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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania
Green Building Operations
and Maintenance Manual
Building
GREEN in Pennsylvania
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES
HARRISBURG
Sincerely
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Roofing Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
HVAC Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Lighting Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Cleaning Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
i
Introduction
Pennsylvania Green Building Maintenance Manual
This manual for environmentally preferable operation and maintenance of government buildings and
associated grounds is designed to help carry out the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Executive Order
1998-1 to "incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into [Executive Agencies'] ... operations."
Operating and maintaining sustainable government buildings is a fundamental part of this directive, in
that virtually all government workers and many citizens of the Commonwealth patronize these buildings
throughout the year. Their health and the health of the Commonwealth's environment are directly
affected by the practices, products, and services used in these buildings every day.
The impacts of the operation and maintenance of a building and associated grounds on the health of its
occupants and the environment at large can be significant. A building and its grounds constitute a
microcosm or miniature version of a city: it takes in materials, expels other materials as waste, and uses
a lot of energy in lighting, heating, and air conditioning the space. In addition, each building has its own
climate and atmosphere, often more polluted than the outside air. The flow of materials alone is
significant, with tap water, paper products, lighting, carpet, paint, cleaning products, and many others
coming in. Some of these, such as cleaning products, carpet, and paint, may have impacts on
maintenance workers and building occupants while used. Others are disgorged to streams through
sewage where they can harm aquatic life or escape to the atmosphere to exacerbate local air pollution,
global warming, or ozone depletion.
This manual is intended to minimize such adverse impacts on health and the environment from the
operation and maintenance of Commonwealth government buildings and grounds. If followed carefully,
it should lessen the load of toxic or otherwise unhealthful substances both on maintenance workers and
on building occupants. It will also enable maintenance workers to create a building microcosm that
minimizes waste, uses more sustainable materials and systems, and uses energy in the most efficient way
possible. Maintenance workers can feel proud that they are helping to achieve a safer and more
sustainable world for all Commonwealth residents.
The existence of this guide does not imply that current procedures are inadequate or have created unsafe
conditions for building occupants, cleaning personnel, or the environment. Rather, this document is
intended to go beyond traditional methods to further reduce environmental impacts while at the same
time maintaining or improving the healthfulness, comfort, and aesthetics of the Commonwealth's
buildings.
This guide is designed for use by maintenance staff of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in support of
established training programs and is not intended to replace or supersede existing or future Federal,
Commonwealth, or local requirements regarding worker safety, environmental protection, or other
matters.
1
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania contracted with Green Seal, a non-profit organization, to develop
this manual in conjunction with a Pennsylvania advisory committee and test it in several government
buildings prior to completion. Green Seal was established in 1989 with the mission of improving the
environment by identifying environmentally preferable products, services, and operations. Green Seal
sets environmental standards for a range of categories of manufactured products and commercial
services, and it works with various government agencies around the country to assist them in making
their procurement, operations, and facilities management more environmentally sustainable.
A number of dedicated staff of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as experts in various fields
contributed to make this manual possible. The following contributed to specific sections of the manual
or provided significant information:
The Pennsylvania Advisory Committee provided overall guidance throughout the development of the
manual and gave many worthwhile suggestions. Members of the Committee were:
The field test of the draft manual would not have been possible without the cooperation and dedication
of the following people:
Finally, special acknowledgment is made to Deputy Secretary for Property Management James Martin,
Department of General Services, who championed the project from the beginning; and Marilyn Bygall,
Department of General Services, Property Administration, who served as the Commonwealth's Project
Officer and who single-handedly shepherded the project through its various stages within the
government.
2
Lessons Learned from the Field Test
This manual represents a significant amount of research into building maintenance and ways to make the
operation and maintenance of buildings more environmentally responsible. However, one of the key
items that sets this manual apart is that it actually was tested in the "real world." Often, things that are
technically possible on paper may not be actionable due to unforeseen "real world" circumstances. For
this reason, a field test in three buildings was deemed an important validation of the draft manual. The
three test buildings (the State Capitol and East Wing, the Finance Building, and the Labor & Industry
Building) were located in Harrisburg and were all older buildings that were not originally constructed as
"green" buildings. The three-month field test occurred during the winter, so some of the summer
recommendations were not directly tested. The overall methodology was as follows: