Jim Jansky, WVHS Facility Manager, enrolled in the BOC training program because he wanted to reduce energy costs at the school by learning more about facility operations, building system interactions, and their effect on energy use—in short, to better manage energy consumption.

>>Click Here for an In-Depth Case Study

Besides offering personally rewarding professional development, the training has helped Dennis develop a Utility Management Manual that is used to train new employees and serves as a reference for current employees. In addition to detailing operations and maintenance procedures, the manual covers important environmental health and safety regulations.

>>Click Here for an In-Depth Case Study

Head Custodian Jeff Jean and Principal Barnard see the BOC program as an excellent way to make improvements to the physical environment of the building through better operations and maintenance. In addition to creating a healthier school environment, Jeff’s BOC training has given him more confidence on the job along with the ability to make the building more energy efficient.

>>Click Here for an In-Depth Case Study

Gary Reed, Director of Facilities Planning and Management, oversees it all with a facilities staff of 150. The complexity of the job demands that his staff be up-to-date in basic operations and maintenance procedures and coordinated in their approach. “BOC training offers a format for educating staff and certifying that they have a baseline of knowledge in operations maintenance procedures,” Gary says. “BOC builds an excellent foundation for day-to-day operations and stimulates interest in saving energy.”

>>Click Here for an In-Depth Case Study

As a Life Support Operator at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, it's my responsibility to provide the best possible environment for the more than 25,000 aquatic and terrestrial animals that call the Aquarium their home. As one of the world’s largest and most diverse aquariums, Shedd has been “wowing” millions of guests since 1930, and as a key member of the Shedd team, it’s my job to ensure that Shedd continues in its long-standing tradition of connecting guests with the underwater world for many more years to come. It's also my responsibility to ensure that the Shedd continues to be a good steward of the earth's resources by operating in an energy efficient and environmentally-friendly manner.

One of the great things about the Shedd Aquarium is its commitment to its employees and their professional development. As I searched for training specifically geared toward my field, I discovered the Building Operator Certification program (BOC) offered by the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA). Shedd recognized the value of being BOC training and certified, and without hesitation, they supported me and my colleague, Operator III Mike Petty, in our BOC certification.

The BOC program is great and I felt the teachers were exceptional. The in-depth training prepares participants for the types of opportunities and challenges that actually take place every day within a participant’s own profession. The trainers are clearly experts in their field and gave us the resources to initiate successful maintenance programs at our organizations. They offered a lot of insight and were able to answer any questions thoroughly. Through examples, we learned how to implement numerous programs that were customized to Shedd, but can apply to any organization – which is the key to BOC training.

As someone who continues to partake in professional development, I have participated in other programs; however, I was amazed, and pleased, at the high-level level of information that the BOC program provided. Both Mike and I agreed that the value and caliber of the program are second to none.

Because of BOC training, I now personally have a greater understanding of how I might help strengthen our organization's goals. Through a more comprehensive understanding of theory behind systems, I learned crucial skills that will help me with my job and consequently, help Shedd. I also gained an overall understanding of the importance of energy efficiency and now apply my new knowledge to Shedd’s commitment to energy savings.

Over the years our organization has achieved greater energy efficiency through maintenance and other programs, but I believe though the BOC training, both Mike and I can better contribute to ensuring we use our resources more efficiently and strengthen Shedd’s commitment to saving energy and the environment.

After 15 years in building operations, the BOC training was a great refresher course on things that I do not come across everyday and a great source of information on new technologies. I was really impressed by the overall knowledge of the instructors and the wide range of topics that the program covered. We were already getting involved in efficiency programs in state office buildings and BOC training goes hand-in-hand with our energy efficiency implementations. Since taking BOC, we’ve upgraded our lighting and HVAC systems and have noticed a shift in the amount of energy that our building consumes.

After taking BOC, I made sure that the other four general managers also took the program. We had a couple of new managers that had just started working for the state and were new to building operations and BOC helped them get started in the field. It gives them the knowledge base that helps them make better decisions.

We are a mechanical contractor that specializes in energy efficiency projects for our clients, so I decided to take the BOC class as an introduction to building operations and conservation. It has helped us out quite a bit. As we implement some of the things that we learned in the class, our own building is becoming more efficient and we have used it as a springboard to start an internal program to share the information with the others in our company. BOC allows us to be more successful when submitting proposals and helps us serve our clients better. We can now advise them on how to be more energy efficient. It was also a networking opportunity for us and we have come across some good opportunities.

While I am involved in the design of the HVAC for commercial buildings, I am also getting involved in the energy efficiency side as well, based on some of my experiences with the BOC training course.

The value of the course is that it gives the building operators and owners an overview of the entire building and allows people to learn every single aspect of the building and how the systems work together. This results in real savings.

Because I work in a waste management facility, keeping up with ventilation standards is very important. BOC helps me to stay up on the standards and reduce our energy consumption while ensuring that employees are safe and comfortable.

It’s an education and a mind-opening experience, and it has helped me professionally. Now I can quote standards and prevent missteps. After taking the BOC course I am on a firm footing to make decisions, am more secure in the decisions I make, and I know where to go to get the standards. In general, it has made me a more responsible building manager. I also had a lot of fun there--it was a blast.

The whole course was excellent and it was a great opportunity to learn how to do things the right way and save money at the same time. If you take the BOC course you will spend money one time, but you will make the money back again and again. You will make money on this course. It pays for itself and then some.

BOC is the kind of subject matter I like--it affects you every day, it's relevant, and you can use what you learn. What’s not to like about it?

As a BOC instructor, I am able to help people learn about building operations while keeping abreast of new technologies. Teaching BOC is a great opportunity to keep my finger on the pulse of what is happening in the marketplace. It has been great with keeping me tuned in and broadening my horizons and opportunities.

The biggest issue facing the industry today is that people don’t understand how much is involved in building operations, and I view BOC as a comprehensive overview of facility systems. It gives students the opportunity to see how everyone and every system works together. BOC training provides tools and solutions to mitigate the cost of the training. Participants gain useful knowledge and techniques and appear happy with the training results.

The BOC appealed to me on multiple levels because as a Community College we do quite a bit to be energy efficient and to reduce the impact we have on the environment. I think that people always knew the impact of heating and cooling on the environment, but they are finally doing something about it. People are increasingly getting involved with green buildings and LEED certification, things that they previously thought were out of their grasp. As a father with two small children you want to save something for our future.

We are planning two smaller projects that will have an impact on our energy consumption based on what we have learned through the BOC program. You get out of the class what you are willing to put into it. If it is something that you are really interested in then you will get a lot out of it. Just the knowledge that you gain from the class makes you a better building engineer or manager.

The impact that BOC had on our staff was great and helped us learn how we can do our part to save resources.

I teach BOC because I wanted to share my knowledge with people and as far as learning, it's a two-way street for me. BOC certification is good for professional development and can be a stepping stone for building operators professionally. The program works to empower the participants to come up with some good ideas and communicate and convince their managers to go through with the changes. It gives them some mobility within their company.

The BOC program can save money and eventually it will pay for itself many times over.

I was interested in the BOC class because everything is going to energy savings and I wanted to see if there was anything new that I didn't know about. We have implemented some of the things that I learned through the BOC class and we have seen a decrease in energy consumption.

BOC has definitely been great for my professional development. Since taking BOC, I look for better ways to handle our trash and recycling. We're more cautious with the way we handle things and we are taking more responsibility. It was a good, hands-on experience, very well put together and anyone that takes this class would get something out of it. Anyone would benefit from it.

Chris was hired as a building manager for our museum, which is housed in a building that was built around 1938 as part of the WPA. It is very old with lots of maintenance issues, so we decided to send him to BOC so he could learn as much as possible. BOC gave him a touch of everything that you would encounter in managing a building. He loves this building and he puts his heart and soul into it. After taking BOC, his abilities have increased and he is able to do more within our organization so we don't have to hire outside contractors to do maintenance work. That saves us time and money. Going through the course helped him pick up all of these skills. As with a lot of old buildings, you have to know how to maintain and preserve it.

Through the BOC training program, you can gain a lot of things that can help you be more efficient in the job that you’re doing. You can also hone in on some of the things that you already know but want in-depth information on. If someone is efficient in his job and really knows what he is doing, it can really save the company money.

The information division of GBBN Architects helps facilities establish facility maintenance plans and manage facility information management systems for use in space planning, asset management, and daily maintenance tracking. We work with large public and private organizations in the region to help them better manage data about their buildings to improve their operations. Through our relationship with the Hamilton County Facilities Department, we were introduced to the Ohio Public Facility Maintenance Association and made the decision to join in early 2005. The BOC program, which is supported by both OPFMA and the Ohio School Facility Commission, has proven to be a valuable experience.

Working in an architectural environment, the majority of our personnel focus on how the environment is built or renovated. Our team provides the transition to ensure the data collected during the design and construction is usable, accessible, and relevant to the facility owner. Our BOC experience in the classroom has helped us to gain better understanding of the operational impacts of building design and the biggest concerns of the facility managers and operators. The dialogue and discussions in the BOC class were of particular value, as we have the opportunity to hear the challenges and input from the maintenance personnel, trades, project managers, and facility managers charged with the long term care of the buildings.

In particular, the strong attendance by school personnel was of benefit to us. We provide maintenance plan advisor services to our clients through the OSFC program to ensure each new school's facility infrastructure is documented and the proper preventive maintenance programs are in place. Schools need to have maintenance plans approved by the state before the district can use OSFC funds for maintenance purposes. The BOC discussions on the OSFC program, including the impact of the design manual and how the information collected by the MPA is used by the maintenance departments, were of particular interest. Valuable information is being produced by the OSFC's maintenace plan advisors, and we saw the need to ensure this is available to a wider maintenance audience in the schools.

I saw the BOC course as an opportunity to expand my horizons and a way to get involved in the industry. I come from an automotive repair background and was new to addressing the repair and maintenance of a building versus that of a car. It was a good check of my knowledge and a way to get involved in the industry.

I have used my BOC training as a resource to make decisions on our equipment. It is great information and provides support for becoming more efficient, especially when you're working to convince those that make the budgetary decisions. It backed up what I had for knowledge and how it should be applied and gives you proof to back up your decisions. On a personal level, it has allowed me to step forward in my company with authority. It either reinforces what you believe and do already or it gives you an avenue to better what you’re doing and evaluate your building and improve it. It was a very positive class.

The BOC is a great resource for those interested in efficient building management. BOC graduates learn different techniques and cutting edge technologies to save energy, saving their companies money by making them more efficient. After the class they also have a network of peers to call on for advice and best practices, including the instructors who have years of experience. Employers save money right off the bat, and everyone I know who has taken the class has saved their company at least the cost of the course by the time they graduate.

Once we trained two of the local school district facility managers who manage all of the public schools in Normal, Illinois. After taking the course, they were able to research and analyze different options when upgrading their heating and cooling systems. They ended up installing a geothermal heating and cooling system, which uses the heat from the earth to heat facilities in the winter and puts heat back into the earth in the summer. They are more efficient systems and are expected to last longer than traditional heating systems and they require much less maintenance, which is where the cost really goes up.

Because of what they learned in the BOC course, they were able to provide a case to the community to pay for the high cost of installing the new system by estimating the savings over the course of its life. Now they have geothermal systems rather than a traditional system in two of the elementary schools. They were able to asses the costs and payback. They undertook a huge project as a result of being in BOC and they were very pleased with the results.

From hospitals, school districts, insurance companies, universities and community colleges, all facilities would benefit from this training without a doubt. Many of the maintenance staff have been in these positions for 20-30 years and this is a great course to get updates on the rapidly changing technology.

I was attracted to the energy efficiency aspect and the networking opportunities provided in BOC training. Anyone could benefit from the edge that BOC training gives you. It is valuable in terms of the information and efficiency gained and the greater understanding of all of the systems that make a building run well. Plus, all of the technology is changing so fast that it is good to stay abreast of the latest technology. It was also valuable for my resume and for networking.

Because of the class, I installed occupancy sensors to conserve energy and I calculated that we achieved about a $500 annual savings by installing just five sensors. I also retrofitted the lighting, which will have a huge impact on our energy usage in 2007.

Taking the class is a virtual no brainer. You make your money back almost immediately plus you get the eight days of training. It breaks out to about $150 a day, which is very reasonable compared to other training programs.

I am a mechanical engineer and I design HVAC, plumbing, lighting, power and energy systems, primarily for commercial and institutional facilities. In addition to designing these systems, I also perform energy audits and find ways to make facilities more efficient and comfortable.

We were working on an energy audit with the maintenance supervisor from a local YMCA, and as part of the audit we sent him through the BOC training. He was very aggressive and diligent in implementing the projects we discussed in class. With the audit and the BOC training the YMCA was able to save a tremendous amount of energy — probably 15-20%.

Through BOC, people can get a better feel for their building while increasing efficiency and at the same time improving comfort and safety.

The primary reason I took the BOC class is that I wanted to learn about new lighting technology that is on the horizon. Here on our campus, I knew that by becoming more efficient we could recover a good amount of energy instantly with little investment and the BOC showed me how.

I was very impressed with how quick the paybacks were on some of the energy conservation measures taught in BOC. You usually don’t hear about how fast something will pay back, but the BOC course shows you how to calculate the savings over the lifetime of the investment. We made a lighting upgrade in a women's residence hall, where we replaced 50+ incandescent light fixtures in the lobby area with 30 fluorescent fixtures. It improved the light quality and reduced the energy consumption so that it will pay for itself in 22 months. After that, it is just savings every year.

Until I took the class, I was considering doing an energy audit, but BOC covers many of the same areas. We could have spent $20,000 on energy efficiency consulting doing things that now I can do myself. If you go in with an open mind, and use what you learn, the payback will be very quick on the time and money that you have invested.

I thought that BOC training would be very interesting. There was a lot of refresher information as well as new ideas and technologies, which impressed me most. BOC shows you how you can actually save money by becoming more efficient (retrofitting lights, installing fluorescent lamps, etc.).

I have been telling other people about the benefits of BOC and I would like to get it offered just for our local union. It is great for my resume. My union paid for the course, but I might have taken it on my own and paid for it myself if I had to. I thought it was that valuable. A lot of it was review, but some information was new. I have been doing this for 26 years and the refresher courses are always helpful.

I am the Director of Facilities at our university and I wanted to learn more about new technologies available and if there was anything that I was missing in the scope of energy management and systems upgrades.

The biggest selling point to me was the overview of energy management. I walked in hoping to reduce my energy consumption and I have definitely achieved that. The BOC training gave me the tools to be more energy efficient and to update the technology I am using. I was already looking to update my lighting, but BOC helped spread that even further.

Through BOC, I learned that energy efficiency is within reach now. Ten years ago this technology existed but it was cost prohibitive. Now in 2006, the green movement is really spurring people to take advantage of new and efficient technologies. The newer technology on the market brings it within reach and more people are looking at how to do this. Being educated on the technology is very helpful and BOC definitely helps you with that.

For the amount of training you get, the cost is very low. It is great for my resume and now I am able to utilize the knowledge in preparing reports for my administration. The BOC program is more than worth the time and money to attend. You learn what's going on in the energy market as well as valuable, practical ways to save on energy costs for your institution or company.

Our ongoing commitment to reducing our energy costs and environmental impacts fostered our interest in participating in the BOC program. The class proved an excellent forum for gaining a better understanding of the industry's latest equipment, better managing our utility costs, and improving preventive maintenance procedures that we ended up enrolling the entire staff.

The program has been instrumental in not only helping the building engineers' to identify and troubleshoot problems but also for choosing solutions that save energy, reduce costs and create a healthier workplace. In fact, it has inspired them to conduct additional research and discover new materials from various vendors and agencies to ensure "best practices" that will lead to further internal improvements. It is easy to see why we recommend this class to others!

I have been in building engineering for 35 years and what attracted me to the BOC program was the energy efficiency aspect and the fact that the certification is accepted in 20 states. I think that this course gives us the tools to take on more responsibility within our organization and make an impact on its energy consumption.

We try to be energy efficient here anyway and taking the BOC course is part of these efforts. It has made me more aware of the new technologies available. The instructors are very knowledgeable and they give you a real world-view of the things that you are learning. They are experts in the industry and their work history is such that they are familiar with the theories and real world experience.

Taking the BOC course allows us to speak with more confidence. To communicate you should be up on the terminology and those courses help you develop the language needed to communicate well. Even in my case where I have been in the industry for 30+ years, I learned a number of things from the BOC course. You've got to have a pretty narrow mind if you think you can’t learn anything from BOC.

The class gives you the tools to make changes for the better within your organization, and at the same time, it has a positive affect on your organization’s bottom line.

Our company recently incorporated a number of other agencies and there was a wide range of skill sets among the facility staff. We wanted to bring everyone up to the same level of operating skills, so we sent all of the new employees, about 20 staff members, through the BOC program.

We certainly believe that this is a valuable program. The course gave me the ability to speak to my supervisors better and it gave my employees the tools to report to me with more confidence. They now take a more aggressive role and are better able to handle the changes when you begin to make these kinds of proactive changes. When you send someone to a class like this, not only do you feel the impact right away, but you feel it on a day-to-day basis.