Building Operator Certification™: Improving commercial building energy performance through operator training Cynthia Putnam, Project Director Stan Price, Executive Director Project Director, Northwest Energy Efficiency Council, Phone: 206-292-3977, Fax: 206-2924125, Email: [email protected] Executive Director, Northwest Energy Efficiency Council, Phone: 206-292-5592, Fax: 206-2924125, Email: [email protected] INTRODUCTION Building Operator Certification™ (BOC) is a competency-based training and certification for building operators offering improved job skills and more comfortable, efficient facilities. It is a growing national program first developed in the Northwest, and now operating in sixteen states. Today, over 1,000 operators hold BOC certification nationally. In 2002, BOC received an “exemplary program” award from the American Council for Energy Efficient Economy. This paper presents an overview of Building Operator Certification™ and explores the role BOCtrained operators can play to ensure the energy performance of green buildings. WHAT IS BOC™? BOC™ is a competency-based training and certification for building operators designed to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings. Operators earn certification by attending training sessions and completing project assignments in their facilities. The certification provides a credential for their professional development while also offering employers a way to identify skilled operators. BOC™ certification is provided at both a Level I and Level II. Each Level represents 60 or more hours of classroom training and a set of project assignments. Class topics for Level I include: • • • •

Building Systems Overview Energy Conservation Techniques HVAC Systems & Controls Efficient Lighting Fundamentals

• • •

Maintenance & Related Codes Indoor Air Quality Facility Electrical Systems

•

HVAC Troubleshooting & Maintenance (core) HVAC Controls and Optimization (core)

Level II course topics are: • •

Preventive Maintenance (core) Advanced Electrical Diagnostics (core)

•

1

• •

•

Advanced Indoor Air Quality (elective) Motors in Facilities (elective)

Water Efficiency for Building Operators (elective)

BOC Operates Coast to Coast BOC was developed as a market transformation venture with funding from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (Alliance). In 2000, the program was spun off from the Alliance to operate as a self-supporting business venture under the administration of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC). NEEC’s business plan entailed growing the program nationally to serve regions beyond the Northwest. BOC was packaged as a turnkey program and licensed to interested organizations. Today, five organizations hold licenses and are offering BOC to customers across seventeen states. Table 1 shows BOC partners and their territory. By 2003, BOC was serving 1,800 building operators in seventeen states. Over 1,000 operators had been certified and awareness of BOC had grown to 45 percent among employers of building operators in the Northwest (Peters 2002). Table 1

BOC’s National Reach: Partner Organizations and Service Areas

Program Inception

BOC Partner

Northwest Building Operators Association

Service Area

Idaho and Montana

Northwest Energy Efficiency Council

1997

Washington

Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships

2000

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont

Northwest Energy Education Institute/Lane Community College

2001

Oregon

Sacramento Municipal Utility District

2001

Sacramento, CA

Energy Center of Wisconsin Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance

2001

Wisconsin

2002

Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio

Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric,

2002

California, excluding Sacramento County 2

Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas* * These utilities sponsor a statewide coordinated BOC program in California under the auspices of the CPUC. NEEC provides administration of the program.

Program Impacts Third party evaluation played a significant role in the development of the BOC program. The Alliance contracted with Research Into Action to interview building operators and their employers to assess the program’s value and impact in the marketplace. They found that BOC participants are saving energy and money in their facilities, and the value of BOC to both companies and participants is high. • Does BOC Save Energy and Money? BOC participants are saving money and energy in their facilities (Peters, 1999) by applying concepts learned in training and undertaking specific measures such as large energy conservation projects and IAQ improvements. Average annual per participant savings are estimated to be 172,000 kWh, or $12,300 at national electricity rates. • How do Companies Benefit from BOC? BOC’s value to participating companies is high. About 30% more BOC-trained operators than non-trained operators are engaged in energy efficient building operations and preventive maintenance practices. Employers state nearly unanimously (98%) they will recommend BOC to their peers. Over 92% say they will look for BOC certification on resumes of job applicants. • Do BOC Participants Benefit? BOC improves knowledge and provides cross training in important skill areas – HVAC systems, building systems overview, energy conservation and indoor air quality. Employers see skill versatility and enhanced team work from BOC graduates. Ninety percent of BOC graduates plan to renew their certification in the future, and close to 50 percent of graduates have seen an increase of job responsibilities and compensation since earning certification. • Who recognizes BOC? BOC is registered with the Building Owners and Managers Institute (BOMI) and the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) for continuing professional development for their members holding certification designations. Major employers such as U.S. General Services Administration, Boeing, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Marriott Hotels, Cushman and Wakefield, Home Depot, and over 100 school districts and municipalities are sending operators to BOC. GREEN BUILDING AND BUILDING OPERATOR CERTIFICATION™ Green Building and BOC share a common goal – to improve the energy performance of commercial buildings by addressing equipment operation and maintenance. They use different but complementary approaches to achieve this goal. The performance of the green building is a 3

result of the integration of the work of the architect, mechanical system designer, contractor(s), and commissioning authority. The design intent of the green building is to produce a structure which is energy and resource efficient and offers both financial and productivity rewards for the property owners, managers and building occupants. The on-going realization of this intent is the responsibility of the FM department and requires a facility O&M program that differs from standard practice. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System™ for Improving Building Performance through Upgrades and Operations (working draft) provides guidance for the FM department. In this rating system, buildings receive credits for “ensur[ing] that the building systems are continuously commissioned and maintained appropriately so that they go on delivering target building performance goals over the long term” (USGBC, 2002). To meet this intent, buildings must: •

• •

Establish/maintain continuous commissioning program that monitors indoor environmental parameters (CO2, temperature, humidity) on a daily basis to ensure building systems are operating properly to meet standards for indoor environmental quality and optimal levels of energy efficiency as specified by manufacturers, service contractors. Establish/maintain contracts or in-house resources in place for post warranty equipment maintenance. Implement/maintain a comprehensive best practice and continuous preventive maintenance program.

Building commissioning, including retro-commissioning, is a detailed analysis of a building's mechanical system, lighting, and controls to insure that the building operates at its design intent (Price, 2001). The analysis is performed by an independent commissioning provider who works in tandem with a team comprised of the building owner/developer and facility staff. BOC’s approach to the goal of improved energy performance focuses on the staff who operate the building. BOC uses a uniform, accredited training curriculum to develop the skills and knowledge of in-house operators to implement effective preventive maintenance programs and identify operational changes. In each of these approaches, there is complementary activity. BOC and Building Commissioning both condition the commercial buildings market to value optimized operation and preventive maintenance. They also strive to address the difficult issue of persistence of savings. In viewing these two activities as complementary, there is opportunity to jointly build a more receptive market for improved building performance through operations and maintenance. Green buildings clearly require a well developed, best practices approach to facility management. To achieve the high performance potential of the building, the design, construction, and commissioning process must connect to the FM department whose financial and human resources realize that potential over the life of the building. BOC™ SUPPORTS PERSISTENCE OF SAVINGS IN LEED™ BULIDINGS BOC™ aims to improve the skills of building operators to properly maintain equipment and operate their facilities more efficiently. Evaluation research has shown it is accomplishing this 4

goal both during the training process as well as in the long term through specific actions and ongoing practice in operators’ facilities. Over 65 percent of BOC-trained operators apply concepts learned in training and 26 percent undertake specific measures such as large energy conservation projects and IAQ improvements. BOC also offers “staying power.” A follow-up survey with operators and employers for courses completed at least one year earlier found that over 90% of the BOC-trained building operators reported saving energy and money, and improving the comfort of building occupants as a result of information they learned in BOC training. Some operators also said that, as a result of what they learned in the training, their organizations had undertaken more extensive efficiency retrofits than had been planned. Owners who invest in their staff by sending them to BOC can expect ongoing energy savings through improved practices and operator attention to energy costs. BOC-trained operators engage in a variety of efficiency behaviors from optimizing operations and preventive maintenance to reading meters and reviewing utility bills. And many are involved in company decisions to improve energy efficiency. Table 2 summarizes these activities. They are also more 30 percent more likely than non-trained building operators to engage in these activities. About 75% percent more trained operators than non-trained operators read their energy meters and bills monthly; about 20 percent provided their supervisors with ideas for energy savings opportunities several times a year. Based on these behavioral activities, BOC-trained operator energy savings are estimated to be 172,000 kWh per participant annually, or $12,300 at national electricity rates. Finally, building owners who send staff to BOC can also look to their staff to initiate energy projects and contribute to larger projects such as commissioning and retro-commissioning undertaken by management. In Olympia, WA, St. Peters Hospital undertook a retrocommissioning project of the hospital’s controls system: The hospital's building operators, some of whom are BOC participants, were an integral part of the commissioning crew. Now that their building is tuned up, they are taking pride in operating at an efficient level. In fact, they are using some of the things they learned about the building to improve operation beyond the commissioned state. Puget Sound Energy, Bill Steigner, Account Representative

Table 2

Efficiency Behaviors of BOC-Trained and Non-Trained Building Operators, Self-Reported and Inferred

5

EFFICIENCY ACTION

ALL INTERVIEWED BOC-TRAINED BUILDING OPERATORS (FROM TABLE 49)

NON-TRAINED BUILDING OPERATORS, INFERRED UPPER LIMIT

BOC-TRAINED OPERATOR ACTIONS AS PROPORTION OF INFERRED NONTRAINED OPERATOR ACTIONS

OPTIMIZING OPERATIONS AND PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES Know Location of HVAC System Documentation

95%

86%

11% greater

Keep Maintenance Log for HVAC Equipment

90%

69%

31% greater*

Record New and Changed Control Settings

89%

69%

29% greater*

Record User Schedules for Lighting and Mechanical Systems

87%

45%

94% greater*

Confirm Economizer Operations

85%

69%

24% greater*

Clean Heating/Cooling Coils Regularly

83%

80%

4% greater

Keep Maintenance Log for Lighting Equipment

81%

59%

37% greater*

Repair Gaskets on Doors for Air Handler

80%

57%

41% greater*

Check Condition of Damper Seals Regularly

78%

56%

39% greater*

Average of Optimizing and Preventative Maintenance Activities

85%

66%

29% greater

READING METERS AND REVIEWING BILLS Review Gas and Electric Bills Monthly

98%

72%

36% greater*

Read Gas and Electric Meters Monthly

85%

32%

163% greater*

Average of Meter and Bill Activities

92%

52%

77% greater Continued

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY DECISIONS Provide Supervisor with Idea for Savings Opportunities Three or More Times a Year

99%

79%

25% greater*

Lighting Retrofit or Modifications

76%

74%

3% greater

Participated in Utility Efficiency Programs

59%

46%

21% greater

6

EFFICIENCY ACTION

Average of Organizational Efficiency Decisions

ALL INTERVIEWED BOC-TRAINED BUILDING OPERATORS (FROM TABLE 49)

NON-TRAINED BUILDING OPERATORS, INFERRED UPPER LIMIT

BOC-TRAINED OPERATOR ACTIONS AS PROPORTION OF INFERRED NONTRAINED OPERATOR ACTIONS

78%

66%

18% greater

Note: Percentages for the non-trained operators were inferred by calculating for each activity the proportion reported by the supervisors of non-trained staff divided by the proportion reported by the supervisors of trained staff (both from Table 50) and multiplying the resultant ratio by the proportion of all interviewed BOC-trained operators (from Table 49). The third column of data is identical to the third column in Table 50, as it describes the relationship between the trained and non-trained proportions. Note that the exact values in the third column are sensitive to rounding of the trained and non-trained proportions given in Tables 50 and 51.

SUMMARY The achievement of LEED™ certification is in part of recognition of the work of an integrated team of building professionals who have created the potential for resource efficiency and environmental responsibility in their building. The realization of this potential comes over time as the building comes to life with people, processes, and products. The facilities management staff, including the building operator, play a critical role in ensuring that the LEED™ building demonstrates its leadership in energy and environmental design over the long life of the building. The recognition of the relationship between the building operations staff and LEED desired results is embodied in the requirements for LEED™ for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB). A significant component of the LEED-EB certification is the requirement that buildings implement a comprehensive best practice and continuous preventive maintenance program. This best practices approach is by extension the necessary practice for any LEED™ building to fully realize its goal of energy and environmental performance. BOC™ can serve as a component of any facility’s best practices approach for operations and maintenance of the facility. By increasing the awareness level of energy and resource efficiency of the operator and developing increased competencies for sound preventive maintenance, BOC can serve as a means for LEED™ potential to achieve LEED™ results. BOC curricula create a solid foundation for the operator in understanding the design intent of the building. Their day-today and month-to-month operation of critical building systems sustains that design intent to the end game of energy and resource efficiency, lower operating costs, and an indoor environment that enhances worker productivity and comfort. REFERENCES Friedman, Hannah, Amanda Potter, Tudi Haasl, David Claridge, and Soolyeon Cho. (2003) Persistence of Benefits from New Building Commissioning, National Conference on Building Commissioning, May 2003.

7

Peters, Jane S., Sharon A. Baggett, Marjorie McRae, and Dave Robison. (2000) E99-052 Regional Building Operator Certification Venture: Final Market Progress Evaluation Report, Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. Peters, Jane S., Marjorie McRae, and Dave Robison. (2001) E01-088 Market Progress Evaluation Report: Regional Building Operator Certification, No. 7, Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. Price, Stan. (2001) Building Operator Certification and Its Relationship to Commissioning and the Persistence of Savings. National Conference on Building Commissioning. Putnam, Cynthia and Alan Mulak. (2001) Building Operator Certification. International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations. Schueler, Vince, (1995) Building Operator Certification in the Pacific Northwest: A Preliminary Business Plan, Washington State Energy Office. U.S. Green Buildings Council. (2002) LEED Green Building Rating System™ for Improving Building Performance through Upgrades and Operations (Draft Version 2.0), January 2002.

8