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Improving Building’s Environment

It is general knowledge that buildings consume about 40% of energy, whereas commercial buildings could reach up to 75% of energy used and 20% of green-house gas emissions. Thus it is our responsibility to lower this figures while also striving to create healthier and safer occupant environments.

What can we do to improve the building operational efficiency hence create much better building environment for the people living or working in a given place?

Here are several ideas that can come in quite handy for achieving this aim:

  • It’s best if residents and office workers perform a kind of water audit for their facilities – meaning that in this way they can easily determine where exactly water is being used and, in turn, wasted. What’s more, water consumption could be reduced by maintaining the building environment, the equipment and fixing any leakages that occur. Because even a small faucet leak could waste hundreds of liters of water per month. Don’t forget to inspect all toilets, sprinkler heads and ice machines;
  • What’s more, it will be definitely useful if you educate yourself, even the staff helping you with all household chores, on how to improve your building environment and efficiency – look for local colleges or technical school that have experienced practitioners in the field and could teach you all the important foundation units;
  • Another way for improving the building environment is by making it ever more beautiful – this could be achieved by planting some splendid plants in the garden or even on your balcony; besides, you can opt for moisture-sensitive irrigation systems that will only water the plants when they really need moisture – in this way you will both preserve the plants hence making the living or working quarters much more beautiful and efficient;
  • Another way to maximize the building environment is by maintaining properly all the equipment for maximum efficiency – this means that we should check whether all the pieces of equipment work properly, whether they are serviced in the right way, which, in turn, means lower energy bills and extended life of the devices. Be careful with boilers and chillers since if they are not handled in the right way, your building environment could become a nightmare, we have all heard of accidents with those pieces of home equipment, thus make sure you maintain and service them in the right way. Don’t overlook steam traps as well, in case there are such in your home or office;
  • Moreover, in case you live in a modern building you have the chance to make the building environment ever safer and healthier for you and your children by using the building’s own management system to observe, analyze and control key points such as chilled and hot water temperature, discharged air temperature and all the fans, air-conditioners and heating systems in your home or office. This could be easily achieved by resetting the devices to minimum working levels that are required for your family’s comfort since in this way you will definitely save energy hence money but also reduce the mechanical stress on the systems hence creating a safer and healthier building environment.
  • What’s more, be advised that pieces of equipment which have excessive vibration, meaning you feel rattles or hear excessive noise while the devices such as washing machines, boilers, coolers and dish-washers, to name but a few, work, definitely cost you more money and what’s even more worrying is that they could be pretty dangerous for the building environment and for you alone. Hence the first wise step is to listen carefully and in case you hear the above-mentioned noises or rattles, call for a professional that can analyze the problem and eventually remove it;
  • If the devices which perform rattle and excessive noise cannot be repaired, you should definitely purchase newer ones; in general, ask for a specialist, to analyze the condition of all the pieces of equipment in your home or office, and if he/she states there is a problem somewhere, do buy new equipment to replace the outdated pieces. One other piece of advice, don’t load the washing machine excessively as in this way you risk breaking it down, which could lead to flooding the building and thus causing you unnecessary stress. Be cautious and use your devices in the right way listed in the manuals, since in this way you will have your equipment longer and you will ensure a safe and healthy building environment for your family to live in;
  • Additionally, do opt for green suppliers or vendors; buy your equipment, devices or even groceries from such green shops, since in this way you will certainly ensure safer and healthier building environment and much healthier lifestyle for your family and relatives;

Last but not least, get into the habit of leading environmentally-friendly lives by ensuring your devices are handled in the right way, by repairing immediately any, say, leaking faucet; by buying your food from green suppliers – all these will help you live much healthier lives in a much safer and healthier building environment.

Finally, there are enormous economic and societal pressures on commercial and industrial building owners and facility managers and since you are one of the above-mentioned, use your resources more cost-effectively and ensure that your building operates more efficiently. Only in this way can you ensure the healthier and safer building environment which is crucial for us and our families and friends.