Legislation

An amendment to the 1976 Energy Act in 1980 stated that "employers may not use electricity or fuel to heat their premises above 19(C (66.2(F)" [SI public/1013 1980].

This legislation appears not to have been rescinded. Given that commercial and government premises are typically 2(C above this limit, and frequently much more, there is scope for facilities managers to reduce temperatures legally (and gradually).

Buying of utilities

Since deregulation of fuel suppliers, the number of utility cost management companies has grown, with considerable variations in the types of services offered. The most useful ones contract to work with their clients by sharing reductions in energy costs i.e. no reduction, no fee. They will investigate purchasing costs of utilities having analysed the usage compared with similar premises. It may be that the facilities manager and/or energy manager is already using such a company but looking at alternative organisations might be sensible in today's climate, especially if the energy spend is above the average 12.5 per cent of total FM cost or between £10-15/sqm per annum.

Building services maintenance

Despite internal and third party energy surveys, utility contract management and tenant efforts to raise the profile of energy conservation, costs still tend to increase. What next?

Building services plant and installation represents up to 60 per cent of the build cost of a new building. Maintaining plant can be 20 per cent of a facilities budget - plus, of course, it consumes a lot of energy. It is surprising therefore that more attention is not paid to ensuring that all plant is operating at optimum efficiency. Very few facilities managers can check their PCs and in real time verify that every piece of plant that could cause an increase in energy use is working at its best.

Niggling doubt creeps in. What is believed to be an efficient PPM regime is in place, but plant still occasionally suffers from breakdowns. Could it be that the equipment believed to be running efficiently is not and consequently is using more energy than it should? Could there be forewarning of a breakdown, say, of air conditioning in a heat wave?

Why in this technologically driven age can breakdowns in building services still happen anyway? It seems as if the maintenance of modern buildings is still in the age when cars regularly broke down and garages inevitably were blamed. What happened in that scenario? Cars now come with predictive electronic monitoring systems, which have also contributed to reduced fuel use. Should we not be doing the same for our buildings?

At the FMA a number of forward-looking members are using condition-based monitoring (CBM) to assist in the efficient operation of plant in buildings - just as it is used in many other areas of the modern world, the aeronautical sector being one important example.

CBM is one of the few remaining truly untapped business benefit areas that can also directly impact on bottom line costs - surely a plus for a facilities manager. Many buildings are still using maintenance management systems that manage work orders and maintenance tasks, but a condition-based management approach can offer so much more:

• Optimising asset lifecycles;
• Achieving cost savings on current maintenance practices;
• Proving that plant is operating at optimum efficiencies by giving solid data against which energy consumption can be monitored and minimised.

At present only one company is able to implement a totally integrated software system giving a complete history of any plant item readable to the CFO/energy manger/facilities manager on screen, proving its efficient working. But others may well follow just as CAFM systems have grown in the past few years.

How condition-based monitoring works

CBM doesn't replace inspection for issues such as leaks. It doesn't replace planned preventative maintenance (PPM) or reactive maintenance; rather it merges with PPM to provide a fluid programme that actions work only when it needs doing and reduces the proportion of reactive tasks.

CBM measures, by non-invasive methods, any building plant that has moving parts, or produces heat or noise. It provides a strategic solution in which parameters indicative of the machine's condition are set and then monitored.

This can be in the form of:

• On the spot assessment, giving an instant indication of the machine's condition;
• Trend analysis.

 
Trending requires information to be gathered from the plant over its operating life at sampling rates that are established from known failure rates, based on manufacturers' data, British and European standards, and experience. The gathered information is trended over time to establish changes in the plant operation, which in turn indicates when potential failure will occur. Thus CBM forms the bedrock of a predictive maintenance routine.

However, the big hidden benefit from integrated condition monitoring is that by ensuring the plant is always operating efficiently, energy requirements fall.

There are other significant improvements in comparison to breakdown and PPM regimes:

• Minimum 5 per cent less plant energy usage;
• Recorded data can be used to comply with the Energy Directive;
• Reduced maintenance costs - between 5-25 per cent;
• Equipment is monitored by non-invasive methods extending lifecycles;
• Efficient plant leading to extended lifecycles;
• Prediction before business-critical or expensive failure occurs;
• Less plant downtime;
• Collection of data by lower skilled staff;
• Skilled technicians only utilised on critical work;
• Confirmation that work has been performed correctly and value for money is proven;
• Improved operator use and safety;
• A reduction in onsite spares with impact on net lettable space;
• Reduced insurance costs;
• Effective leverage with faulty manufactured parts;
• Design improvements from data returned to manufacturers.

CBM software works from a comprehensive asset database that can perform data analysis and give graphical reporting. The system is 'intelligent' as it is able to give visual and audible warnings showing if an item of plant requires urgent attention. Remote Web-based client interrogation can also be supplied.

In this climate, and with all these benefits, condition-based monitoring is too important to ignore.

About the author
Mary Taffler is Secretary of the Facilities Management Association. Please visit www.fmassociation.org.uk/