The First Facility Management Blog

The second day of Green By Design 2 in Grand Rapids, MI featured another round of interesting and informative sessions. (To read my observations about the first day of the event, see previous posting, “A day of sustainable ideas.”)

Sponsored by the Wege Foundation, Steelcase, and Grand Rapids Community College, Green By Design focused on ways for companies to develop, manufacture, and distribute “eco-effective” products and services. But some of the sessions on this closing day of the event delved a bit deeper into the urgent need to ease the demand on our earth.

I was fortunate to attend a discussion led by William McDonough, the renowned architect who considers in each of his projects the impact on the planet. McDonough spoke eloquently on the concept of Cradle to Cradle design (the use of materials with characteristics that enable them to be perptually circulated in a “closed loop” cycle). Among the highlights of this freeflowing discussion was the assertion that our “solar income” has the potential to provide all the energy we humans require. We just need to harness it. McDonough also discussed toxic materials (such as cadmium) that, depending upon their application and handling/reclaiming, do not necessarily need to pose a deadly threat to our environment. Design and intent are key.

In the latter part of the morning, attendees gathered to hear Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speak about the state of our environment and what is and is not being done about it. Mr. Kennedy, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, gave some disturbing examples of the damage already done to our national resources (including the fact that 500 of the 2,800 lakes and pools in the Adirondack Mountains have been rendered sterile by acid rain).

Pollution sources run the gamut from huge fossil fueled power plants to products with material composition that precludes them from being reclaimed for another use at the end of their useful life. It is heartening to know that there are alternatives that exist; to be part of the solution, we need to seek them out and incorporate them into our own strategies.

More than 300 experts recently spent three days in Belfast, Northern Ireland talking about toilets.

According to a Reuters report,

A lot was achieved, including the finalization of a protocol setting out global standards for the provision and hygiene of public toilets, says Raymond Martin, director of the Irish Toilet Association.

Another highlight was…the unveiling of Belfast’s first public UriLift toilet, a stainless steel urinal that rises hydraulically out of the ground at night to facilitate male revelers.

In terms of public toilet excellence, it was generally agreed that Singapore was a model for the rest of the world.

Martin said that with hundreds of toilet experts gathered in one place lavatorial humor was unavoidable.

“But what you actually find is that when the punning and joking is over people actually take toilets very seriously. It’s a subject that’s close to everyone’s heart.”

At last week’s FEBRAVA 2005 Trade Show in San Paolo, Brazil, James Wolf and Jeff Moe, global environmental policy executives for Trane, each delivered a presentation on the topic of “Global Warming and Energy Conservation.” The international show and exhibition receives approximately 24,000 participants annually from the refrigeration, HVAC and air treatment industries.

Wolf, vice president and chairman of Trane’s Environmental Policy Council, and Moe, Trane program director for environmental policy, shared their perspectives on the role that heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) technologies could play in meeting environmental priorities. Specifically, their presentations reviewed the following subjects:
•Global environmental priorities including global warming and ozone depletion, and a thorough overview of the environmental implications of various HVAC technologies.
•Sources of global warming, the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change, and updates on the status of global environmental regulations.
•Kyoto Protocol implementation timetables and greenhouse gas target reductions by various countries.
•Potential global warming and ozone depletion impacts of every major refrigerant used by the HVAC industry. His insight provided attendees with an overview of how refrigerants such as HCFC-123, integrated with state-of-the-art HVAC technology from Trane, enable cooling systems to operate with significantly less energy usage and impact on the ozone layer and global warming.

“The ‘green building’ trend in Brazil and other regions provides great opportunities for environmentally responsible companies, like Trane, to assist customers in lowering emissions, improving energy efficiency and reducing the threat of global warming,” Wolf said.

(This post was revised by HeidiTFM on 9/29/05)

Interesting article posting online…

TFM Managing Editor Anne Vazquez reports from the road.

I had a busy and enjoyable day today in Grand Rapids, MI attending Green By Design 2, a symposium focusing on innovative ways for companies to develop, manufacture, and distribute “eco-effective” products and services. This is being sponsored by the Wege Foundation, Steelcase, and Grand Rapids Community College.

The day was jam packed with events, including a speech by Tom Chappell, co-founder of Tom’s of Maine, which produces personal products (such as toothpaste and body wash) that use all natural ingredients. Tom explained how he and his wife, Kate, have been able to build a successful business while staying true to their values of being environmentally and socially responsible.

Next up was Stuart Hart, PhD., a professor of management at Johnson School, Cornell University. In his talk, Hart took on the arduous task of addressing “What does sustainability really mean?” As he aptly pointed out, it can mean different things to different people, depending on who you are. For instance, facilities management is most interested in things like efficiency of operations and reducing waste, while a CEO may be focused on developing products and processes that make the company a sustainable player in the marketplace. It was interesting to see the vast reach of the concept of sustainability–often within just one organization.

Hart also addressed clean energy technologies and how their market share might be increased significantly; one observation was that solar energy and others might find vast growth potential in undeveloped countries first, rather than in developed areas such as the United States or in western Europe. From there the market demand would blossom as a result of proven widespread installations in these regions. Sort of a bottom-up theory.

A seminar later in the day addressed “Greening the Building” which discussed various strategies to lessen the impact of buildings, as well as some updates on the U.S. Green Building Council LEED programs. A LEED Neighborhood Development program, which will address urban sprawl and other development issues, is currently in the preliminary stage with comments being accepted until October 27.

The last seminar I attended was titled, “Sustainable Product Design: Traps, Trade-Offs, and Triumphs.” In addition to a discussion of how product designers are in a position to effect change with their visions, the instructor also talked about how green products may not always be what they seem (the trap), or it may have great sustainable benefits–at the expense of another feature (the trade-off). And then there are those products that have it all (the triumph).

Tomorrow is another busy day. I’ll report back then….

Underfloor air distribution systems provide potential immediate and long-term cost savings for facility managers when compared to traditional overhead systems, including lower energy, remodeling, and installation costs, according to Troy, MI-based engineering firm Peter Basso Associates. These systems, which have been used for years in Europe, are gaining popularity in North America as their potential benefits are recognized.

Underfloor air distribution systems use the space below a raised access floor to transport supply air for space conditioning. This accessible underfloor area is also used to accommodate power and telecommunication cabling.

These systems offer potential cost savings over traditional overhead air distribution systems, including lower upfront costs for installation of wiring and cabling, energy savings related to the HVAC system, and lower reconfiguration costs. Other benefits are improved air quality, added flexibility for layout changes, heightened occupant comfort, faster installation, and a potential reduction in building height.

Dennis P. Sczomak, PE, LEED AP, vice president at Peter Basso Associates says, “People traditionally associate underfloor air distribution with computer rooms and data warehousing centers. However, these systems are increasingly being used in office buildings— a natural progression considering the amount of cabling infrastructure in today’s modern office environment. For many facility managers, underfloor air distribution systems are the optimal choice, especially if the facility has intense electrical and telecommunication needs or demands a flexible working space.”

Sczomak offers the following advice to facility managers who may be considering underfloor air distribution:
•Make a realistic assessment of the churn rate. With a major benefit being the adaptability to changes in layout, underfloor air distribution systems are optimal for office spaces with high churn rates. “Offices with the need for a flexible work space will most benefit from the easy access to equipment and power and telecommunications infrastructure that underfloor systems offer. A facility with these needs will achieve greater savings in terms of remodeling and reconfiguration costs. Those with infrequent layout changes will not reap these benefits to the same degree,” says Sczomak. Owners should assess their anticipated churn rate, evaluate the requirements for the space, and consider the first costs and the projected return rates when selecting an air distribution system.
•Evaluate and select the optimal system early on. The decision to use an underfloor air distribution system must be made very early in the design stages of a project because of the impact it has on other building features and functions. “An underfloor air distribution system affects all other building systems either directly or indirectly, including power, cabling, and architectural design. Changing from traditional to underfloor air distribution late in a project is tremendously difficult and necessitates significant redesign,” adds Sczomak. Further, this decision impacts building construction from a phasing standpoint and will impact how work is sequenced. Consequently, it is imperative that the air distribution system be established at the beginning of a project.
•Partner with designers experienced in underfloor air systems. While becoming more common, underfloor air distribution is relatively rare in the United States, and design standards are still evolving. Consequently, it’s important to work with a designer that has experience with these systems. Sczomak adds, “If designed or installed improperly, these systems lose their effectiveness and negate the benefits they are meant to achieve.”

Airborne emissions from indoor materials and furnishings have the potential to release harmful or odorous volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) into indoor spaces. In fact, most individual products may release up to hundreds of individual VOCs such as toluene, benzene, and formaldehyde.

One of the most common approaches to minimizing the effect of these emissions is to use low emitting products or those that will contribute minimal pollution to the air. This technique, called “source control,” is an effective construction and interior design strategy for ensuring healthy indoor environments.

However, in many cases, products are not used alone, but in combination with other materials; for example, paint on wallboard, fabric glued on foam cushioned furniture, adhesives on sub flooring and beneath carpet or hard surfaces, laminates on cabinets made of particleboard and adhered with glues, and roofing systems.

The emissions from these products in application may vary from what is found when they are simply tested alone. Sometimes emissions may be reduced and yet, in some situations, new chemicals can be released resulting from interactions among the products. Many professionals want to know how the products will behave in real applications, because it more realistically measures what will happen in the building once installed.

Air Quality Sciences, Inc. has developed a series of new techniques that allow product assemblies to be tested in controlled environmental chambers. Measurements can be made to evaluate various options for installation and construction so that the full building impact can be measured. This is beneficial to professionals who care about bottom line performance and whether or not an installed material is safe.

According to Dr. Marilyn Black, Chief Scientist of AQS, “Product manufacturers also want to know the impact of installation on their product’s performance. In many cases, this leads them to develop preferred installation techniques and warranty definitions.”

Here’s another online exclusive, courtesy of FacilityBlog.
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The ISO 14001 Environmental Management System:
Helping Businesses Become More Environmentally Responsible
By Ralph Vasquez and Robert L. Westly, P.G.

As the first decade of the 21st century unfolds, businesses nationwide are making concerted efforts to be environmentally responsible, proactively going beyond standard due diligence assessment and environmental law compliance. Organizations spanning a vast range of business and industry are implementing an environmental management system (EMS) to plan and perform activities that improve their environmental performance.

Whether it be manufacturing and industrial operations, electronic suppliers, automotive companies, military bases, defense contractors, waste management companies, landfills, or municipalities, organizations are preparing rather than simply reacting to environmental problems or notices of violation from their local environmental regulators. They are using ISO 14001 or similar business management systems to gain control of their interaction with the environment.

Yet, ISO 14001 is by no means a household term. While the general scope and purpose of ISO 14001 is becoming better understood among the general business community, organizations may be unsure of where to start or what steps to take to implement an ISO 14001 EMS. Often organizations focus on becoming “certified” to ISO 14001 without understanding what it means, relative to their desire to implement an effective EMS, or understanding the advantages that ISO 14001 certification can yield for the environment and for their business bottom lines.

What is ISO 14001?
Developed during the early 1990s and published in its original version in 1996, ISO 14001 is the EMS specification standard in a family of international voluntary guidance standards developed and maintained by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization. These are called the ISO 14000 family of environmental management systems standards and are numbered beginning with ISO 14001, titled “Environmental management systems - Requirements with guidance for use.” ISO 14001 recently was revised by ISO to include a stronger focus on demonstrating environmental compliance. The new standard is properly referred to as ISO 14001-2004.

Other ISO 14000 standards provide guidance regarding the auditing process, environmental assessment of sites and organizations (EASO), environmental labels and declarations (Types I, II, III), life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental performance evaluation (EPE), and other supporting documents.

As a specification standard, ISO 14001 can be used as an audit tool to specify the elements that must be in present for an EMS to be complete, and evaluate whether an organization has an effective EMS in place.

ISO 14001 helps businesses to develop and implement their own unique environmental management systems. Each organization sets its own policies, determines its own objectives and targets, and defines its own procedures. The goal of an EMS is to then help meet the organization¹s policy and objectives. ISO 14001 directs what elements need to be in place. However, each organization decides exactly how to define and implement those elements.

In essence, the ISO 14001 standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to:
1. Implement and maintain an effective environmental management system (EMS);
2. Be assured of its EMS conformance with its own stated environmental policy and objectives;
3. Ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations; and
4. Demonstrate conformance to an internationally accepted EMS system, whether by third-party certification or self declaration.

Benefits Of An ISO 14001 EMS
SCS Engineers conducted a survey of several companies, regarding benefits it observed from implementing its own ISO 14001 EMSs. The organizations ranged from local to national firms in electronics, national defense, process equipment manufacturing, and the metal refining industries.

The following benefits were described: cost savings, increased customer base, improved environmental training, reduced insurance premiums, positive community relations, environmental awards, increased recycling and reuse, reduced non-compliance fines, and establishing a competitive edge. These benefits and others can apply to all organizations that develop and implement an ISO 14001 EMS.

Developing An Effective EMS
An EMS is basically a business management system of connected elements that define how an organization assesses its environmental aspects and manages its environmental impacts. These elements include policies, procedures, goals and objectives, organizational structure, and defined processes. In order to be effective, all of these various elements must work together cohesively and be a part of the overall business management system. Most organizations already have some of these elements in place, but often they are not joined in a cohesive system.

ISO 14001 states that a comprehensive EMS must include the following elements or activities:
•An established environmental policy that can be communicated effectively.
•Environmental objectives and implementation plans for meeting those objectives.
•Evaluation of environmental aspects and impacts.
•Identification of regulatory requirements and evaluation of compliance with those requirements.
•Well-defined roles and responsibilities.
•Standards for any necessary training.
•Documentation of processes that affect environmental impacts.
•Control parameters that affect environmental impacts.
•Evaluation of which suppliers’ goods and services affect environmental impacts.
•Action plans for emergency situations.
•Monitoring and measurement of critical environmental parameters.
•Specific guidelines on how to initiate corrective actions when problems occur.
•Ongoing maintenance of environmental records.
•Auditing procedures for the EMS to ensure it is effective, suitable, and adequate for the organization.

EMS Implementation
The best approach for most companies is to begin by comparing the organization¹s current environmental activities against the requirements of ISO 14001, otherwise called a “gap” analysis. This allows the organization to discover areas of environmental activity that need to be improved or implemented based on the components of ISO 14001. The organization can then work to address these areas and bring their environmental activities up to the level required by ISO 14001.

Initially, this will allow for self-declared conformance to ISO 14001. Later, if third-party registration seems either necessary or desirable, systems will be functioning at optimum levels and simply will need to be audited by an accredited registrar to accomplish certification. Following are a few recommended steps to begin the process:
1. Get more information. Obtain copies of ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 (the EMS guidance standard) from ISO or the American National Standards Institute. Seek out ISO 14001 information and expertise within your own company and from well-regarded experts.
2. Conduct a gap analysis. Compare your current systems against the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard. Use internal or external resources who fully understand the flexibility and interpretation of the standard and are familiar with the types of systems you already have in place.
3. Form a plan to improve. Based on your gap analysis, determine what elements of your current systems will need improvement in order to meet the requirements of ISO 14001. At the same time, consider how existing systems can be streamlined or integrated for improved productivity.
4. Conduct an internal audit prior to the certification audit. This may entail putting together a project matrix and a GNATT chart, which outlines “how to” steps for approaching the official certification audit. It may be helpful to seek guidance in development of any necessary documents from an environmental consultant who is well versed in the ISO 14001 standard as well as EMS development and implementation.

As the business community continues to gravitate toward practices that are more environmentally responsible, ISO 14001 certification eventually will shift from a touted and prestigious achievement of select businesses, to a standard form of diligence. Therefore, it will prove beneficial to take a closer look at how your business operates now to determine what may need to be implemented for the future.

Vasquez is a senior regulatory compliance specialist and head of the Storm Water Compliance Group at environmental consulting firm Environmental Business Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of SCS Engineers. Bob Westly is EMS Services Director for SCS Engineers. He can be contacted at rwestly@scsengineers.

According to a report by Homeland Security Research Corporation, which was released on Friday, September 23, the cumulative Homeland Security & Homeland Defense Global Market (HLS-HLD) market–totaling $400B during the 2006-2010 period–will be more than three times larger than the cumulative market of $130B during the 2001-2005 period.
Further, the next five years will be characterized by:
•An energized focus on Intelligence and WMD mitigation;
•A greater reliance on the private sector; and
•The emergence of new market leaders.
The graphs and table above provide some points for comparison between the two periods.

Market 2001 - 2005 vs. 2006 - 2010
Size. This period was characterized by tremendous growth in the Homeland Security market, where a market of $7B in 2001 ballooned to $46.2B in 2005 - a cumulative spending of $130B in that time period. This period will mark the end of the beginning of the building of an effective HLS infrastructure. The recently restated DHS strategy, in addition to the tragic events that resulted from Hurricane Katrina, will provide for a more systematic building of the national HLS infrastructure with a much greater reliance on the private sector. HSRC forecasts that this will lead to a cumulative 2006 - 2010 global HLS market of over $400B.
Trends. Much of the funding that reached private hands was spent on vintage off-the-shelf products and services. Most of the U.S. Homeland Security will be focused on the mitigation and containment of catastrophic terror attacks. The ramifications of this policy change are that in addition to wide scale attacks using conventional weapons (e.g. 9/11), WMD mitigation will be provided with resources and budgets that in the past were allocated towards “small-scale” attacks. The responsibility for these “small- scale” attacks will now shift to the state and local level.
Leadership. No significant market leadership established. This period will determine market leadership in several HLS sectors.

More details regarding this research are available.

Disaster Kleenup International has responded in force to the emergency response challenges created by Hurricane Rita. Before Rita landed, DKI members located in Texas were preparing for Rita’s assault. Water removal and drying equipment were moved into mobile trailers, commercial structures were secured where DKI had pre-disaster plans in place, and contingency resource plans were put into action.

DKI catastrophe response teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Minnesota, Tennessee, Maryland, California, Florida, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, along with DKI Corporate staff, were already in the affected Gulf Coast area assisting with the restoration of the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, hitting only weeks ago. These teams, along with other DKI catastrophe teams across the nation, await word from DKI’s central command post in Chicago to be dispatched to the areas most affected by Rita.

All told, more than 20,000 pieces of portable equipment, including air movers, dehumidifers, generators, and portable extraction units are currently in place in the hurricane ravaged areas. And more is on the way as another group of DKI catastrophe response teams is waiting to see where they can best lend assistance before mobilizing their resources. It is expected that within a month over 40 DKI companies from around the country will be in the Gulf Coast area aiding their fellow members and the property owners affected by both storms.

“The response of DKI’s members to the immediate impact of Hurricane Rita and the recovery of Hurricane Katrina has been both overwhelming and typical,” said Dale Sailer, president of Disaster Kleenup International. “Our member contractors prepare and train all year to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to losses, regardless of size, and this is clearly one of the most devastating and costly hurricane seasons in a long time, perhaps ever. Our ability to respond in the manner we have will enable families and businesses to begin the process of getting their lives back to normal as fast as humanly possible and minimize the financial impact of their loss. After all, that’s why most of our contractors got into this business in the first place – to help people.”

For homeowners, property owner and managers and government officials seeking the most up-to-date information on the disaster recovery efforts, DKI has established a Web-based resource which provides important updates on storm activity, as well as how to prepare for a storm beforehand and respond to its impact afterwards.