How Sustainable Are You

The following excerpt is from IREM’s publication, A Practical Guide to Green Real Estate Management (IREM © 2009):

In order to make changes, you have to first know where you stand at a particular point in time (i.e., the point where you decide to pursue broader sustainability efforts). Consider each area of impact in your portfolio. Which areas are under your control, versus the control of building occupants? What degree of influence do you have over the latter? Where can simply raising environmental consciousness have a tangible result, and where do these domino effects occur? What environmental and financial benefits can you tap into or create at little or no cost? Try some of the following self assessment tools to identify opportunities for “greening” your buildings and organization:

• LEED for Existing Buildings checklist
• ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager for energy and water benchmarking
• BetterBricks Energy Management Checklist
• Sustainable Business Forum Self-Assessment Guide to Environmentally Sustainable Commerce
• Eco-S.A.T. Green Purchasing Self-Assessment Tool

Start collecting information that will help you assess your buildings’ different areas of environmental impact. Establish a baseline for energy and water consumption (in addition to costs), from which you can track savings going forward—and determine what operational factors influence that baseline. Look into all the products you purchase, because nearly all of them may provide opportunities for “greening”—paper towels, light bulbs, refrigerators, furniture, paints and much more. Essentially, you are taking your buildings’ blood pressure and performing a comprehensive physical. Evaluate performance not only for the buildings you manage, but also your company’s office space.

Track this information regularly along the way and document everything you can. Down the road, if you wish to publicize your achievements or pursue any green building certifications, documentation will be important. However, it is often more difficult to document sustainability achievements than to actually achieve them, so don’t let cumbersome paperwork prevent you from taking real steps forward. At a minimum, keep track of a basic description of any steps taken, dates and costs, and keep a file of receipts, emails, memos, and other confirmations of steps taken. If you collect this information now, you’ll save a lot of time later. 

Next steps after determining where you stand should involve goal setting. What can you realistically achieve in your specific situation? Start small (a 5 percent reduction in energy use this year) but aim high (LEED-EB: O&M certification within two years). Your first target should be the “low-hanging fruit” of green buildings—typically, energy and water efficiency measures and operational strategies that have low costs and short paybacks. The savings from these measures can be leveraged to convince owners to fund other green strategies. 

Consider operational strategies, quick fixes and equipment upgrades comprehensively across all areas of sustainability to capitalize on the synergies among different measures. These synergies can arise from interactions between different building elements, such as the complex interactions among window locations, lighting needs and cooling loads. They can also arise between different areas of sustainability achievements, such as a setback on your cooling system that saves both energy and water. In new construction, this approach is referred to as integrated design. For your properties, it’s just smart management.