Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
On July 29, 2024, Cal Water, the third largest water utility company in the country serving half-a-million customers in California, announced that it has helped its customers reduce their water bills by 20.5% in the last 15 years. This is compared to what they might have been charged without water conservation and water efficiency efforts […]
Is money going down the drain at your facilities? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its WaterSense program has made it easier for businesses and consumers to save trillions of gallons of water. In 2023 alone, WaterSense-labeled products helped save 1.2 trillion gallons of water. Since the conception of the WaterSense label, the EPA […]
The University of Connecticut (UConn) recently made headlines after its Huskies basketball teams fought their way to the March Madness Final Four games for both men and women. Ultimately, the men’s team won their NCAA tournament and became rare back-to-back champions. There’s no wonder UConn is known as the “Basketball Capital of the World.” However, […]
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 […]
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is opening enrollment for the Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) Campaign, which will help public building owners pay for today’s building upgrades with tomorrow’s guaranteed energy savings. The ESPC Campaign is a voluntary initiative that engages and supports state and local governments, universities and colleges, school districts, hospitals, and other market stakeholders […]
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 […]
As power generation shifts to clean energy, using electricity more efficiently will be critical for reducing costs, averting blackouts, and cutting pollution, according to a new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The group evaluated five U.S. grid regions (California, Texas, the Pacific Northwest, the Southeast, and the Midwest) and found that […]
As facilities professionals prepare for hurricane season, they should check out a hurricane-resistant emergency operations center (EOC) that’s currently under construction and is being built to weather the most dangerous Florida Keys storms: the new two-story Monroe County Emergency Operations and Communications Center on the Island of Marathon, which will be 28,321 square feet, including […]
Organizations wanting to go green typically install rooftop or ground-mounted solar projects or buy renewable energy credits. But a water utility in New Jersey has embraced a novel approach, installing North America’s largest floating solar project. Consisting of 16,510 solar panels, the 8.9-megawatt (MW) solar array covers 17 acres of the Canoe Brook reservoir in […]
For many people, the term “cholesterol” is associated with serious health issues such as heart problems, clogging of the arteries, and stroke. But doctors will tell you that not all cholesterol is created equal. HDL, high-density lipoprotein, is considered by doctors today to be “good” cholesterol, while LDL, low-density lipoprotein, is “bad.” It took doctors […]