Home > Articles By Issue > Energy and the Environment > June 2006

Photo credits: Getty Center, John Stephens, ©2000 J. Paul Getty Trust; JohnsonDiversey HQ, Robert Israel, JohnsonDiversey; Fossil Ridge High School, Poudre School District; Armstrong Corporate Center, Armstrong

The Road To Sustainability

Whatever your route to a green facility, having a plan will make the ride a smoother one.

By Anne Vazquez

Throughout history, cultures around the world have found methods to build and operate their structures in ways that did not threaten the surrounding natural environments. Over time, however, many building design and operation strategies have not been as kind. A seemingly endless supply of resources created a system in which regard for consumption of land, energy, and materials was not a high priority.

However, the tide appears to be changing as more and more building professionals seek ways to reduce the environmental footprint. Whether these efforts are called sustainable, green, eco-friendly, or high performance, the common goal is to reduce the impact a building and its site has on the resources and occupants of the earth.

As this trend continues to gain momentum, facility professionals taking action toward sustainable goals have numerous sources to consult. This presents the task of distinguishing reliable sources from the others. Once those sources have been identified, the other part of the sustainable journey is to decide what measures to take first, second, and so on.

As part of this planning, some facility professionals work within specified guidelines created by organizations offering certification of achievements. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is one such organization. When the Council launched its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for existing buildings (EB) in 2004, it marked the introduction of a certification tool focused exclusively on existing facilities. (The Council’s first rating system—LEED-NC released in 2000—addresses certification for new construction.)

As of March 2006, 26 buildings had been certified under LEED-EB; 157 additional buildings were registered to pursue certification. In contrast, under LEED-NC, 337 projects have been certified, and 2,969 are registered. Taking into account the later release of EB, those certifications are still substantially less than NC. Is there something inherently different about what the end users of each of the certifications require to be successful?

TFM spoke with several facility managers, members of the magazine’s Green Building Advisory Board, and the LEED-EB experts from USGBC to address these issues.

Facility Managers

  • James Baker, director, facilities management, Armstrong, Lancaster, PA
  • James Bullock, director of facilities, The J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, CA
  • Stu Carron, director of global facilities and real estate, JohnsonDiversey, Sturtevant, WI
  • Pete Hall, facilities director, Poudre School District,Ft. Collins, CO
  • Stu Reeve, energy manager, Poudre School District, Ft. Collins, CO

Participating TFM Green Building Advisory Board Members

  • Michael Arny, president, Leonardo Academy, Inc.
  • Jennifer Dolin, environmental marketing manager/general lighting, Osram Sylvania
  • Steve Goldmacher, director, public affairs, Philips Lighting Company
  • Bill Gregory, director, sustainable initiatives, Milliken Design Center
  • Mike Opitz, LEED-EB program manager, USGBC
  • Paul von Paumgartten, director of Energy & Environmental Affairs, Johnson Controls
  • Carl Smith, chief executive officer/executive director, GREENGUARD Environmental Institute
  • Anita Snader, associate marketing manager, Integrated Programs, Armstrong Commercial Ceilings

USGBC Representative

  • Doug Gatlin, LEED-EB director, USGBC

How does your organization define sustainability? What are the guiding principles and goals?

Baker: We look at sustainability as part of our operational parameters. Armstrong recognizes the importance of protecting the environment and using resources intelligently. We are committed to exercising environmental stewardship in our dealings with customers, employees, government, and community and in meeting our obligation to future generations. Our overall goal is to make sure our objectives and activities as a corporation are in harmony with the natural world around us.

As part of our daily operations, we try to look at the products that we use within our buildings; this includes the life cycle of those products and what we can do to recycle them as we bring in new products. As an interior finishes company, it’s important for us to demonstrate how we use our products throughout our own spaces. We can then pass that information on to our customers.

Our corporate center in Lancaster, PA was completed in 1998, and we continue to maintain the assets we incorporated then. For instance, we continually update our building controls system. We focus on creating a good indoor environment, which includes lighting efficiencies, time of day controls, and HVAC controls. We were fortunate when we designed the building that we incorporated many of those design ideas from the start.

Carron: JohnsonDiversey, as part of the SC Johnson family of companies, has a long history of sustainable business practices and achievements. The principles that form the basis are captured in a corporate document entitled “This We Believe,” which was first articulated by one of the founders of the company back in the 1920s. Over the years, actions have included planting Carnuba palms as a renewable raw material resource in the 1930s to the voluntary, unilateral early elimination of CFCs in the product line in the 1970s to the construction of LEED-certified facilities.

JohnsonDiversey’s current sustainability program is called “Responsible Solutions.” This corporate program impacts everything we do from product development through manufacturing through resource use through program development for our customers, employee well being, community development and involvement, financial performance, and ethical behavior. When we apply this program to our facilities, I look at the things we are procuring, the environment we’re providing our employees, and how we manage our assets for total life cycle costs and energy efficiency.

Reeve: We define sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Even before the word became popular, sustainability was a part of our culture in terms of energy efficiency, as well as material choices and construction practices.

That really evolved and became much more organized in 2000 when we adopted sustainable design guidelines for our school district. These guidelines were in concert with our technical and educational specifications and more fully defined sustainability for us. That led us to earn LEED for New Construction (NC) silver certification for our Fossil Ridge High School in 2005.

Poudre School District has updated its Sustainable Design Guidelines since 2000, with the newest adaptation in 2005. It’s a reflection of the evolution of how our schools are moving forward.

There are many sources for guidance, including Energy Smart Schools, Green Globes, and CHPS [California High Performance Schools]. Now LEED is also a piece of the puzzle and is in our toolbox when we embark on remodeling or building a new facility.

Also, it’s not just about new construction or remodeling anymore. Our approach encompasses existing practices, which has evolved into our school district embracing a Sustainability Management System to track our environmental footprint. This relates to the materials we purchase all the way to how business travel is conducted. We have a green team to look at how we can continue to grow our sustainability efforts.

Bullock: Sustainability can have a number of definitions, but as we have gone through the LEED-EB journey, a few things have become very clear to us. First of all, as an educational institution with a large visitor population, the Getty has public exposure to people from all over the world. We also have a very important relationship with our neighbors in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Getty occupies approximately 800 acres, 110 of which are developed. Our consumption of resources—from water to natural gas to electricity—affects the entire area.

We also want to make sure we’re purchasing the right products. The LEED-EB process has helped us do that. The concept of being proactive and demonstrating that we are conscious of trying to do the right things has really helped us in numerous respects, many of which are intangible.

There are numerous ways to implement sustainable practices. What are some of the overall practices you employ in your facilities?

Baker: Two major things we focus on at our corporate headquarters campus are energy conservation and the development of procurement standards.

In terms of energy conservation, we look at our entire campus and consider what we can do to create high performance buildings. Part of this is continuous evaluation of the control systems in order to provide an indoor environment that enhances employee productivity while saving as much energy as possible.

Another major aspect is the development of building standards for procurement. This involves a wide variety of products, including furniture systems, HVAC equipment, and lighting. When we go out for competitive bids for renovations we use those standards to be consistent in how we procure products and services and at the same time modify our standards to reflect sustainability guidelines as outlined in the USGBC Reference Guide.

Bullock: Three areas come to mind in terms of implementation. First, we’ve done many things to reduce energy, including lighting retrofits. We’ve also addressed how to reduce the energy used by the large motors in our systems.

One notable project was the installation of a carbon monoxide detection system in our two main parking structures. The fans in those structures ran all the time; these large 75 horsepower fans were running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. By putting in a carbon monoxide monitoring system, we’ve significantly reduced the runtime on those fans to four hours per day.

Also, our electrical shop is very proactive. The electricians in the field come back to their supervisors and say, “Why don’t we reduce the lighting in this space? Or, maybe we should turn off the lights in the library earlier, because no one is in there after a certain time.”

We’ve done a lot to reduce water consumption. We have a very large area to water in order to maintain the landscape. We have several thousand Coastal Live Oaks planted around the site. We found we were overwatering the trees, and they weren’t as healthy as they could be. By reducing watering on the hillsides, we’ve reduced our costs and improved the health of the trees.

Finally, as part of the LEED-EB process, we are recommissioning our plant facilities including our boilers, chillers, and the building management system connected to that equipment. It has been nearly 10 years since the Getty Center opened to the public, and we think it’s time to look at discharge air temperatures, how much outside air we are bringing in, and how we can be more efficient with new technology.

Carron: In my conversations with many facility managers, I think sustainability programs in general are driven by cost and by regulatory issues. From a cost standpoint, just about everyone has some level of energy conservation program in place, because it is a large cost line item on their expense statements, and it is somewhat controllable both on the supply and demand side. Facility managers have a key role to play in that.

On the regulatory side, one of the things that just about everyone has is a waste management program. Though this will vary from facility to facility, whether it be a solid waste management program with recycling or whether it includes things like hazardous waste, nearly everyone has some type of waste management program in place.

We had those programs in place here, but when we became aware of the LEED-EB program, it opened our eyes to a whole new world. It’s a very comprehensive program and offers a lot in terms of green procurement and operations and maintenance practices. We use LEED-EB as our continuous improvement program in numerous areas.

Hall: Many of our strategies have led into each other over time. In the mid 90s, we started on a pretty aggressive energy management program. As we developed that strategy, the implementation of the green team led to the integrated approach with guidelines using the technical and educational specifications that we have now.

From there, we’ve expanded into the utilities management role, understanding it’s not just energy per se. It’s also water conservation through irrigation management strategies; it’s solid waste management through recycling.

One aspect we’ve really enjoyed is educating the students. We have an outreach into the schools called the Energy Rebate Program that’s very successful. We have about 20 schools on board, and a rebate goes back to those schools that encourage energy and utility conservation. It has been very successful, and the Sustainability Management Systems we’ve embarked on validate what the multiple departments in business services do on a daily basis to provide for a sustainable environment. For us, it’s getting the buy in of our constituents, our customers, and our administration.

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