Michigan State University
OP-4: Building Operations and Maintenance

All buildings on MSU’s main campus are managed by a multi-attribute O&M program that addresses green cleaning, indoor air quality, water management, and energy management, detailed below.

GREEN CLEANING: MSU has two certified programs that are adhered to for their building green cleaning programs. Student Life and Engagement (formerly RHS) is ISSA-CIMS-Green Building w/ Honors certified. There are approximately 100,000 cleaning organizations in North America, and only 250 have received this designation. The recertification with honors is the second time being awarded this distinction. https://www.issa.com/certification-standards/cleaning-industry-management-standard-cims.html

Infrastructure, Planning, and Facilities service levels are documented to the APPA Standards and the cleaning policy is in accordance with the Management (OS1) and the environment system. IPF has five Certified Trainers and maintains the training certification through annual retraining. They are responsible for maintaining the adherence to the OS1 cleaning process. They assure staff are trained properly in the procedures and best practices of the OS1 system. https://managemen.com/about-us/os1/ and https://www.usg.edu/assets/facilities/documents/APPA_Standards_(Maintenance,_Custodial__Grounds).pdf.

AIR QUALITY: The campus-wide building automation system, or Central Control, is connected to monitor system operation for the life of the building. The Central Control system is a continuous monitoring system that is set within parameters established consistent with ASHRE ventilation standards (62.1). If the air monitoring falls outside of the established parameters an alarm notifies the Building Automation System crew who responds to the alarm. Action plans are developed by the Building Performance Services team. The crew will identify patterns and adjust how the systems run to optimize performance in accordance with the prescribed standards. Further, in critical environments such as laboratory and research facilities, a demand control system known as Aircuity is utilized to monitor indoor air constituents such as CO/CO2, TVOCs, particulate matter, and formaldehydes and in turn sends signals to modulate the amount of exhaust and outdoor air required to maintain optimum indoor air quality. Aircuity provides continuous monitoring of the indoor environmental quality and informs building ventilation systems to respond to changing conditions. This ensures a healthy and productive environment ideal for all facilities. Aircuity's Lab Demand Control Ventilation (DCV) system accurately measures airborne contaminants on a continuous basis and informs building management controls, which is monitored by the Building Operations Crew, so that proper ventilation is maintained. When the air is clean, ventilation is reduced, saving significant amounts of energy. When issues are detected, ventilation rates are raised to design maximums until the air is clean once again. MSU has also invested $1 million in HVAC improvements due to the COVID-19 pandemic. https://ipf.msu.edu/together-again/hvac-and-covid-19-guidance.

WATER MANAGEMENT: As a water supplier, MSU focuses on both the supply and demand side to deliver high quality water around campus while protecting this precious resource. Source [supply] monitoring: The water provided to buildings for consumption meets or exceeds all State of Michigan and EPA standards. IPF partners with other MSU organizations, such as the Institute of Water Research, to establish water tracking measures that help ensure the safest and smartest use of our water resources. MSU has taken measures to double its water storage capacity and improve the water quality flowing through its distribution system with the construction of a new water treatment plant and storage tank. The new facility came online in 2020. In addition to improving the taste and appearance of water on campus by removing iron and other minerals, the tower also offers cost savings to the university by eliminating the need for high-service water distribution pumps and reduces sediment accumulation in the distribution system and building water softeners. https://ipf.msu.edu/campus-water-quality. Water Usage [demand] and Conservation - MSU is working to ensure a balanced and sustainable approach to water consumption. Water meters for buildings on campus are tied into the Central Control hub and Building Automation System that connects to the Power Plant. Thus, as with energy demand, monitoring is electronic with alarms, and the complaint/service reporting system is also used for water as defined in Manual of Business Procedures for Infrastructure Planning, Section 260. https://ipf.msu.edu/manual-business-procedures-infrastructure-planning-and-facilities-section-260. Within Student Life and Engagement (formerly RHS), which manages roughly 25% of the floor space maintained by the university, water usage data is reviewed monthly and utilized in assessing progress in water reduction usage in accordance with their division’s strategic plan. The data usage helps to inform and justify the action plans of installation of low flow fixtures in new buildings and in retrofits that purpose with LEED standards.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT: The Building Performance Services team within IPF provides an evidence-based approach for the most efficient building operations on MSU's campus. Multiple teams within Building Performance Services support O&M activities. For example, Central Control within IPF is the hub for monitoring heating, cooling and electrical systems in approximately 150 buildings across MSU's campus. Roughly 25% have control and monitoring at the room level. Using the Building Automation System, the crew identifies patterns and adjusts how systems run to optimize energy use, including scheduling start and stop times for all connected equipment. In addition, the IPF Existing Building Commissioning (EB Cx) team conducts comprehensive engineering and operational analysis on the performance of existing building systems, including HVAC, lighting and envelope. This systematic process strives to improve building performance, reduce energy consumption, improve indoor air quality and better understand and meet occupant needs. The team is engaged in three distinct forms of EB Cx: Retro-commissioning (R-Cx); Re-commissioning (Re-Cx); and Ongoing commissioning (O-Cx).

Leveraging best practices from R-Cx and successful programs like steam trap management, a process of ongoing commissioning was developed and is currently underway for Automated Fault Detection & Diagnostics (AFDD). Using these performance-based maintenance and operations best practices, the intent is to integrate a root cause analysis approach into our daily work, track results and promote more preventative/predictive methods to objectively show the impact of better planning, resource utilization and the true impact of moving from a reactive to pro-active culture of operational effectiveness. Using a software overlay that connects mathematical algorithms to our building automation system allows us to identify operational faults in real-time and calculates any that have energy impact. First piloted in 2015, the AFDD is currently in a mode of operationalization via funding through the Energy Conservation Measures program.

The Fume Hood Management program was a pilot initiative funded through the Energy Conservation Measures program. It encompassed multiple best practices related to the use of exhaust equipment in lab space across campus. Proper management of exhaust equipment can save the university money, improve the operations and comfort of a lab space and promote a “green” attitude in the lab community. It focuses on improvement in 4 core areas:

1. Out of Service Fume Hoods/exhaust – These are fume hoods/exhaust devices (snorkel exhaust, general exhaust) that are not going to be used for long periods of time or are mechanically unable to be utilized and are not slated for repair. Fume hoods and snorkels can be turned off in place, tagged as unsafe for use with a sash lock or blast gate, or general exhaust could be reduced to a room if no longer needed to maintain pressurization.

2. Temporarily unoccupied lab or unused fume hoods/exhaust – These are exhaust devices that are not needed for a temporary period of time (e.g., for a semester, over summer, lab not currently being utilized) that can be turned off in place with a tag denoting when the equipment was taken out of active service and who to contact to bring it back in service and/or a date when it will be brought back into service if a timeline is known.

3. Excessive Fume Hood Flow Rate (beyond design/standards which are typically 100FPM) – There are devices that need a reduction of the face velocity of the fume hood to reduce it back down to the design or standard feet per minute. These are identified via Environmental Healthy and Safety (EHS) fume hood ratings reports.

4. Unoccupied Flow Rate Reduction – This measure is to identify spaces that are verified to have a typical unoccupied period (such as a classroom hood that is free from stored materials overnight between classes) and reduce the air change rates in hoods and/or classrooms to save energy during the period of no occupancy.