Blogs

We didn’t plan it this way, but it just so happens that the 2011 FMXcellence honorees provide a pretty good picture of how FM departments are using sustainability to meet organizational goals. The FMXcellence program isn’t limited to green efforts. The ultimate test is adding value —...

Should plants be allowed on top of office workstations? Should space heaters be permitted under desks? Just how far should employees be allowed to go to make their workspaces more homey? That’s the question I got from a reader who was asked to develop guidelines about customizing cubicles. The...

You've no doubt heard the expressions, usually with negative connotations, that there are "too many cooks in the kitchen" or "too many chiefs and not enough indians." The idea is that, sometimes, egalitarianism only leads to time wasted because while everyone has an opinion, not...

If your boss said the words “ Six Sigma ” in the course of a conversation, would you run screaming in the other direction? Does Six Sigma conjure up images from the movie “Office Space” complete with business buzzwords like “process improvement” and “outside...

We’re under construction – literally! Part of our headquarters building here at Trade Press Publishing is finally getting a bit of a makeover. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we have at least six weeks of pounding nails, sawing saws and contractors’ “gentle banter”...

From energy and water efficiency, to good indoor environmental quality, to responsible materials selection — it's easy to make a list of the goals for a green building. But what makes a green building? The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system from the U.S. Green...

A colleague of mine likes to remind anyone within earshot of the benefits of considering issues “from 35,000 feet.” The phrase usually gets lost in a tide of similar business jargon and loses its impact. Still, it’s a powerful idea in terms of the “big picture” challenge...

In a sense, they’re ambitious goals. Reduce energy consumption 30 percent by 2012. Use Energy Star benchmarking. Use an energy audit or retrocommissioning to find low-cost, low-risk, high-return ways to improve energy efficiency. Train staff and take other steps to ensure that buildings are operated...

I don’t know about you, but whenever I find an article about our industry in the mainstream media, the emotions are a bit mixed. This article about green workplaces that appeared in the June 18 issue of Time is a perfect example. The article is a fairly good primer about various ways office buildings...