The green movement continues to grow stronger and stronger
every year. There’s no question about that. With more accessible information,
better training and a greater overall understanding of what it means to be
green, facility managers across the country are embracing green as mainstream.
Along with the push towards green, the quest for
certification has exploded as the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announces
new LEED-certified facilities daily. And although achieving certification is
nothing to sneeze at — it requires countless hours, dollars and energy from
executives throughout an organization — I constantly find myself asking, what’s
next? Now that you have achieved certification, how are you going to maintain
it? What are you doing to make sure the green measures you implemented are
actually going to work? Are you going to give as much attention to the
maintenance of green that you did to its inception?
I have asked these questions to the USGBC and facility
managers alike, and am often met with a dead stare. But in reality,
certification doesn’t stop with a certificate or plaque. And it appears as
though I am not the only one who thinks that the only way to truly be green is
to practice it year-round and with constant attention and diligence. A recent
New York Times article also drew attention the fact that some facilities are in fact not living up to
their green label, sparking the USGBC to respond.
According to the article, “Builders covet LEED certification
as a way to gain tax credits, attract tenants, charge premium rents and project
an image of environmental responsibility. But the gap between design and
construction, which LEED certifies, and how some buildings actually perform led
the program to announce that it would begin collecting information about energy
use from all the buildings it certifies.”
The USGBC is asking facility executives to submit this
information voluntarily, but beginning this year, will also require all newly
constructed buildings to provide energy and water bills for the first five
years of operation as an added condition for certification. Not providing the
data would result in a loss of certification labels.
Addressing
the long-term energy and water requirements for green facilities is a good
start, but managers must also pay the same attention to cleaning, maintenance
and overall efficiencies in their green-certified facilities. Green is not a
one-time change, it's an ongoing effort.
Posted
09-04-2009 2:26 PM
by
Corinne Zudonyi