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Consulting Through a Changing LEED Rating System
As a sustainability consultant who has worked on many LEED projects, I’ve witnessed how a new rating system or system overhaul can make us feel extremely uncomfortable. The days of memorizing rules, interpretations, and nuances that meant the difference between pursuing a credit and an awarded credit are gone. Confidence in the process and our knowledge of it allowed us to pursue an exact number of points without carrying a heavy set of “maybe” credits that needed to be fleshed out.
Read MoreWhat You’ll Find at Greenbuild 2019
This year at Greenbuild, there’s plenty to see and do. Four days of networking, education, and new technology focused on sustainability in the built environment. Participate with Greenbuild and return to the field armed with the education and discoveries that will empower your decisions, influence your actions, and inspire your dialogue— prompting you to share sustainability with others.
Read MoreCommissioning From The Co-Op Perspective
My name is Ellie LaRocca-Pitts. I am a rising junior at Kennesaw State University studying mechanical engineering. This is my third week as a Co-Op Mechanical Commissioning Authority at WorkingBuildings. Thus far, I have learned about the commissioning process, refrigeration cycles, and even got to visit a job site to see the machines in person.
Read MorePositive Building Pressurization - Why is it Important?
Building pressurization is a very important factor to consider in maintaining building health. A positively pressurized building means that in relation to the outdoors, the building is positive, or under normal operation, will push air from the inside to the outside if a door is open, or through any building opening. Building pressurization should be slightly positive compared to the outdoors. Ideally, a building’s pressure should be +0.02” w.c. to +0.05” w.c. greater than the outdoor pressure.
Read MorePharmacy Cleanroom Staff Education and Development
You’ve been asked to oversee the training program for your cleanroom staff and the annual training and refreshers are coming up. How do you approach it? What needs to be done? Can you continue to train as you’ve done in the past? In light of upcoming USP <797> and <800> revisions due to be published later in 2019, there are some new requirements regarding staff training and education.
Read MoreLesson Learned in Project Performance
WorkingBuildings has acquired considerable knowledge in the course of project performance. In many cases, these lessons learned have been used to prevent the same issues from occurring on additional projects. The actual list of lessons learned is too lengthy to include in total, but here are a few examples of lessons learned from past projects.
Read MoreLesson Learned in Pressure Decay Testing of a BSL-4 Laboratory
WorkingBuildings was recently engaged to perform annual performance verification testing on a BSL-4 laboratory. One of the critical aspects of initial and annual performance verification in BSL-3Ag and BSL-4 facilities is execution of a pressure decay test on the envelope of the containment suite. This pressure decay testing involves sealing the supply and exhaust air inlets to the room, and pressurizing the space to greater than 2.0 in. H2O relative to the surrounding spaces.
Read MoreWhy Facility Maintenance Software?
It makes a lot of sense that powerful and effective commissioning software would originate inside of a commissioning firm, so the emergence of CxAlloy TQ from WorkingBuildings isn’t surprising. The existence of CxAlloy FM - facility maintenance software - isn’t quite as self-explanatory. Why would a commissioning software company make facility maintenance software? And if they did, why would it be any good? There are a few reasons we believe we have a uniquely valuable product, even within such a competitive market.
Read MoreWorld's Fastest Supercomputer
WorkingBuildings recently assisted Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the US Department of Energy, and IBM with the recently introduced Summit, America’s latest supercomputer, which is expected to be named the world’s most powerful computer.
Read MoreNo Detail Too Small
As many frustrated project engineers, construction managers, and facility owners can attest, there is no such thing as a small detail. Even seemingly insignificant items can keep a facility offline or delay startup. WorkingBuildings’ commissioning efforts include being mindful not only the big items, but also paying attention to smaller items that can negatively impact a project’s startup or continuance.
Read MoreFewer stories and more SOPs! Why should I care about pharmacy compounding Standard Operating Procedures?
Stop telling stories! Are your trainers passing down pharmacy training information as if it is pharmacy folklore? Or, are they relying on a training manual that is grounded in detailed standard operating procedures? Have you taken a look at your SOPs lately? Does your pharmacy/organization even have an organized set of SOPs covering the entire scope of pharmacy compounding? Look again! Many organizations rarely have this covered and the ones who do likely have a dedicated pharmacy quality team. With most hospitals around the country being a small to medium-sized, managing the day to day safety and regulatory issues pose enough of a challenge that leadership often puts SOPs on the back burner. It’s unfortunately all too easy to do.
Read MoreMaking Occupancy Sensors Work Properly
Occupancy sensors (motion detectors to control lighting) have a reputation for being awesome… and for being a nuisance – It depends on who you talk to and their experiences with them. I love the occupancy sensor in my garage at home. Whenever I drive up or walk into the garage from the house, the lights turn on automatically. It is great when my hands are full and no way to flip the light switch. Plus, I know I’m not wasting energy because the lights turn off a few minutes after I leave!
Read MoreShocking Electrical Lessons Learned
Through years of commissioning electrical systems, I have found many issues in the field that I found rather… shocking. Often, more surprising than the actual issues themselves are how often these problems occur. The following are four examples shocking electrical issues...
Read MoreWhat You Can Do to Ensure a Successful Commissioning Project
Phillip Stanford, PE July 1, 2018
One of the most important aspects of a successful commissioning effort on any project is having an informed and involved owner who is supportive of the commissioning authority and their efforts. The funny thing about commissioning is that the commissioning authority has no authority to directly control any aspect of the project. The design professionals are ultimately responsible for the design, and the contractor is ultimately responsible for the construction.
Read MoreProject Decisions to Reflect Values
John McFarland April 5, 2018
What we build should be a reflection of our values. In addition to interior and exterior design aesthetics, these values need to include the environmental cost of the building. When we follow this philosophy, the payback discussion can be reframed so that it’s based on impact and available budget. In so many instances when making “sustainable” choices on a building project, the focus is typically on economic payback—operating costs versus first cost.
Read MoreCommunication in Commissioning
John McFarland November 8, 2017
An effective commissioning authority must bring far more than technical skills to the project team. Communication skills of all types are key. Thanks to the rise in popularity of green building certification systems, most engineers are now familiar with the building commissioning (Cx) process. With the decrease in new building projects and the resulting decrease in the need for MEP design services, many firms have expanded offerings to include Cx. This would seem to be a natural fit, as the technical knowledge required to design these systems is an important skill for the commissioning authority (CxA).
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