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  Refrigerants are vital to modern comfort and convenience — found in air conditioners, chillers, refrigerators and heat pumps (which in 2022 overtook the sale of gas furnaces in the U.S.) Their primary function: absorb and release heat while transitioning from a liquid to a gas. Pretty cool stuff except that most refrigerants in use…

At a glance Hybrid work is here to stay. As a result, office attendance has stabilized at 30 percent below prepandemic norms. The ripple effects of hybrid work are substantial. Untethered from their offices, residents have left urban cores and shifted their shopping elsewhere. For example, New York City’s urban core lost 5 percent of…

  As buildings age, their structural conditions can deteriorate, causing damage and safety concerns. In order to mitigate this, it’s important to engage in the regular inspection and condition assessment of buildings for diagnosis. One common form of structural deterioration is referred to as building movement and can surface in varying ways, including uneven floor…

“My team seems really anxious,” a manager recently told me. “We just went through a reorg, and there are a lot of concerns about the future. I want to give everyone some kind of assurance, but I don’t really know what’s going to happen in six months either. What can I do?” If you’ve found…

As facilities managers know, summer brings increased risks of fire hazards that require proactive planning and risk mitigation. With higher use of electrical equipment such as fans and air conditioning, risks of electrical overloads and arson attacks rise. Not to mention that reduced staffing levels can also impact safety practices. The summer is a great…

  NFPA 70B’s shift from a recommended practice to a standard provides more enforceable guidelines for safe electrical system maintenance. In commercial and institutional facilities of all kinds, electrical systems need to perform. But the stakes are especially high in healthcare facilities. Consider all the building activities and processes that would not properly function if…