible. With this perspective, nonprofits are thinking globally and act locally. Many institutions are already leading with declarations of timelines for achieving net zero carbon neutrality. And our students are beginning to demand such. Building energy accounts for 70-80% of an institution’s carbon footprint; those managing facilities who understand this context are also positioned to serve as sustainability officers and will be better able to serve their institutions.
Best practices in governance would suggest that having a series of key performance indicators that are focused on facilities management benchmarks makes sense but too often we do not focus on any or perhaps the right metrics. These might include size of campus per capita, percent of depreciation funded, GHG benchmarking, energy use intensity per capita and per square foot in addition to qualitative measurement of how operating dollars are spent also make sense. For example, building systems last longer if preventive maintenance is done strategically. The public sector is examining rules to require such reporting and several major cities (NYC, Washington, DC and Philadelphia) have already enacted new laws requiring reporting but also mandating consequential reduction in emissions. The education sector can get there first.
The campus landscape is changing on account of growing deferred maintenance, declining enrollment, increasing energy costs, increasing cost of debt service and construction. The astute manager of facilities will respond by putting in place programs to manage campus energy, re-purpose existing space and lead the sustainability efforts. In this way the landscape will grow to support the mission and ensure that space is also place.
Learn more here!
Source:
Wilson, E. J. H., Munankarmi, P., Less, B. D., Reyna, J. L., & Rothgeb, S. (2024). Heat pumps for all? Distributions of the costs and benefits of residential air-source heat pumps in the United States. Joule, 8(4), 1000–1035. Link: https://docs.nlr.gov/docs/fy24osti/84775.pdf
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