President's Message

Greetings to all and happy new year! Now that the dust has settled after the holidays, I encourage each one of you to take a moment to look inward at your priorities versus the habits that you formed over the last year. I have never forgotten Stephen Covey's quote that we should "live each day thinking about what we would want said at our funeral". Unfortunately, there are more days than I want to admit that I do not live that way. We all have the capacity to touch another's life by our kindness or temper, generosity or selfishness, motivation or degradation. My goal this year is to get back in touch with who I am, and I encourage you to do the same.

Let me share with you the goals that we discussed at this week's board meeting. We want to be consistent in our efforts to bring you education and shared knowledge in an atmosphere of fun. We want to help you stay motivated in a climate of constant change. We want you to feel welcome and recognized for your accomplishments as well as being informed of meetings and events. Most of all we want to be an important avenue for you to grow personally and professionally. You will see more networking socials, educational seminars, and a fun golf tournament in May.

I will be doing a lecture in May on employee morale issues in the post dot com era and how to plan for better productivity by encouraging "knowledge based' work vs.."technology based" work. This will include a lot of good examples of how trends are changing as America looks inward at its greatest resource-its employees in the workplace. This will include my HR study of Austin's top employers and the current impact of the economic and political climate.

Once again, I want to thank all of you for your interest and kind words of support. Happy New Year!

Judy Roessner
President
IFMA
Austin Chapter

Energy Auditing

If you need to run a tight ship, always track your utilities every month: gas, water, diesel, electrical.   Document the changes and special occurrences.   You should add the billing period and maybe the average outside temperature which can be found at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/html/cli/monthdaily.htm For heating, the energy consumption varies directly with the difference between 65 degrees and the outdoor daily temperature.  Cooling is more complicated because of humidity, solar heat, wind etc.   Track kw, gallons, etc. as well as the dollars.   Build a spreadsheet that will calculate the cost of operating equipment during a time period.   This makes it faster to calculate energy savings when you turn off the lights at the sports fields.   You may find the cost is not worth the ill will when you don't allow employees to play volleyball after dark.

Survey all the energy users and areas where losses can occur

- Leaks in lines, connections, insulation

- Calibrate equipment like furnaces and refrigeration units

- Check the envelope openings – overhead doors, entrances, windows, exhaust systems

- Check for wasted energy – lights left on, doors open, computers on, exhaust fans, other equipment. Check for areas that are kept too warm or cold or should just be turned off.

- Develop an energy balance sheet: input, output, and losses

Some easy ideas:

Weather-strip all windows, doors. Insulate pipes and roofs and exterior walls, seal ducts, Install timers for lights (windup timers are real nice). Reduce exhaust air.

More expensive ideas: Reflective roofs, spray water on roof for it's evaporation affect. Sophisticated controls, more electric meters (if it is someone's budget, they will be interested), heat recovery systems, better motor drives. There are books on the subject.

It can't all be on the FM. Department representatives need to meet and brainstorm. The attendees should be midway on the food chain. It's easier to implement an idea than to think out of the box. If it involves dollars, competition for funds can be a fight. The simple rate of return at one company is two months.

By J. Robert Howard FACServices, INC