TOPIC: Operating & Maintenance Costs and Determining Equipment Lifespan
By: Terry L. Rodgers
ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer
ASHRAE and various other sources have researched and published equipment lifespan tables that give good advice on expected lifespans for typical equipment used in facilities. There are multitudes of competing, conflicting, and in many cases ambiguous parameters that influence decisions regarding when the best time is to replace equipment. Ultimately, the exercise is a financial analysis. Often the responsibility for performing these analyses fall upon a facilities manager instead of a finance wizard. Consideration should be given to capital costs to purchase and replace assets, overall operating costs, expected maintenance costs, and the intangible costs of risk of mission impact. There are the costs for new training of operating staff on the new system technologies, writing new procedures, and establishing new maintenance agreements, spare parts inventory, etc. Understanding the utility rate structure and comparing it to the projected energy profile of the various solutions becomes necessary. There are other financial considerations that need to be taken into account such as depreciation, salvage (or resale) value, corporate tax implications, etc. Maintenance costs are another important consideration not only in comparing the total cost of ownership of various solutions, but also in the timing. This entire exercise needs to happen concurrently with an Equipment Operating Condition Assessment program, so expected remaining lifespan can be quantified. An equipment condition assessment program should gather as much data as possible regarding equipment operating condition. To add even more complexity, the predicted costs should be based on an economic analysis. A quick and easy technique is the “Simple Payback” method. Unfortunately, this ignores the cost of borrowing money, interest rates, inflation, changes in utility rates, depreciation, taxes, tax credits, and a whole host of other financial considerations
Speaker Bio:
Terry has over 40 years of progressive experience in Critical Facilities operations and management including strategic planning, critical infrastructure design, operations, and commissioning; business protection and recovery; preventive and predictive maintenance; technical training and professional training development.
Terry is an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer and a voting member of ASHRAE TC9.9 "Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces, & Electronic Equipment", ASHRAE SSPC 90.4 "Energy Standard for Data Centers”, ASHRAE SPC-127 "Method of Testing for Rating Computer Room Air Conditioners”, and GPC-1.6P “Commissioning Process for Data Centers”. He is on the Board of Directors of the 7x24 Exchange Carolinas Chapter. He is an active participant in the LLNL Energy Efficient High Performance Computing Working Group. He is on the Board of Directors of the Building Commissioning Association’s Southeast Region and has authored or co-authored books, whitepapers, and presentations on Critical Facilities, facilities management, and formal commissioning. He has developed and taught multiple training classes in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of critical facilities including commercial nuclear power plants, aerospace facilities, and large data centers.
Terry has performed site reliability assessments for more than 50 sites in over 20 countries and 5 continents. Terry writes a bi-monthly column in Mission Critical magazine called Sustainable Operations. Terry is currently the VP and National Leader for the Commissioning and Building Analytics business unit at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).
Meeting Schedule
11:30 - Registration/Network
Noon - Lunch and Presentation