Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
The Wendy’s Company has partnered with community solar provider Ampion Renewable Energy to help Wendy’s restaurants source clean energy and meet corporate sustainability goals. Nearly 100 company-operated restaurants and nearly 40 franchise restaurants in New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts are now enrolled in Ampion+, a product that helps organizations reduce energy costs and secure renewable energy certificates […]
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has announced plans to invest $80 million from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into smart building technologies that will help reduce emissions, increase efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance comfort across an estimated 560 federal buildings. The GSA said the investments, impacting 49 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, […]
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it has delivered on Congress’ mandate to cut emissions from new or newly renovated federal buildings through the Clean Energy for New Federal Buildings and Major Renovations of Federal Buildings Rule. By meeting the requirements of the rule, federal buildings will reduce pollution, improve air quality, create good-paying jobs, […]
Unless Elon Musk stops messing around with Twitter and gets us to Mars, Earth is our only home for the foreseeable future. That means we’ve got to take good care of the planet and conserve its finite natural resources. It’s also why sustainability is a hot topic all year long and why facilities managers are […]
On April 12, the Biden administration finalized congressionally mandated energy efficiency standards for the most common residential and commercial lightbulbs. The standards will go into effect in July 2028 for newly produced bulbs. Over 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects the standards will save Americans more than $27 billion on their utility bills […]
A new analysis from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that, coupled with building envelope improvements, installing geothermal heat pumps in around 70% of U.S. buildings could save as much as 593 terawatt-hours of electricity generation annually and avoid seven gigatons of carbon-equivalent emissions by 2050. “To put that in context, 593 terawatt-hours is about 15% […]
Editor’s note: FM Perspectives are industry op-eds. The views expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of Facilities Management Advisor. Many former technology executives, including the authors of this article, have left tech companies like Microsoft and Google to helm legacy industries ripe for modernization, including the buildings industry. The digital and […]
Leading states are strengthening policies to enable widespread use of electric cars, trucks, and buses, but all states will have to dramatically step up their efforts to enable a full transition, according to a new report. The 2023 State Transportation Electrification Scorecard from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) evaluates states’ policies to encourage electric […]
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the first season of the Better Climate Challenge Road Show, a video series highlighting the leadership of public and private organizations in decarbonizing buildings and industrial plants. Available to watch anytime on the Better Buildings Solution Center, the series follows DOE and national lab staff as they road […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is celebrating the 580 manufacturing plants that achieved the energy savings goals set out by EPA 10 years ago to drive energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. Through the ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry, manufacturing plants agreed to reduce energy intensity by 10% within five years. These 580 […]