This Regional Operations and Maintenance Guide is intended to provide guidance to state and local jurisdictions to ensure the continued performance of new buildings that are built to green building standards, as well as put existing buildings—regardless of age—on the pathway to becoming energy-saving high performance facilities.
The Guide contains O&M procedures that will help buildings reduce their operating costs, as well as lead to healthier indoor air, improved student and staff comfort, reduced water consumption, improved environmental stewardship, and overall improvements in the learning environment. O&M procedures targeted at energy efficiency can save 5 to 20 % on a building’s energy bills. These savings can total up to hundreds of thousands dollars annually, and many can be achieved at no to little cost.
This Guide was developed with input from and at the request of local stakeholders, ranging from facilities managers to efficiency program administrators. NEEP will continue to update this guide periodically as new O&M strategies become available. We encourage continuous feedback from practitioners to ensure that the Guide is a useful and comprehensive tool for Northeast and Mid-Atlantic communities.
NEEP is regularly updating the guide to ensure its relevance to the evolving nature of buildings throughout the region. While the intention of the guide, to ensure new and existing buildings are properly maintained to improve occupant health and energy efficiency, remains the same, the new guide contains a set of new resources, exemplars and best practices. New guidance can be found in various areas of the document, including lighting, electric vehicle charging, financing, zero energy buildings, recycling, resiliency and more. Scattered throughout the guide are "Making the Case" boxes intended to equip building managers with the data they need to demonstrate the impotance of proper operations & maintenance to municipal decision makers.