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

The Road To Sustainability continued

When shopping for products, what factors are considered when determining whether or not it meets the sustainability standards of your organization?

Baker: Prior to reviewing and understanding the LEED criteria, facility management’s selection of products was based on previous experience with the product, its reliability, consistency of material components, and the training/repair aspects for efficient maintenance. Those criteria continue to be reviewed; however, moving forward, we are continuously improving the material/product selection criteria to meet the sustainability standards as outlined in the USGBC Reference Guide.

In reference to third party involvement, we look at the overall company and its total actions in the environmental area. Important product attributes are recycled content, the materials that go into their products, how the products are designed, and moving to more of a life cycle viewpoint versus single attributes.

The other important standard is if a company practices extended producer responsibility. In other words, does it have a process to recycle its products at the end of their useful life?

Carron: We use the LEED-EB rating system as our guideline for facility O&M purchases. LEED uses third party certification programs, such as Green Seal, as one way to assure the products meet sustainability requirements.

Life cycle expectations are also always considered in our procurement practices. We recently went through a filter change on our major HVAC systems. We searched for filters that meet the LEED specifications for MERV 13. Although these had a higher first cost, they are expected to last twice as long, solved some of our minor operational problems, and remarkably have reduced the variable fan speed required to maintain the duct static pressure. Reduced energy use, less solid waste generation, higher filtration performance, and lower maintenance attention have made this replacement a win-win for the company, and we may not have developed this proposition if it were not for the LEED requirements as our starting point.

Bullock: Third party certification does make a difference. We have recently taken steps to obtain new carpeting that meets the CRI [The Carpet and Rug Institute] Green Label and carpet testing program requirements. We also use Green Seal cleaners (GS-37) and disposable janitorial paper products that comply with U.S. EPA Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines.

What information sources about sustainable practices are useful to you?

Bullock: One thing that helped me was to attend a presentation on LEED-EB. It piqued my interest, because we were doing the sorts of things the presenter spoke about.

When I returned to the office and talked to the people who would be dealing with this—the “champions” as we call them—I came to realize that we could do it, but we’d need some help. We hired a consultant, and that was another key aspect. The money you spend to have a consultant that really knows LEED is money extremely well spent.

A consultant can also keep you on track. In my opinion, if you try to do it alone, the schedule will keep getting pushed out further and further. If you set guidelines and deadlines and adhere to them, you’re more likely to succeed. We had artificial deadlines imposed upon us, and that’s what led us through the process on a much quicker timeline than what would have normally occurred. [Bullock’s team initiated the certification application process in October 2004 and was awarded LEED-EB for the Getty Museum in February 2005.]

One of the advantages of consultants is not only do they know the guidelines; they also have an ability to work closely with the USGBC when it comes to the discussion of certain achievements. For instance, we had discussions early on about mercury content in fluorescent bulbs and also the fact that museums don’t fit Energy Star criteria very well. Those are conversations that we could not have conducted successfully on our own.

Reeve: Our partnerships have helped our efforts substantially. We work with the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and its Energy Star program, and our state office of energy management, to name a few. Those continue to be sources of information for us.

The partnerships have also been valuable simply for feedback. These relationships have become a national network for us, and we’re constantly looking for opportunities to learn more about the progress being made around the country with proven success.

Gatlin: One thing we’ve heard from our EB users and registered project facility managers is that EB is a useful roadmap for implementing sustainability, because it’s comprehensive but not prescriptive. We like to think of LEED-EB as a roadmap for implementing sustainable practices in buildings.

Because it is so comprehensive, LEED’s initial documentation might prompt the use of a consultant. However, that does not mean the only route is through hiring a third party consultant to do the submittals. We’re also hearing from people that their existing service and product providers can be good resources as well.

One of the benefits reported to us is that the breakdown of main categories in LEED—whether it’s energy efficiency, water conservation, green cleaning, or materials—helps with the formation of high performance teams in those key areas to help implement sustainability. I think those teams can and should include the service and product vendors that are already working with facility managers on an ongoing basis. This can also help to channel up the efforts in those relationships into an overall framework.

Baker: I agree. At our campus, we have partnered with Johnson Controls for a number of the control system changes, and the company has been very helpful in the LEED-EB arena with input associated with controls and documentation. It has definitely moved the relationship forward.

Carron: We have found along the way that because it’s such a new standard, LEED-EB and its specific requirements still demand explanation even for companies that have had good sustainability practices for a long time. For instance, in our furniture procurement, we work with several companies highly regarded for their environmental practices, but when it comes to extracting the information from them that’s necessary to report against LEED-EB, there’s a significant complication around the definitions of the requirements.

Similarly, in the case of local vendors that we use for minor renovation work—carpeting or carpentry, for instance—we ask them to align to LEED-EB and green practices, and they think they know it. But if for example, we ask about the VOC content of their adhesives, sometimes they don’t know and have to go back to the books on it.

Not all vendors are created equal in this. There are some great leaders in the industry, but there are a number of companies that still need to be educated.

Bullock: For the most part, our product and service providers have been very helpful. We’ve had very good success with our waste management contractor. There’s a large market for construction waste here in California. We also have had really good luck with our custodial contractor and the supplies being used for cleaning. They were more than happy to give us the right type of cleaning items from paper towels all the way down to the sprays used. We also just had a very good session with a carpet supplier to develop a specification for us for green carpeting.

Gatlin: Increasingly, we’re seeing people specify either some or all of an EB upgrade in their RFPs [Request For Proposals]. Perhaps in those ongoing relationships as facility managers re-bid out work, whether on energy services or other areas, they can consider specifying it in those RFPs.

von Paumgartten: Whereas the infrastructure for delivery for LEED-NC is the architect and design community, the delivery infrastructure for LEED-EB is just beginning to form.

Smith: To that point, the mistake sometimes made is believing that LEED-EB is simply an extension of LEED-NC. And we wonder why it isn’t getting into the market just as fast as LEED-NC. In fact, isn’t it a different delivery mechanism altogether, a different group of people to educate, and a different way to market? We shouldn’t necessarily presume that we can entirely capitalize on the education of the architects and designers that was so critical in launching LEED-NC.

Gatlin: It is a very different delivery. There are different suppliers in the supply channels.

To that point, I’ll mention the current top three categories of improvement in LEED-EB projects. The first is water use reduction; 95% of projects have at least 10% water use reduction. The next is improved energy efficiency; right now the average Energy Star score is 83 for all the EB certified buildings. Green cleaning is another; 100% of all EB version 2.0 certified buildings employ green cleaning strategies.

Those three areas do not fall under the umbrella of architectural work. Those areas are part of ongoing equipment management and operations. So, again, it’s working with product suppliers, the energy service companies, retrocommissioning services firms, and so on.

Bullock: That’s right on the button. Earlier, as we were talking about the difference between NC and EB, someone said that NC was an event in time, while EB is really a journey. And as you go through the journey, the momentum should build. As we look toward recertification and going to the next level, it’s important to get people passionate about it.

What are the challenges of LEED-EB? Why do you think some facility managers don’t pursue certification?

Bullock: I made a presentation at a conference a while back, and some attendees told me they were concerned about the cost. They don’t have it in their budget and can’t afford the costs involved.

Again, if you can’t get that support from your boss and can’t convince him or her that this is a worthwhile effort to spend $20,000 or $30,000 or $40,000, you may not be able to make much progress.

Some people may find they can get certified without having to do a lot of retrofits. In our case, we didn’t have to spend a lot of money fixing things in terms of hardware. Our efforts were mainly around recordkeeping, record gathering, and documentation.

There’s a certain fear, I think, that it’s going to cost too much. Also, many want guarantees on the payback.

In pursuing certification, when I did need to spend capital dollars, I was required to look at payback depending on the size of the project. For instance, if we’re going to make a major retrofit to our HVAC system, that would be a capital project for which we’d have to demonstrate some kind of a payback. But, if it’s a retrofit of LEDs for exit lamps, for instance, that’s something that we can budget for within facilities.

Gatlin: Looking at the LEED-EB certified projects overall, the upgrades to achieve certification come in at around a two year payback. However, many of the items, even on the energy performance side, can be done at no upfront cost through changes to operations and maintenance practices.

Arny: One of the things that a lot of people see as a revelation—and this goes back to seeing LEED-EB as a journey—is that with EB you can do all of the low cost and no cost things now and essentially set up policies that address your capital improvements if and when they happen. Essentially, it’s a plan for how you spend your capital dollars in a way that’s compatible with LEED. When you look at it that way, the fear of capital improvement requirements is mitigated, because you know how you’re going to do a project if and when you get the money, but you don’t need to do it today.

What can vendors, associations, and TFM do to encourage facility managers to adopt more sustainable practices in purchasing and operational strategies?

Arny: I’ve done a lot of work with facility managers both in our work with USGBC and earlier work with performance contractors. One of the things that has really struck me as important to facility managers—and this is probably true for all professions—is they need to hear over and over again how their peers are successfully implementing this and how it’s benefitting them. Until they feel that their peers have done this and prospered, it’s really hard to develop the momentum to move forward to do something new.

Baker: There needs to be an awareness of what the successes are. Facility managers, on a day to day basis, have many, many things to do, and this is just one more thing. There is a benefit to doing, it but the awareness of the benefits is key.

Bullock: I would be interested in hearing more from the major utilities providers. Here in Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power does a great job of promoting green power, but LEED is not specifically discussed. It may be that they address it, but it doesn’t get to my level. If major utilities providers stressed the benefits of LEED certification, because they’re going to save energy and water, maybe that would give us as facility managers additional impetus.

For more information on the activities of the facility managers featured in this article, visit their organizations’ Web sites at www.armstrong.com; www.getty.edu; www.johnsondiversey.com; and www.psdschools.org.

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