One of the easy ways to understand how your facilities are operating is to know a few key facilities benchmarks.  The first ingredient in the analysis is utilized in all of these calculations, how many gross square feet are your buildings or campus.   How do you figure this out if you do not know it off the top of your head?  Gross square feet (GSF) is defined as the sum of all areas on all floors of a building included within the outside faces of its exterior walls, including all vertical penetration areas, for circulation and shaft areas that connect one floor to another. 

With the building industry moving more toward light colored roofing it has become increasingly important to consider the application of an air and vapor barrier (AVB) in the roof assembly.  It is a false assumption to consider that the roofing membrane acts as an AVB in the roof application.  The reason is that moisture is a nasty little bugger that can get into most any assembly.  The goal is not to just prevent moisture from entering the assembly but to get it out when it does get into the assembly.

When my kids were younger, they seemed to pick up a cold almost weekly, most of the time catching it from their schoolmates, nothing major. We’d see it coming from the obvious signs: sniffles, feeling achy, acting sluggish. Sometimes we’d call the pediatrician, who would immediately ask us, “What’s your son’s temperature?”, which was a friendly reminder to just take out the thermometer and keep track of their temperatures, as their temperature would usually tell us how they were holding up and what care was appropriate.  

C-PACE: Why Not Pay Less to Finance Your Sustainable Building?

The Stone House Group is partnering with Lehigh University and Trust to develop Lehigh’s Climate Action Strategy.  Our team will conduct an ASHRAE Level 1.5 Energy Audit of thirty-four (34) campus facilities and provide technical consulting services through the Climate Action Planning process.  Trust will engage with the campus community to support Plan development.  The Climate Action Plan will outline strategies and tactics that provide potential paths for the University to achieve net carbon neutrality.  Carbon reduction targets will be developed in conjunction with campus working and advisory groups.  The Stone House Group’s staff will work with students in Lehigh’s Industrial Assessment Center to complete campus energy audits, providing an opportunity to make the campus a living laboratory.  

Covid-19 has presented a number of obstacles in regaining normalcy and access to the majority of our built infrastructure.  As a result, sustainable building certifications have adapted to address the health and safety concerns associated with a post-pandemic environment.  In particular, International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has recently released a new WELL rating system to prioritize health and safety in a COVID-19 world – WELL Health-Safety Rating

The proverb “Hindsight is 20/20” brings new meaning in the year 2020 as we look back at the COVID-19 pandemic and as we transition into 2021.  The Stone House Group was no exception in terms of the adversity we faced particularly in our involvement with healthcare institutions.  

How an FCA laid the foundation for Energy Savings and a Network of System Performance

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls independent school located in Princeton, New Jersey, recently released an article published within NBOA’s NetAssets magazine that discusses the School’s path to a fully integrated, connected campus through a sophisticated building management system, powered by the Internet of Things (IoT). You can read the full article here.

The Stone House Group is partnering with Lehigh University and Trust to develop Lehigh’s Climate Action Strategy. Our team will conduct an ASHRAE Level 1.5 Energy Audit of thirty-four (34) campus facilities and provide technical consulting services through the Climate Action Planning process. Trust will engage with the campus community to support Plan development. The Climate Action Plan will outline strategies and tactics that provide potential paths for the University to achieve net carbon neutrality. Carbon reduction targets will be developed in conjunction with campus working and advisory groups. The Stone House Group’s staff will work with students in Lehigh’s Industrial Assessment Center to complete campus energy audits, providing an opportunity to make the campus a living laboratory.

At this point in the COVID-19 pandemic, energy and facilities engineers are familiar with ASHRAE's guidelines for mitigating the risk of infection spread. These can be broken down as filtration, mitigation, and dilution. Dilution, or adding additional fresh air, is the best "bang for the buck", especially in facilities that feature a modern Building Automation System. There are a few different sequences of operation that can be implemented by your BAS contractor to dilute the air of recycled air in your facility.