Bird control is a method of deterring birds from landing, roosting, and nesting in and around a building. In less extreme examples, birds in buildings can impede the productivity of workers and create additional building maintenance and cleaning challenges. In more extreme cases, they can damage capital equipment and create significant safety hazards. Fortunately, there is an entire industry in existence which offers various products and techniques for the control of birds, including bird spikes, bird shock tracks, netting, fragrances, wire arrays, and bundled wire stands, among others.

Cash for Caulkers, officially titled “HOMESTAR,” is designed to entice Americans to make energy efficient upgrades to their home. Just as Cash for Clunkers increased auto sales by offering tax rebates to Americans who exchanged their inefficient cars for more fuel-friendly models, the Cash for Caulkers program hopes to boost the demand for building products by offering point-of-sale tax rebates for energy efficient upgrades such as insulation. Cash for Caulkers also aims to create jobs through installation services, reduce household energy costs by hundreds of dollars a year, and reduce the nation’s dependency on oil.

Sound masking technologies broadcast a consistent, comfortable, and unobtrusive background sound within a work space for the purpose of facilitating speech privacy. They prevent the transmission of speech beyond its intended local audience by carefully raising the level of ambient background noise within a building; often sound masking equipment is installed in an office, classroom, or meeting area.

I had the pleasure of attending the 10^th annual National Facilities Management & Technology (NFMT) conference in Baltimore, Md. on March 16^th and 17^th. It was a great experience to reconnect with colleagues and get a sense for what Facilities Management consultants and professionals are offering and focused on these days. A few topics that grabbed my interest and which I plan to write about are centralized management of emergency egress lighting, bird control, water storage tanks, new technologies in the pavement industry, coordinated campus-wide synchronizing of clocks, diagnostic air metering, variable load air-conditioning systems, and sound-masking.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a by-product of human respiration. Each time we exhale, CO₂ is released into the atmosphere around us.  Currently, CO₂ sensors can be used to automatically control ventilation systems in buildings equipped with Building Automation Systems (BAS). This is referred to as Demand Control Ventilation (DCV).

The NCAA Basketball Tournament begins this weekend; some call this the best sporting weekend of year (a sentiment this sports junkie completely agrees with). But what does basketball have to do with the On Site channel? The University of Louisville’s new downtown arena! Not only are Cardinal fans eager for March Madness to begin, but they are also anxiously awaiting the completion of their basketball team's new home.

Passive solar is a green concept after my own heart because its principles reduce energy consumption without adding additional cost to a project. Of course, if a building is not originally designed to capture the sun's heat by day, store it, and release it at night, then active technologies must be used to help offset our consumption of natural resources. Thankfully, photovoltaic solar panels are much more effective and, frankly, more useable than they were even 10 years ago.