InSite

At InSite, we like to say we are engineered for results. And to deliver on that promise, we continue to grow and develop the best engineering team in the industry! This month, we welcomed @Sebastian Downs to the InSite Energy Engineering team. His background encompasses 10 years of experience in energy engineering, mechanical engineering, and building systems. Sebastian holds a BS degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont, along with LEED AP O+M and EMIT certifications. In addition to his experiences at an energy efficiency and green building consulting and engineering firm, he is a licensed contractor focused on efficient and sustainable renovations. So happy you joined us Sebastian!

📣 The American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) Annual Operations Survey is out and the results are conclusive: aging infrastructure is top of mind for everyone in healthcare. Raise your hand if this rings true for you: "Without the right team or appropriate resources to support older buildings, maintenance needs build up." 🖐️🖐️ 👩🔧 At last count, there were $390 BILLION in deferred maintenance needs across the sector. What if solving those problems actually paid for the resolution of related issues? InSite has proven this model with hospital customers like Brigham and Women's Hospital and sees it as the best path forward for the 80% of hospital executives concerned about aging infrastructure and their ability to pay for it. Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/4hZEaZT

🏥We're back with the third challenge we expect healthcare executives to face in the coming year. In case you missed the previous posts, we're taking what we've learned from our healthcare clients this year and examining what's to come on the operations front. The suggested actions are a starting point and we'd love to hear how you are addressing these challenges. We started with likely changes to federal reimbursements, then explored new possibilities in energy procurement. Today, it's data. 😱Challenge: Planning and prioritizing capital projects without data There is no shortage of documentation in hospitals and health systems, but documentation is not the same as data. Without data, or a real-time connection to live operational metrics to be used for analysis by humans and machines, capital planning is cumbersome at best. With continued scrutiny around approval of capital projects expected in 2025, incorporating a data program will benefit executive teams by making it possible to evaluate existing conditions alongside future plans. 🤩Suggested action: Begin connecting real-time, operational data across systems now. Ensure asset management systems are aware of building management systems, and energy management systems inform information management systems. Siloes make questions more difficult to answer.

🏥Today we continue our look at what operations challenges healthcare executives might face in the coming year. Yesterday, we explored how an energy efficiency program can help fill gaps left by reduced federal reimbursements. Here, we look into the unpredictability of operational costs. 📈Challenge: Forecasting amidst fluctuating operational costs Labor rates and energy costs have been fluctuating at such unpredictable rates this year. That’s likely to continue into 2025. Add onto that the fact that deferred maintenance backlogs never seem to get smaller while preventive maintenance programs continue to leave more questions than answers and you’ve got a forecasting nightmare. ✨Suggested action: Fortunately, there are ways to offset the variability in energy costs. Explore new energy procurement options in every open energy market where you operate. Get connected to a live data feed of all your energy consuming equipment quickly. Have your operations teams work with experts to analyze performance data and implement energy conservation measures that reduce costs and extend the life of critical equipment.

🏥As we approach the end of the year, we're taking what we’ve learned from our healthcare clients in 2024 and exploring what lies ahead. All this week, we'll present a challenge we think healthcare executives are likely to face next year, along with a suggest action. Tell us what you think in the comments - is this a challenge you're facing? Are there other/better suggested actions? 😳Challenge: Shrinking profits due to reduced state and federal reimbursements A problem mainly affecting the c-suite, the reliability of state and federal reimbursements may get called into question in the upcoming year. This will have massive implications on operations budgets, as teams up and down the balance sheet are asked to tighten belts while behemoth organizations figure out how to do more with less. 🤔Suggested action: Start exploring ways to create more budget without capital investments now. Energy efficiency programs are often overlooked opportunities, but when done right, they actually open the purse strings by creating a virtuous cycle of finding and fixing problems that are costing a lot of money. Find a partner who can extract value quickly by identifying Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) to unlock dollars that fund incremental program expansions.

🏢 Build or maintain, or both? A new real estate tax is changing the calculation for owners and operators. The real estate industry has always had two competing imperatives – build and maintain. Decarbonization and energy efficiency projects usually fall to the “maintain” department, while the heaviest capital budgets are reserved for “build” projects. 🔣 📈 We're watching as the scales may start to tip in favor of retrofits at least where fines for inefficient operations are set to be steepest (here's looking at you, NYC). Inspired by a recent video from Fifth Wall, our Conor Kelly digs into decarbonization, legislation and the changing equation on energy retrofits. https://bit.ly/4eM7pfG

What do we mean when we say "done, done"? ✅ ✅ The commissioning process works great for new buildings to help determine when construction is done, but the minute the building goes into operation, “done” becomes relative at best, and irrelevant at worst. Things quickly become “undone” as systems are overridden to accommodate occupancy needs that hadn’t been considered during the course of construction. With continuous commissioning, a live data-feed enables operators and their service providers to receive and normalize interval data from any operational system. In a recent article, our resident healthcare operations expert David Sciarrino, LEED AP dives into the difference between "done" and "done-done" and the impact this distinction can have on ops teams. https://bit.ly/3CL31QQ

Another long-term partnership to be thankful for as we kick off Thanksgiving week! Alexander Wigginton had the opportunity to present our 10-year Partnership Award to Ronald J. Becker, CRX, CSM, Fitwel Ambassador, Senior Vice President Operations & Sustainability and Mark Friel, Operations Analyst at Brandywine Realty Trust, celebrating a decade of incredible results: 🌱 52.3 GWh in low/no cost efficiency measures identified 💰 Utility rebates for ~20 GWh in verified savings under several PECO programs 🌍 GHG reduction of -19.5% vs a 2018 baseline 🏆 PECO Leaders Award (2022), GBU Sustainable Building Operations Award (2022), PECO Trade Ally Award (2024) From Day 1, our partnership has been a strong collaboration with a mutual goal to achieve more than we can individually imagine to drive Brandywine towards a more efficient and sustainable future. Looking forward to the next 10 years! #EnergyEfficiency #Decarbonization

Conor Kelly did an excellent job articulating key takeaways from Greenbuild International Conference & Expo last week. We love talking about and partnering with others around sustainable value creation - delivering the trifecta of financial, operational and environmental outcomes through building optimization.

🎉 Celebrating 10 Years of Partnership with Affinius! 🎉 Last week, Alex Wyczalkowski, PE had the chance to present Grant Strauss, MBA at Affinius Capital with our 10-year building optimization Partnership Award, reflecting on the incredible journey we’ve had since we began working together. Our collaboration has driven remarkable results — not just for Affinius, but for the environment and the broader community. Together, we’ve: 🌱 Optimized 26 buildings to improve energy efficiency 💰 Saved $2,000,000 annually in energy costs ⚡ Secured $100,000 in utility incentives 🌍 Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 38% since 2019 These achievements highlight what’s possible when innovative technology, data-driven insights, and a shared commitment to sustainability come together. We’re proud to have played a role in Affinius' success and to have helped create a more sustainable future for everyone. Here’s to many more years of continued collaboration, growth, and positive impact! #EnergyEfficiency #Decarbonization