Value Beyond Cost Savings - Green Building Finance Consortium

Value Beyond Cost Savings: How to Underwrite Sustainable Properties1) Clear Definitions: Clearly define roles and responsibilities of commissioningparticipants, the scope of work goals, and the current facility requirements.2) Bring the commissioning agent on early. Bringing the commissioning agent on in thepre-design phase will ensure that any problems that arise can be fixed during the designstage at minimal cost to the owner.3) Make sound compensation and quality decisions. Work to match the quality andexperience of the commissioning agent(s) with the complexity and sophistication of the job.4) Manage conflicts of interest. A commissioning agent with no conflicts of interest maybe in a stronger position to advocate solely for the building owner.5) Get buy-in from the team. Incorporate commissioning requirements into specificationsso the design and construction teams know what they’re getting into.6) Continuous commissioning or annual re-commissioning. Annual re-commissioningcan supplement a good monitoring and verification program to improve O&M and keep thebuilding running optimally.Resources:For a complete selection of key commissioning guides, articles and related documents go tothe Consortium’s Research Library index sub-code 24.3: Commissioning. Additionalcommissioning websites and documents are available in the Consortium’s Industry Linkssection index code 24.3. . Key resources are identified and described in Expanded ChapterIV, Section C-2f.g) Measurement and VerificationMeasurement and verification (M&V) is an important process for monitoring resourceconsumption after construction or major retrofit. Did the building or system perform toexpectations? Better? Worse? M&V is a set of procedures and testing methods that canhelp answer these questions.M&V is a complex process and a definitive accepted industry standard has not emerged onhow to implement the process. This is an area that has, and is, receiving much attention dueto renewed focus on energy issues, labeling initiatives, and the realities about theinformation needs of facility managers faced with managing energy use.M&V design and implementation can be suboptimal if the O&M team is not part of theprocess. M&V must reflect the realities of the O&M of that particular building, and O&Mwill provide key input in this regard.47