By making improvements to building systems, your buildings work more efficiently - which means saving money and reducing emissions. The heating season marks the time for higher operating costs in the Northeast. Building owners need to begin to look at their heating usage charts. Electrical costs are rarely associated with the heating season. During the heating season, electrical costs rise to be 30% higher than baseload usage and 50% of total demand. These increases are caused by the production of heat and hot water. A great way to begin to lessen the load is to begin to track when equipment is being turned on/off and the duration of its operation. This can be done by installing a Building Management System (BMS) or data logger. BMS can control a whole building through a computer. A great way to learn more about buildings efficiency is to install one of these systems and begin to focus on equipment operation. Data loggers are much cheaper than a whole BMS. A data logger records information on what is important to the user, whether it is temperature, power usage or the amount of times a piece of equipment turns on and off. Data loggers and BMS systems are important pieces of equipment every building owner should look into. Mark Bourbeau is the owner of GreenCents Solutions, Pelham, N.Y.