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Gunnar Hubbard, a principal and Building Sustainability Practice Leader at New York City-based Thornton Tomasetti, says that property systems just get more out of kilter with age, and a good tweaking would be a good remedy for building ills.

“Things have definitely changed over the past several years, especially with soaring energy costs unabated over the past decade,” he says. “So many of the buildings constructed in the 1960s, 70s and even 80s were built with little consideration for energy efficiency, and many of those buildings are ready to be retired or retrofit. At the same time, building owners are faced with a growing demand from major tenants who are themselves embracing corporate sustainability concepts that demand better lighting, air quality and energy efficiency.”

Hubbard embraces measurements as key to keeping a handle on building efficiency, but says retro-commissioning is the implementation of the changes needed by those measurements. “You want to make sure everything is still performing as designed,” he says.

David Pogue, global director of sustainability at San Jose, CA-based CBRE, agrees that most buildings are designed and built better than they are currently performing. “Over time, systems get out of sync, temperature controls are miss-set, or hours of operation are altered,” he says. “A series of small issues can result in significant inefficiency. Retro-commissioning the building will discover these and return the building to its design specification, and it can often result in a 10%-to-15% improvement in efficiency with less than a year pay back.”

For owners that can afford it today, energy benchmarking, such as with EPA Energy Star, is a great way to determine a building’s current status, Pogue says. Another method is to conduct a Phase 1 ASHRAE energy audit to determine specific problem areas, as well as proper energy efficiency training with managers and engineers.

However, an audit is going to mean spending money, and owners are still reluctant to make significant capital improvements for efficiency, Pogue says. “There is still an emphasis on low cost to no cost approaches, and building managers are being challenged to make the most with limited funds.”

For those who can afford it, the replacement of less-efficient systems for energy-saving models is a smart way to go, says Victoria Hollon, SVP of innovation and quality assurance at Houston-based Transwestern.

Reducing the energy needed to operate a property is critical to its success,” Hollon says. “Reviewing the operations of the building automation systems, sensors, controls and actuators for proper design function and calibration is critical helping prevent unnecessary energy consumption.”

She says products available today provide a far-faster return-on-investment than in past years, while also providing less abuse of the environment. Installing the new energy-efficient and LED light systems and variable frequency drives on pumps and motors are moves that result in significant energy savings with little out-of-pocket costs and potential utility rebates, Hollon says.

Another idea is to replace motor generators on elevator equipment. “A comprehensive approach to replacing original controls and installing transformers to replace equipment that typically operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, creates significant opportunities for energy and maintenance cost savings,” she says.

John Santora, president and CEO of corporate occupier and investor services at New York City-based Cushman & Wakefield, says the conversation for building efficiency today has to start with benchmarking energy consumption. He says he’s also in favor of the EPA Energy Star rating tool and retro-commissioning, and believes lighting savings can go even further by examining solar and fuel cell technology.

“Today, proactive managers are recognizing the benefit of new ideas and technologies, coupled with a renewed focus on existing approaches,” Santora says. “What this is enabling is practical, cost-effective implementation of building management strategies and systems for maximum efficiency.”

For example, he says some owners have made creative use of what has traditionally been waste heat. “At one of our managed properties, we recently completed an installation that allows us to use steam condensate to heat a loading dock area, which was previously heated by live steam,” Santora says. “With this step, we are able to eliminate steam heaters. We are also using steam condensate to “preheat” domestic hot water. Finally, because steam condensate is required to be cooled prior to discharge to the sewer system, and because the steam condensate is essentially cooled while performing these other functions, potable water is no longer required to cool the condensate. The payback on this installation is projected to be 24 months.”

However, he also points out that there are two areas where managers, who tend to want to focus more on systems and equipment, sometimes overlook savings opportunities: People management, and tenant cooperation.

Spending on labor and services should also be examined, Santora says, to get the entire savings picture. “Labor is one of the two or three highest expenses on the balance sheet,” he says,” and should be reviewed annually.” Also, managers should leverage bulk purchases for goods and services, or even try reverse auctions for consumables or services when necessary, and contracts should get annual reviews to determine actual needs versus previous years.

He says tenants should be empowered to assist in the savings process, or at least be encouraged not to interfere. Even a well-designed building with optimally-maintained systems will not be as operationally efficient if the tenants/users aren’t using the building and its systems correctly,” Santora says.

Finally, he says the best way to provide for a building’s efficiency and success is to follow established strategies, such as the USGBC’s LEED certification. Nearly all buildings can benefit from at least some aspect of the rating-system guidelines even if they can’t meet all of the requirements of certification. This is a crucial realization, because some owners avoid LEED recommendations altogether because they are focused solely on the ability or inability to obtain certification.