The Joining of Sustainable Workplaces & Work Practices

by Eileen McMorrow

Sustainability, Energy and Water Conservation, Strategic Planning and Work Processes were among the key issues for conference attendees at IFMA’s first Facility Fusion Conference in mid-April.

Among the lessons learned in Philadelphia were that the old coal state, Pennsylvania, has emerged as a model of energy efficiency for the 21st century. Energy Conservation in Government Facilities Management is a daily triumph in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Department of General Services (DGS), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a Guaranteed Energy Savings (GESA) program, which is open to Commonwealth Agencies and Commissions, State aided institutions, counties, municipalities, and K-12 schools, as well as the Commonwealth’s pool of qualified Energy Service Companies (ESCOs).

Todd S. Garrison, CFM, CFMJ, Deputy Secretary for Property and Asset Management, explained some of the directives taken since 2005 to change how state employees/facilities impact the energy programs. Among the directives:

• Restricted personal appliance use;
• Temperature set-points: 67 in heating season, 75 in cooling season;
  
• Discontinued use of incandescent lamps
  
• Calendar year 2006 showed a reduction in consumption by 9.5%
  
• Avoided utility costs $1.6M

The DGS office of energy management has established a Commonwealth Utility Data Base maintaining all DGS facility utility usage. Through facility base lining, current and past usage and efficient usage patterns, the Director of Energy Management’s office is instrumental in establishing utility procurement opportunities including block and index, and a straight index electric pricing.

Pennsylvania actively embraced Energy Star programs. “All DGS buildings can now be uploaded into the Energy Star database. Within one year we will have Energy Star ratings available for all DGS buildings,” says Bruce Stultz is the Director of Energy Management for the Department of General Services (DGS).

According to Stultz, Pennsylvania energy utility usage costs have decreased 11.5 percent. And avoided costs include: utility, operational, capital investments, and deferred maintenance. “All the programs involve the facilities managers and staff in order to define the scope of what is possible,” says Stultz. “They are seeing the connection between procuring and using green procurement; and power purchase agreements.”

Green in Cincinnati

The Green Cincinnati Plan and Cincinnati’s progress toward implementation was presented by Larry Falkin, Director, City of Cincinnati, Office of Environmental Quality, as a case study for how Midwestern Cities move toward sustainability, and green their image. Adopted by Cincinnati City Council in 2008, the Green Cincinnati Plan includes 82 specific recommendations for how to reduce Cincinnati’s CO2 emissions while simultaneously conserving natural resources, reducing emissions of conventional pollutants, saving money, and creating jobs.  

Falkin explained that the goals of the Green Cincinnati Plan are to: Reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions, Improve the Environment & Public Health, Stimulate the Local Economy, Save More money than the city spends, rely on Voluntary Measures, recognize the stakeholders: Business; Government; Non-Profits; Academia; Labor and Residents.

Using Energy Performance Contracts, in Phase I, the city spent $5.6 million in 39 buildings that saves $425,000/year. In Phase 2—$8.7 million spent in 40 buildings saves $650,000/year. Projects include lighting, lighting controls, building controls, HVAC, building envelope, PV Panels. All of it saves approximately 7,000 tons CO2e/year.

Energy Conservation in Cincinnati Public Facilities includes:

• Installing LEDs in Traffic Signals–Cuts Energy 90%;
  
• Constructing New Sludge Incinerator—saves $2 million/year on Natural Gas;
  
• Upgrading hydrogenerators in Drinking Water Pipes—over 2 megawatt output;
  
• Installing Solar PV on 15 Buildings Totaling 500+ Kilowatts
  
• Efforts supported by $1.5 Million in Grant Funding

Water—not everywhere we need it

Looking further into conservation, rainwater harvesting policies were presented by David L. Dunn, CFM, Facilities Project Manager, City of Orlando. Rainwater harvesting is the gathering, or accumulating and storing, of rainwater. Rainwater harvesting has been used to provide drinking water, water for livestock, and water for irrigation or to refill aquifers in a process called groundwater recharge.

Dunn detailed how a building with a rainwater harvesting system will include a collection system, adequate filtration, a holding tank, and a distribution system and has the potential to garner up to seven LEED points. The cost of a small commercial rainwater system starts at $25,000 installed. A large commercial system, collecting 25,000 gallons in a below-ground storage tank, starts at $75,000 installed.

National interest in rainwater harvesting is growing rapidly, as evidenced by active programs in almost all 50 states, whether or not they get a lot of rainfall. States are governing the capture of rainwater and in many Western states, rainwater harvesting by individuals and private companies is heavily restricted where the municipality and state have employed collection systems.

When it comes to rainwater harvesting, Dunn recommends everyone getting in to the decision process and making it clear that every user along the process needs to pay their fair share of the wastewater treatment process. Put agreements in place regarding the volume of water captured. Water shortages are real and managing water is more critical for businesses than in the past, says Dunn.

Aligning capital plans with business goals
With commercial building experiencing a 20% vacancy rate across the U.S., most organizations are considering the triple bottom line when it comes to building management. Everyone is looking for improved HVAC, plumbing, lighting, site irrigation, LEED for EB-OM, value certification and commissioning, according to Elaine Aye, LEED AP, IIDA, principal, Green Building Services, Portland, Oregon.

“For best building performance, education is a critical role. Teach your team members about the purpose of sustainability,” says Aye. “Performance verification tracks the facility’s quality control. You have to determine the areas of the facility you want to focus upon and assign areas and topics for team. What is the intent? To gather building data to verify compliance with building goals in five main categories, will help them understand the work.” Aye explains that tracking is the key to how sustainable sites become that way, for example:

• Low-impact site management is used to assess chemical use via log;
• Transportation management: survey how employees get to work and implement bicycle programs with rewards.
• Stormwater Management: Keep a log an know what happens when it rains;
• Heat Island Reduction: walk the roof and realize that white roofs get dirty and need cleaning to maintain their efficiency.
• Energy & Atmosphere Tracking: Keep a refrigerant-use log; audit the systems.
• Energy Performance Measurement: Have an energy standards policy.
• Metering, Monitoring & Management: Use Energy Audit Approaches such as ASHRAE Level 1 or Level 2.

Team Work: How to manage the great disbursed

Distributed Work, something we are all doing when work is spread among teams in variable locations at varying times, had an in-depth hearing at Facility Fusion. In IFMA’s latest report, Distributed Work, Research Report #31, IFMA focuses on corporate facilities. The publication includes the results from nearly 1,000 surveys regarding distributed work practices completed by IFMA members.

Presenters Angie Earlywine, LEED® AP, Senior Workplace Strategist, HOK, and Joel Ratekin, IIDA President, Ratekin Consulting, explained how the ten companies included in the case studies cited cost efficiency, collaboration, productivity and workplace image as their main drivers for their distributed work program. Research reported from survey respondents indicated growth without growth, flexibility, company growth or shrinkage and cost savings are their program drivers.

Key study findings measured Distributed Work Appeal by Age Range. Research findings conclude that the younger the worker the more appealing distributed work options are to them. In fact, IFMA’s research shows that distributed work strongly appeals to 71% of those fewer than 30 years of age and strongly appeals to 48% of those ages 30-39, whereas only 15% of those over 50 feel that distributed work is appealing. Imagine what the workplace will look like in 10 years when those in their thirties now, move into upper management leadership positions.

As for off-site work options and operating costs, almost half (48%) of respondents indicated that provisions of services to off-site workers had no effect on overall costs and about a third (32%) indicated that overall costs decreased somewhat. Nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents indicated that their rent/lease/property costs decreased somewhat. Costs were generally unaffected for categories such as worker salaries/benefits and regulatory compliance.

The Distributed Work Report is available at www.ifma.org

As it turns out, Philadelphia is a suitable city for any green-oriented conference where planning and conservation are among the themes. Mayor Michael A. Nutter, who is committed to developing one of the greenest cities in America, addressed the facilities managers on the second day and made it clear that his Greenworks Philadelphia program is essential to the city’s economic future. Greenworks Philadelphia builds upon the work of the 2007 Local Action Plan for Climate Change that was produced by the Sustainability Working Group, a task force of more than 50 municipal employees. Many of the proposed efforts are already underway and described in Greenworks Philadelphia, that anyone can download online. It also incorporates the goals of GreenPlan, the City’s soon-to-be-adopted open space plan. And IFMA is committed to being a partner with Philadelphia by committing its 2013 World Workplace to this Sustainable City of Brotherly Love.