Sustainable Building Technical Manual：Operationws and Maintenance.pdf

SUSTAI ABLE BUILDI G TECH ICAL MA UAL Green Building Design, Construction, and Operations Produced by Public Technology Inc. US Green Building Council Sponsored by U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Environmental Protection Agency P U B L I C T E C H N O L O G Y , I N C . 2 5 Y E A R S O F P R O G R PART VI Operations and Ma i n t e n a n c e Introduction Building operations and maintenance (OM) significantly impact a building owner’s costs, and affect the internal and external building environment. This section describes practices that can enhance environmental quality and the performance of building oper- ations. Used routinely, these practices can lead to substantial economic and environmen- tal benefits, such as reduced energy consumption, better indoor air quality, resource efficiency, and occupant satisfaction. Building OM plays several important roles. It should maintain proper building tempera- ture and humidity; promote the ventilation, dilution, and removal of airborne contami- nants; and provide other important environmental conditions, such as appropriate lighting and acoustics. It should also ensure the safety and cleanliness of building sys- tems so that they do not generate pollutants and hazards. For example, a ventilation sys- tem must sufficiently exhaust and dilute contaminants. It must also be kept clean and free from excessive moisture so as not to generate contamination. Finally, OM policy and practices can promote resource efficiency by tenants and building occupants. Operations and maintenance practices are shaped by professional standards, facility char- acteristics, and an organization’s general management policy. For example, an organiza- tion’s smoking policy determines the extent to which environmental tobacco smoke, an occupant-generated conta