Each year hundreds of people work their way through the Building Operator Certification (BOC) training. Amongst those students, one earned the esteemed title of 2023 BOC Operator of the Year: Malachi Rein, Director of the Building Energy Exchange St. Louis!
The Smart Building Center (SBC) and BOC take nominations every year for former students from across the country who are using their education to its fullest extent, improving energy efficiency as well as the way their work environment operates. Malachi is an incredible example of this and is beyond deserving of this award!
In his role, Malachi works to provide resources and build pipelines for projects that help buildings serve their purpose better. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that commercial buildings account for 35% of electricity consumed in the United States, thus the importance of educating those who operate these buildings on energy efficiency cannot be overlooked. Malachi considers his time in the BOC program “an extension of [his] love of collaboration and the empowerment of facilities and operations staff.” In conversation, he often highlights the importance of investing in facilities and operations staff. Empowering those responsible for managing a building’s energy use and operations is the first step towards a future of more energy efficient buildings. Malachi noted that “If we invest in them, they can, and do, have the positioning to reduce operational burdens on organizations and improve energy efficiency while making spaces more healthy, comfortable, and productive.”
Malachi notes that Building Operators are those “…closest to operational inefficiencies and building systems.” Nearly all buildings in the U.S. can make improvements in the way they use energy. These improvements can lead to lower operational costs for the building owner’s benefit, healthier indoor environmental quality that benefits the buildings’ inhabitants and more efficient energy use that benefits the environment and the country. Since taking the BOC training, Malachi and his fellow BOC students have contributed to these improvements. Reduction of energy costs, improved inhabitant health and comfort and environmental health are all benefits that coincide with educating our building operators and facility management teams.
Malachi is passionate about many topics covered in the BOC curriculum. He hopes more people will find success through the program and hopes they will use the energy efficient practices they learn to enhance their workplace, themselves and those around them. Malachi found value in BOC for its focus on sharpening the skills of building operators and adding the topic of energy efficiency to the thoughts of both himself and others doing the work. Malachi is a wonderful example of what it means to be a graduate of the BOC curriculum and continues to encourage us all to invest in our building operators because, in Malachi’s own words, “Honestly, we can’t do it without them!”
Contact Tanner Davies to learn more about Building Operator Certification training.