Muhlenberg College
OP-4: Building Operations and Maintenance

It is the policy of Muhlenberg College to:

1. Develop new and undertake major renovations of occupied facilities that would meet or exceed the Certified Rating of the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System, when feasible.
2. Implement sustainable building principles in all new and existing buildings to achieve measurable life cycle cost savings.
3. Support and promote sustainable building principles and operational initiatives, including energy reduction, water conservation and improved air quality.

Cleaning chemicals used on campus are in compliance with the Green Cleaning Standard.
Housekeeping division of Plant Operations is committed to maintaining a high standard of cleanliness through Green Cleaning Practices. We will accomplish this level of commitment by incorporating Green Seal Certified chemicals, as well as, certified equipment that meet CRI Green Label standards. We are determined to provide healthy high performance cleaning and a more productive indoor environment with fewer burdens to our natural resources. In essence, the Housekeeping department follows Green Cleaning practices with the intention of protecting the health of its students, faculty, staff, and visitors without harming the environment.

Building air ventilation systems have methods to reduce unnecessary airflow in times of low occupancy by the use of occupancy sensors, set-back controls, CO2 monitoring and scheduling of VAV airflows through the Building automation systems. All new boiler system installations are installed utilizing the most efficient design criteria by reducing excessive temperatures in the buildings and lowering heating system operating temperatures; They also have the capability to shut down systems completely when not necessary. Existing systems are retrofitted under these same guidelines. Lighting systems include the installation of sensors and controls to detect occupancy and reduce output during unoccupied times. Newly purchased campus appliances are Energy Star rated and laundry equipment is CEE Tier 3 or better. All heating oil fuel sources are converted to Natural gas as system replacement is imminent or sooner when feasible. The College continues to evaluate the use of renewable energy sources on campus. Building sub-metering is used on electric, steam, natural gas and domestic water, improving building efficiencies and system operations by Benchmarking, Energy audits and retro-commissioning are performed to identify energy-related improvements. A comprehensive Equipment Maintenance plan is followed to maintain equipment at peak performance.

http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/aboutus/plantops/sustainableinitiatives/sbom/
Building sub-metering is used on domestic water, improving building efficiencies and system operations by Benchmarking. The majority of campus buildings now have water meters or sub-meters. This was done for two purposes. First, it allows Plant operations to benchmark and track all campus use and to target areas for improvement. These meters have been useful in identifying leaks and waste and are reviewed by Plant Operations staff with regularity and continuously inform operations. Second, the meters provide feedback regarding student water usage and will allow us to incorporate water into behavior-change campaigns.

http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/aboutus/plantops/sustainableinitiatives/sbom/

It is the policy of Muhlenberg College to:

1. Develop new and undertake major renovations of occupied facilities that would meet or exceed the Certified Rating of the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System, when feasible.
2. Implement sustainable building principles in all new and existing buildings to achieve measurable life cycle cost savings.
3. Support and promote sustainable building principles and operational initiatives, including energy reduction, water conservation and improved air quality.