Recent reports have highlighted disappointing energy performance from green buildings, automated systems that are never fully utilized and major capital improvements that do not result in expected energy savings. All of these factors have one thing in common. In the quest to improve building performance, human behavior is the wild card. This paper will examine how the behavior of one particular person -- the building operator -- can positively influence the performance of a multifamily building. This paper describes a collaborative effort between labor, multifamily building owners and property managers in a major metropolitan city to empower 2,000 operators to increase the energy efficiency of large multifamily buildings. We think this is the first large-scale comprehensive program to both educate superintendents and building operators, and then document the best practices and upgrades these operators make in their buildings. The presentation will describe innovative teaching techniques, identify barriers that prohibit greater operator involvement in energy management, share student perceptions of the training and review a preliminary list of changes superintendents made in their buildings. After the architects and engineers leave the building it is in the hands of the staff. This paper makes the case that investing in the building operator is perhaps the single most important efficiency investment an owner can make.
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