Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of sources, including renewable energy sources such as wind, solar power, as well as nuclear, natural gas, biogas sources, etc. However, to be considered a sustainable component of the energy mix, hydrogen must be produced using these sources in an efficient and by-product reducing process. Of course, this includes carbon reduction methodologies.

One way to produce renewable hydrogen is through electrolysis, where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewable sources. Hydrogen can be used to power fuel cells, which generate electricity with water as the only fuel byproduct.

In addition to being a clean natural source of energy, hydrogen has the potential to be used in a variety of applications, including transportation, power generation and industrial processes. For example, hydrogen fuel cells are already being developed and deployed in some parts of the world, while power plants are being designed to use hydrogen as a combustion or pre-mix fuel.

The highly detailed version of the United States (US) DOE energy mix use by type Sankey Diagram (see below) clearly provides an explanation for 鈥淲hy Hydrogen鈥�. Of the 97.3 quadrillion BTUs used in the US in 2021, more than a third came from oil and is dominantly in transportation. However, a large portion of oil is used as an industrial working fluids and for chemical production feedstocks.

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Two other obvious conclusions can be drawn from the data shown on this diagram. Coal is only 10% of our energy supply and it is primarily used for electricity. However, we lose more electricity every day due to generation losses than is generated by coal combustion. In the immediate future coal fired electricity is needed in some areas to balance the national grid, and coal fired generation is one of our more efficient energy sources, however, it is an overall thermodynamic loss process and can, in time, be replaced by localized distributed grid generation sources such as hydrogen. This alone would greatly reduce the overall environmental impact of our national energy portfolio.

The electrification of vehicles, with heavy support from hydrogen generation is an area of great opportunity. It is not currently reasonable to electrify all vehicles but some fleets, such as localized delivery, localized transportation and personal vehicles is an efficient alternative from an energy utilization perspective. The current questions about the overall environmental impact of lithium batteries used in transportation can be somewhat answered by using hydrogen fuel cells to power these vehicles.

Almost another third of our national energy comes from natural gas which is more diversified in its use and a much cleaner fuel resource than oil. It is abundant and well-understood, so its use will continue to grow potentially as a hydrogen source via catalytic conversion, direct use in efficient methane fuel cells, and in newly developing technologies.

It is estimated over the next decade energy use and demand will continue to increase at more than 5% year over year which suggests that hydrogen utilization and potentially small modular reactors will replace sources such as coal. By 2030, the current national goal is that hydrogen and other sources will provide baseload distributed energy for up to 40% of the US electrical energy needs. Much of this can be done with today鈥檚 technology and certainly with the technology currently planned for development.

To grow a sustainable, multi-functional and multi-sourced global energy mix, it is important to invest in research and development of new technologies and infrastructure needed to produce, store, and transport hydrogen. This includes building out the necessary infrastructure, such as pipeline and storage facilities, and developing new materials and technologies for hydrogen production and transport.

Overall, the H₂ energy mix has the potential to play a major role in the sustainable, multi-functional and multi-sourced global energy mix, and continued investment and innovation in Hydrogen is crucial for a more sustainable and resilient, secure energy future.   

Dr. Doug Wyatt
Operations Manager/Advisory Scientist
Energy & Security

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In fact, in December 2022, the first-ever Federal Building Performance Standard was issued, which requires federal agencies to cut energy use and electrify equipment and appliances to achieve zero direct greenhouse gas emissions in 30 percent of the building spaces owned by the Federal government by 2030. As the Federal government is the country鈥檚 single largest energy consumer and building manager, these new requirements will save taxpayer dollars and eliminate millions of tons of greenhouse gasses.

Founded in 1993, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) is a membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and operation. USGBC is best known for its development of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating systems. LEED provides a framework for healthy, efficient, carbon and cost-saving green buildings, and is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership.

At 爱神传媒 we are investing in our employees to obtain LEED Credentials. The LEED Accredited Professional (AP) designation is an advanced professional credential signifying expertise in green building and a LEED rating system. To earn a LEED AP with specialty, candidates must first pass the LEED Green Associate exam. The AP exam measures knowledge about green building and a specific LEED rating system and is ideal for individuals who are actively working on green building and LEED projects.

To achieve LEED certification, a project earns points by adhering to prerequisites and credits that address carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health, and indoor environmental quality. Projects go through a verification and review process and are awarded points that correspond to a level of LEED certification: Certified (40-49 points), Silver (50-59 points), Gold (60-79 points) and Platinum (80+ points). LEED-certified buildings use less energy and water, utilize renewable energy and fewer resources, create less waste, and preserve land and habitat. They focus on occupant well-being, offering a healthier and more satisfying indoor space while addressing community and public health. LEED buildings also have a higher resale value and lower operational costs than non-LEED buildings. Many recent U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration Architectural Engineering procurements for new facility designs have specified the constructed projects achieve LEED Gold certification.

Both our customers and employees want to work with and for companies that are environmentally conscious and value sustainability. In addition, LEED certification provides a competitive advantage, as it demonstrates a commitment to sustainability and will attract customers who value environmentally responsible practices. At 爱神传媒, we are protecting the environment through clean energy engineering, environmental sustainability initiatives and utilization of LEED.

Idealistically, we make the world a better place; safer, smarter, cleaner, for everyone.

Steven A. Davies, P.E., Vice President, Engineering & Design

Environment & Security

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Procurement
Having a dedicated procurement team supporting the business is extremely important, especially during a pandemic. This allowed us to quickly setup a national agreement with an emergency cleaning service provider for rapid response to a COVID-19 event, if needed. The scope of decontamination services setup in the agreement included spraying or fogging of an EPA registered and approved product; and following the CDC鈥檚 guidelines for hand wiping all touch points, removing all trash and debris, vacuuming all dust up to 6 feet, and cleaning/disinfecting walls and floors.

In addition, when certain materials were initially unavailable through the standard local suppliers, our procurement team鈥檚 ability to source difficult-to-obtain items such as PPE (KN95 and surgical masks, latex gloves) and hand sanitizer/stands was critical to being able to re-open the facilities.

Planning
While the procurement team set up a service agreement, our facilities maintenance (FM) team worked with the emergency cleaning service provider and the client鈥檚 safety, health, and environmental group to review safety data sheets and obtain approval for specific chemicals that would be used in common areas and labs if a COVID-19 cleanup was deemed necessary. The FM team also gathered information from the supplier including available resources in the local area, response time to an event, PPE requirements, cleaning scope of work, special training needed, and much more.

At the request of the client, our FM team developed a report that detailed 鈥淗VAC present status and readiness for COVID-19 challenges. This document evaluated recommendations and guidelines from the CDC, ASHRAE, OSHA, and others. for commercial general use buildings as compared to the actual conditions in the client鈥檚 facilities. Areas evaluated included air changes per hour, occupied mode hours, air handling unit filter MERV ratings, maintenance schedules, humidity, demand-controlled ventilation, and energy recovery devices. Some minor adjustments were made, such as operating building ventilation two hours longer than normal operation, but it was ultimately determined that the building鈥檚 HVAC systems aligned with or exceed the latest recommendations from all major government agencies and technical organizations.

Return-to-work planning was performed in partnership with the client to understand and identify how to prepare facilities for re-occupation. Tasks included:

• Identifying social distancing signage requirements based on room/space type, creating signage designs, and developing signage location floor plans as shown in the example below.
• Identifying hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipe locations.
• Furniture placement adjustments to meet social distancing requirements.
• Discussions about cleaning frequencies and implementing enhanced cleaning protocols (focusing on touchpoints) with our on-site janitorial subcontractor.
• Researching touch-free options and pricing to give the client alternative choices. Some examples are below.

Implementation
Once the planning phase ended and employee-tiered re-opening dates were determined, it was time to implement the strategies developed. Signage was procured and installed throughout the facilities.

Additional supplies of hand sanitizer and wipes were ordered. Hand sanitizer was placed at elevators, main entrances/lobbies, restrooms, pantries, and breakrooms, while disinfectant wipes were placed in conference rooms and at cubicle areas. Furniture was rearranged and/or removed to ensure social distancing and plexiglass installed at the cash registers in the cafeteria.

In addition to standard cleaning services, an enhanced cleaning program now focuses on touchpoints at a minimum of two times per day. We are looking to potentially expand that model by increasing touchpoint frequencies and/or utilizing electrostatic disinfectant sprayers (after hours) in the future.

Looking out for our clients鈥� best interests is what we strive for at 爱神传媒. Whether it鈥檚 through procurement, planning, and implementation, or the efficient use of labor resources, we ensured a healthy and safe work environment making difficult decisions to support our clients during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.

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Today is Data Privacy Day, which takes place every January 28th. This day commemorates the Jan. 28, 1981 signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty addressing privacy and data protection. It is an international effort to bring about increased privacy awareness and education.
Here鈥檚 a joint statement from our Chief Technology Officer, Phil Horvitz and Chief Information Officer, Joe Walker on why Data Privacy, security, and protection is a top priority for 爱神传媒:

Data Privacy Day is an international event established to bring awareness to privacy and data protection concerns in an ever-expanding landscape of digitized information. 爱神传媒 recognizes the importance of raising the visibility of data privacy and is committed to maintaining the data privacy of its employees, business partners, and customers. We do this through a variety of policies, procedures, training and tools that allow us to maintain strict controls over our data and information environments. 爱神传媒 uses a combination of access controls, encryption, and multifactor authentication to protect the data privacy of our employees and customers.

Our goal is to not only provide the necessary policies and controls to assure the privacy and protection of data, but also maintain an ongoing dialogue with our employees and customers, where we inform, listen, and continually adapt to a changing data environment and society. Through these combined efforts, we build trust that the proper data safeguards are in place, data and personal information is properly protected, and in the process, we empower our employees and customers.

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Data Analyst, 爱神传媒鈥檚 Commercial Operations & Maintenance

鈥淚n God we trust, all others must bring data.鈥� 鈥� W. Edwards Deming

Within the Commercial Operations & Maintenance (COM) sector, we provide a wide range of Facility Operations & Maintenance services to help our clients run their business. These services range from janitorial and landscaping services to high-tech robotics maintenance. Now more than ever, it is not enough to simply 鈥榩erform well.鈥� You must show that you perform well. Companies across our industry are constantly being asked to demonstrate the value we bring to our clients. Whether it is reducing the cost of maintenance or increasing asset availability, clients want to see the value you bring to their organization in black and white鈥r in today鈥檚 age, rich and colorful interactive performance dashboards.

When it comes to showing value, data is paramount to driving key business decisions such as staffing levels (at existing sites and also when bidding new business), and forming overall business strategy with regards to finance, growth, marketing and sales. Data-driven decision making helps to remove some of the risk inherently present in nearly all business decisions. By removing the subjective elements from your business decisions and focusing on actual performance or records, you can instill confidence in yourself and your company as a whole. This confidence allows your organization to commit fully to a particular vision or strategy without being overly concerned that the wrong decision has been made.

My job is to find ways to interpret and present raw data. I have been a 鈥榥umbers person鈥� my whole life. Math has always been my favorite subject, by far. I was on the Math Team all 4 years of high school (Illinois State Finalists). I find math somewhat relaxing, perhaps due to the fact it naturally lacks ambiguity. There are rules and facts, and generally one right answer. The challenge is giving the answers a meaning. Like Carly Fiorina once said, 鈥淲e have to be able to turn data into information, and information into insight.鈥� Knowing that superior data analytics is often a differentiator and crucial to the success of our organization, our COM team collaborated with 爱神传媒鈥檚 Advanced Technology Office to enhance our data driven culture and tailor 爱神传媒 Analytics to best fit our needs. 爱神传媒 Analytics, powered by Microsoft Azure and PowerBI can combine large amounts of diverse data and quickly perform complex calculations to populate insightful dashboards. Essentially, turning data into insights automatically.

This provides tremendous value to our current clients. Not only in the metrics we are able to show, but also in the effort we don鈥檛 have to put forth to do so. Since the analytics platform is fully automated and frequently refreshed with new data, we are able to apply our resources and analysts to other value-add activity. 爱神传媒 Analytics is also attractive to potential clients. Our Business Development team often highlights our superior data analytics packages, such as plant layout heatmaps which show areas of increased work order requests with the ability to drill into the details of those requests.

We鈥檝e only scratched the surface of what 爱神传媒 Analytics can do. We are already starting to incorporate various data sources and customized data visualizations to maximize the benefits of this cutting-edge tool. What started as a vision for basic work order performance metrics, will now become a centralized control center for various areas of performance measurement such as safety, finance, and reliability. I am excited about the endless data reporting possibilities this tool provides us and look forward to playing a key role as we turn those possibilities into reality.

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If your company is solely measuring safety performance by injury rates, OSHA citations, worker鈥檚 compensation cost, you are evaluating based on events that have already occurred. These types of measurements are lagging indicators. Certainly, all incidents need to be fully investigated with root cause determination so we can learn from our incidents to prevent reoccurrence. Lagging indicators cannot be ignored and are a critical component to your safety management system. But evaluating these alone is a reactive approach to safety because corrective action cannot be initiated until after the 鈥渂ad鈥� results have occurred.

On the other hand, leading indicators are proactive, preventative, and predictive measures that monitor and provide current information about the performance related to specific activities, and processes of an EHS management system. They drive the identification and elimination or control of risks in the workplace that can cause incidents and injuries. Effective characteristics of a leading indicator include:.

• Objective and easy to measure
• Relevant to your business
• Provides immediate and reliable indications of the level of performance
• Understood and 鈥渙wned鈥� by the group whose performance is being monitored

Taking these considerations into account, one size does not fit all. Leading indicators must be selected based on what works best for your organization. To get started, determine your top priorities, pick a starting point and build from there. The ultimate goal is to equip senior management with the most accurate and up-to-date knowledge in order to increase their awareness, support, and commitment to the leading indicator program. It should promote continuous improvement and must be tied to performance goals at all levels of the organization with accountability in place. Below is an example of a Leading Indicator Dashboard with six performance criteria.

Leading Indicator Descriptions:

• Training: Training requirements are identified down to the job level for all employees with completion tracking, knowledge verification and recertification requirements.
  Audit: A robust auditing process that is aligned with business practices that takes a deep dive into policies, programs and the culture with corrective actions identified and tracked to closure.
• Roadmap: Program requirements sites need to accomplish on a monthly basis to stay compliant.
• Employee Field Reviews and Inspections: Managers or supervisors out in the field performing targeted workplace inspections and employee field reviews while employees are engaged in work activities.
• Safety Walks: Cross-functional workplace inspections targeting different areas of the facility identifying safety issues that are tracked to closure.
• Observation program: Employee engagement with identifying and reporting safety hazards, stop work interventions, near misses, etc.

By focusing on these six leading indicators, we have seen significant improvements in our incident rates and are significantly below the average for most industries.

Realistic goals should be carefully set for each performance category. Setting goals too low will give your company a false sense of security and lead to complacency. Also, goals should be set in a way that drives improvement. For example, if you have an observation program that requires supervision to conduct a certain number of observations per month, are you only measuring if they did the required number of observations or are you also measuring the quality of those observations? If the goal becomes a check-the-box exercise that doesn鈥檛 provide any value to your program, it鈥檚 no more than a pretty color on the dashboard. A quality component needs to be built into your measurements to make sure your program is delivering the results you expect.

Communication is critical — all employees need to be aware of your leading indicator program with feedback conveyed regularly so everyone knows where they stand. When one of the metrics starts to fall below an acceptable level, it should trigger action.

Finally, recognition programs are a main component to a successful program, both for individuals and at the site level. Employees should be recognized for their participation and performance to the established goals. Examples include individual recognition for highly engaged employees in the hazard identification program, Top Sites of the Year for overall leading indicator performance, Top Area, etc.

A robust leading indicator program is an absolute necessity if you want to drive cultural change, sustainability and focus the attention and work on the identification and elimination of risks in the workplace. It is not enough to measure incidents after they occur; to get ahead of the curve, leading indicators can help create a paradigm shift and result in a proactive, predictive safety culture.

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By Vlad Bacalu
SVP, Strategic and Technical Solutions

This month is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. At 爱神传媒, we understand that the digital connections between buyers and sellers, combined with robotic process automation create cybersecurity vulnerabilities and data breaches if not managed properly. For instance, many facility managers and their maintenance teams have been installing sensors and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices in order to be more proactive in their maintenance activities or improve employees鈥� workplace experience. As vast amount of data are transferred between organizations, one can never be certain that their suppliers and vendors have also implemented the same methods.

How Can Organizations Protect Themselves from Cyber Attacks?
Here are some tips that can help with eliminating the risks related to supply chain:

• Training employees and vendors in security best practices
• Developing a risk evaluation methodology and understanding the risks associated with every supply chain process
• Reviewing internal and external security procedures
• Pre-qualifying suppliers that meet the risk management criteria
• Requiring suppliers to follow operating standards for cybersecurity in the supply chain
• Mapping the supply chain and identifying cybersecurity risk exposures

To read the in-depth article originally published by IFMA, click .

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Solutions Architect

The manufacturing industry has become increasingly important to many parts of our economy: it is crucial for our service industries鈥� operation, technological progress and innovation, for the creation of jobs, for economic growth overall and stimulation of other economic activities.

Not only do many services depend on a manufacturing core, but some of them are also, by their nature, related to manufacturing. These include industrial R&D, innovation, product design, and other engineering-related services. At 爱神传媒 we are proud to support mission-critical programs for commercial organizations here and overseas. With an unrivaled record of performance and dedication for ensuring program success, we are the trusted partner to customers that seek exceptional mission delivery in critical industrial, manufacturing, office, data centers, pharmaceutical, life sciences and chemical refinement, government, research and development, logistics and consumer products so clients can focus on their core business.

We could not perform our services without consistently employing the right people who have the best skills for each role. We take pride in hiring, training, and retaining employees serving our clients, specifically in the manufacturing industry, who possess the drive, motivation, and flexibility to grow and to safely perform operations and maintenance services that keep our clients鈥� manufacturing sites running.

In February 2020 our teams embarked on a tough challenge: maintaining facilities while facing the unforeseen circumstances associated with COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic has not just affected millions of lives, but also extensively disrupted businesses across the globe. It also showcased how critical manufacturing activities are to our collective health and well-being. Like many other professionals in various industries, our technicians became front-line workers, risking their lives while ensuring production remained stable.

Since then, our technicians have performed a superb job working hand-in-hand with our clients to re-establish and re-imagine safety practices, evaluate response plans and optimize best practices.

To all our technicians and support staff, we thank you for your unwavering commitment to service!

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爱神传媒 and its legacy companies began an enterprise-wide Integrated Facility Management (IFM) contract 16 years ago with Caterpillar. The results of this partnership have generated over $100M in documented and approved cost savings since the global IFM model was initiated; the initial labor savings and strategic consolidations generated $20 million of savings in the first two years alone.

The sustained programs and strategic management produced year-over-year savings of more than $6 million annually, increasing the initial savings targets 500 percent.

The continuous improvement methodology for savings included reducing general spend on maintenance services, as well as significant savings/world class excellence in project execution, vendor consolidation, decreased asset life-cycle costs, strategic capital planning.

Some of the industry best-practices used by 爱神传媒 to sustain these savings included:
鈥� Stratified technical workforce program
鈥� A metric-driven work management process
鈥� Diligent facility data collection and data analysis
鈥� Reliability-centered maintenance and technology innovation
鈥� Strong collaboration between the client and project investments
鈥� Strategic 鈥榖ottoms-up鈥� commercial cost management
鈥� Vendor consolidation program

爱神传媒 continues to service Caterpillar facilities and production maintenance in their critical facilities across the globe. Recognized as a tier-1 supplier by Caterpillar for 15 straight years, we are proud of the 爱神传媒/Caterpillar partnership. Our team continues to deliver substantial savings, while maintaining excellent customer satisfaction and a world class safety culture.

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