How to Capture Building Performance Gains without Capital Expenditure

Increasingly, facilities departments in today’s commercial buildings are being asked to do more with less. Faced with shrinking budgets, facility managers must find ways to drive performance improvements without driving up costs. This often puts large-scale retrofits and costly equipment replacements out of reach.

The good news is: facilities departments don’t have to expend significant capital or wait months to see measurable performance gains. By focusing on operational adjustments, preventive maintenance, better usage of existing analytics, a prioritized approach to alarm management, and smarter lighting, you’ll have a simplified path to improving performance without breaking your capital budget.

To help you get started, we’ve identified five areas of low-hanging fruit that provide quick and cost-effective ways to capture performance gains.

1. Fine-Tune Your Setpoints and Schedules

Building systems can shift over time. For example, an HVAC system that is temporarily set to accommodate a one-off event may end up running on the same schedule for months, racking up unnecessary costs. Data indicates that HVAC consumes about 40%-60% of a building’s total energy usage, and about 15%-30% of that is avoidable waste.¹ What’s more, overspending from inefficient heating and cooling represents around 6%-18% of the total energy costs in a typical commercial building.¹

A simple review of setpoints for temperature, humidity, airflow, and timing schedules can uncover hidden savings opportunities related to energy consumption. Here’s a good place to start:

• Make sure temperature setpoints are aligned with occupancy and comfort needs.
• Check to see if operating schedules have been updated since the last major BAS upgrade.
• Verify that warm-up and cool-down periods are set for the optimal times of day.
• Widen the deadband between heating and cooling setpoints to prevent short cycling.
• Use optimal stops to shut down early, in cases where thermal mass can hold comfort post-occupancy. 
• Program thermostats weekly to customize settings for varying occupancy patterns across zones or days.
• Track bills and logs for one to two weeks, tweaking for improved savings. Afterward, perform periodically especially during different seasons.

This handful of adjustments by mere degrees or minutes can translate into thousands of dollars in annual savings. Your BAS may even be able to automate this optimization to respond in real-time to fluctuating occupancy and weather conditions.

2. Clean Your Systems and System Components

Simple preventive maintenance can go a long way toward reducing costs and prolonging the working life of your systems, equipment, and components. Data shows that facilities which perform regular preventative maintenance, including cleaning of equipment and components, can extend equipment life by 20%, reduce maintenance costs by 12%-25%, and see a 143% ROI within the first year.²

The U.S. Energy Department estimates that a dirty condenser coil, for example, can increase compressor energy consumption by around 30%.³  Removing dust, debris, and residue from system components can increase operational efficiency as well as extend working life, delaying the need for costly replacements. Simple routine interventions like cleaning fan coils and filters and flushing heat exchangers can improve airflow, reduce pressure drops, and minimize energy consumption. Start with these tasks:

• Vacuum fan coils and air handling units to reduce debris that causes resistance.
• Replace or wash filters to ensure proper performance.
• Inspect condenser and evaporator coils for dust and corrosion and replace or clean as needed.
• Check drain pans and pumps to prevent leaks and accumulation of matter.
• Inspect and clean the blower assembly including fan blades and housing to eliminate dust.
• Clean ductwork interiors to reduce contaminants and improve airflow.
• Remove debris around outdoor units.
• Lubricate moving parts to minimize friction.
• Dust sensors and verify calibration for accurate temperature control.
• Blow out computers regularly.

3. Leverage Building Analytics to Find Cost Centers

Chances are, your building systems, applications, and BAS are already capturing a wealth of data that can reveal your top cost centers so you can address them. One study covering 6,500 buildings found that facilities using analytics yielded 3%-9% savings with a two-year payback.⁴  The best part: you don’t have to invest in any major new equipment to capture and leverage this data.

Start by reviewing your baseline utility data (electricity, gas, water) against key operational parameters to reveal surprising peaks and reoccurring inefficiencies. Even a week’s worth of trend logs can expose patterns and repeat issues such as simultaneous heating and cooling, misaligned schedules, or unneeded equipment cycling. Chances are, you may find that only a handful of systems account for most of the wasted dollars.

For example, the data may show you that a nightly chiller operation is being triggered by cleaning crews, which ends up resetting thermostats during late shifts. By adjusting the cleaning schedule and employing occupancy-based controls, you could end up saving significant money each quarter without spending a dime on new equipment.

4. Prioritize Alarms for Faster Remediation

In an industry survey conducted with facility managers, respondents said they receive an average of 12.5 alarms a day, with more than 50% of them receiving up to 30 alarms daily.⁵ When your staff is busy responding to multiple alarms—including nuisance, false, and non-critical alarms—they’re not spending time on more important functions that support building performance.

On the other hand, responding promptly and appropriately to critical alarms is paramount to operational performance and the bottom line. A recent global report indicates that unplanned downtime costs commercial businesses a minimum of $10,000 per hour, with 76% estimating an hourly cost of up to $500,000.⁶ With a strategic approach to alarm management, you can reduce the resource drain of nuisance and non-critical alarms, while protecting your facilities from the high cost of operational disruptions.

Begin by conducting a thorough alarm audit to identify and categorize which alerts should be quickly addressed and remediated, and which are false positives or non-critical. Look for repeating alarms that don’t indicate any actual system impact, outdated thresholds or sensor calibrations, and alarms that are triggered by routine fluctuations that don’t affect building system performance or occupant comfort.

Then establish a notification tree that immediately alerts the right person to respond when a critical alarm is triggered, requires notification, and escalates the alert if no response is received. Start collecting and analyzing alarm data as well so you can identify patterns, see which alarms are truly critical and have the greatest impact on performance, and continually improve your alarm management approach.

5. Illuminate the Savings in Your Lighting Systems

Lighting accounts for around 17% of electricity consumption in U.S. commercial buildings in the U.S., only second to HVAC.⁷ Lighting systems also present one of the most effective ways to reduce costs while improving performance. With longer lifespans and less energy usage, switching to LED lighting alone can result in upwards of 75% in energy savings for a commercial building — reducing energy bills as well as maintenance tasks.⁸

Beyond replacing fixtures, there are a number of relatively simple improvements you can make to your lighting systems to drive performance gains without incurring big capital expenses. By integrating your lighting controls with your BAS and/or occupancy sensors, you can uncover additional opportunities for savings, such as:

• Having lights automatically shut off when rooms and zones are unoccupied.
• Adjusting artificial light based on daylight levels.
• Aligning light activation with business hours and cleaning shifts.
• Allowing for zoning and dimming for partial occupancy and energy-saving efforts.
• Identifying occupancy patterns from sensors to refine time-of-day lighting schedules such as earlier shutoff in low-use areas.

Small Changes Make for Big Gains

You don’t need to implement expensive and lengthy large-scale retrofits or purchase new equipment to achieve performance gains. Sometimes improving performance comes down to having your facilities department focus on the basics. What’s more, by improving operational performance, you’ll be building a strong case for future investments. When building stakeholders see clear ROI from cost-effective operational changes, they’ll be more likely to approve bigger changes (and bigger budgets) down the road.

For more tips on how to see performance gains without the prohibitive costs, reach out to Albireo Energy today. We’ll help you do more with the assets you already have.

1. “Building codes, energy regulations, and rising operating costs are encouraging building developers to upgrade existing HVAC infrastructure to Smart HVAC equipment.” ABI Research. October 3, 2024.

2. “Calculating Savings with Predictive Maintenance.” Phoenix Strategy Group. November 28, 2025.

3. “The impact of air handling unit cleaning on HVAC electricity consumption and system performance.” Nouman Ahmed et al. Energy and Buildings. Volume 353. 2026.

4. “Proving the business case for building analytics.” Hannah Kramer et al. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. October 2020.

5. “Preventing BMS alarm fatigue for improved efficiency.” Antonious Mickaeal. CIM. June 28, 2023.

6. “Industrial downtime costs up to $500,000 per hour and can happen every week.” ABB. October 14, 2025.

7. “How much electricity is used for lighting in the United States?” U.S. Energy Information Administration. March 15, 2024.

8. “LED lighting.”  U.S. Department of Energy.