In their latest report on the climate crisis, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has mentioned that we can still hope to escape the worst consequences of climate change, but are currently placed in a “now or never” situation where we must act immediately.
Responses to such findings as well as the changing nature of the climate crisis have been immense and proactive. These have not only come in the form of citizen demands and lifestyle changes but also, newer approaches to creating plans for more sustainable buildings.
What are sustainable or ‘green’ buildings?
Green buildings are those which try to improve or simply maintain the quality of life and harmonize within the local climate, culture, and tradition of the surrounding environment. Creating such structures has been possible thanks to changes in the approach toward design, construction and offerings.
A green building is also built with the aim to conserve resources and energy, and with the help of recycled materials. Additionally, it also looks at reducing human exposure to hazardous substances.
So, how can facility management leverage sustainable buildings in a way that the environment receives its share of returns too? Let’s have a look –
1.Leveraging Sustainability Analytics
One of the most accurate ways to get an in-depth understanding of any facilities’ performance is by conducting sustainability analytics. As a process, it gives you an overview of your building’s sustainability status.
An audit can give you a glimpse of where there’s room for improvement within your facility. An energy audit, for instance, looks at the building’s current energy usage. The report from this audit can help facility managers chart out an economical strategy for saving power and costs in the future.
Similarly, an EHS (Environment, Health, Safety) audit can help identify potential risks which might threaten the environment, safety and overall health of the tenants. A plan of action to minimise such risks can be charted out, based on the findings from the audit.
Facility managers also encounter certain challenges which are specific to green buildings. Some of these include having minimum energy efficiency standard-compliant HVAC systems and other equipment, holding a LEED certification and keeping systems 30% more efficient in comparison to other buildings. To keep a check on these, integrated facility management companies carry out facility management audits.