IFMA (International Facility Management Association) the leading association for facility managers released a Sustainability Guide and Measuring Guidelines for determining a buildings footprint. Buildings which account for around 40% of energy usage are perhaps the biggest consumers of fossil fuels and producers of carbon. In order to understand how buildings are consuming energy, creating carbon and determining ways to manage and reduce it IFMA published the guide and it is available for free.
According to the guide and referencing a report from Groom Energy Solutions and Pure Strategies highlights the top five drivers that motivate a business to track and report carbon:
- Improved company/brand image
- Requests from top customer
- Investor pressure
- GHG regulation
- Cost savings
(Groom Energy Solutions 2010)
While surprising to me that cost savings is at #5 I think as more and more positive ROI cases are published people will realize that a path to sustainability brings more profits due to reduced operating costs. Looks to me though that the role of the FM is going to get more glamorous, and those skilled in this art should be in high demand.
