Cost benefits further accelerate, as the ERC's experience demonstrates, when energy efficiency considerations are applied over the expected facility's life. The ERC system is part of a larger company-wide system at Southern California Gas Company that links most of the gas utility's major facilities. A record of the original operating parameters for each piece of equipment has been established and carefully monitored by staff. When maintenance staff changes are made, a transition period is built in to accommodate complete training of the new technicians. When the facility's final control strategy was established, all maintenance staff were briefed on the strategy and the maintenance of the desired control sequences.
Ongoing training is done on an as-needed basis.
For example, the chief maintenance technician completed a recent energy auditing seminar provided by the Association of Energy Engineers. ERC office and food service materials amount to two tons monthly. Overall, the ERC has a preventive maintenance schedule with a computerized maintenance management system. It establishes computerized maintenance job plans on a weekly, monthly, semi-annual and annual basis. The weekly inspections are mostly quick visual checks, with the monthly, semi-annual and annual jobs being more comprehensive, involving filter and drain pan changes and the cleaning of coils, etc.