FacilitiesNet For more than two decades, LEED has been the most recognized sustainability certification system in the buildings industry. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has constantly changed and updated its signature rating system to ensure its relevance and place as a leadership standard. Just in the last five years, more than 41,000 projects — [...]

FacilitiesNet If facility managers feel like there are fewer workers to fill maintenance technician positions to be found these days, rest assured, that is correct. A decrease in the rate of births, declining since the 1970s, coupled with decreasing labor market participation, more job openings, a shortfall of immigrants and a surge of retirements, is [...]

Lexology Sustainable hotels are those that significantly reduce their environmental impact through green best practices in maintenance, services, logistics, products and supplies. These core elements revolve around reducing waste, saving energy and cutting down on water usage. There are a number of luxury brands developing sustainable hotels. These hotels are espousing sustainable initiatives such as [...]

Senior Housing News Nestled in the outer suburbs of Greater Philadelphia is a memory care community where residents can take in the outdoors and walk to their heart’s content. The community, Meadowwood in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, recently expanded with a new roughly 19,000 square foot memory care building that added 20 units of memory care and [...]

Cleaning & Maintenance Management Volatile organic compounds are ubiquitous in every commercial and industrial facility — as well as in homes, cars and any indoor environment containing rubbers, silicones, greases, paints, cleaning supplies, building materials and furniture. Most of the time, the presence of VOCs goes completely undetected. However, these hidden chemicals can wreak havoc [...]

Bloomberg A federal agency says a ban on gas stoves is on the table amid rising concern about harmful indoor air pollutants emitted by the appliances. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to take action to address the pollution, which can cause health and respiratory problems.  READ MORE

McKnight’s Senior Living As power sources for electronic equipment, appliances and devices used in senior living communities and nursing homes become more sophisticated and battery technology advances, the threat of a lithium battery fire is always a possibility. Equipment used by the maintenance crew, environmental services department and clinical teams for sanitation and infection control [...]

Cleaning & Maintenance Management It never fails: Winter arrives; pipes burst. On the surface, burst pipes appear to be a given for the season — but it’s not an inevitable event. Burst pipes are preventable.  READ MORE

Buildings A facility should promote comfort and safety, as well as consider the well-being of those who enter it. This means implementing a maintenance team or service that can uphold a consistently high-quality level of cleanliness. A facility that is regularly cleaned and maintained not only helps to improve workflow and positive attitude among employees [...]

FacilitiesNet Building automation systems (BAS) are important to keeping institutional and commercial facilities up and running efficiently. But how much do maintenance and engineering managers know about their BAS? Managers can often misunderstand, overlook and misuse their systems, sometimes to the point of avoiding them all together.  READ MORE

Green Lodging News Energy consumption in the hotel industry is high, even when compared to other commercial sectors such as hospitals and schools. The truth is hotels and motels make for inherently energy-intense buildings, primarily due to the nature of the business and guest behavior. As such, hotel management is always seeking ways to maximize [...]