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No one really wants to say this out loud, but the fact is that a LEED design alone won’t give you an energy-efficient building. Architects don’t want to say it because it sounds like they’re not doing their jobs when they design LEED buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council doesn’t...

Long before there was LEED , long before Energy Star , there was CBECS . The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, as CBECS is formally known, provides a statistical baseline for the energy consumption of U.S. buildings. Never heard of CBECS? You’re not alone. But that doesn’t mean...

I recently heard top executives talk about the facility managers at their companies. One of the FMs took a lead role in the company’s sustainability efforts. In fact, his efforts had produced significant energy savings. About this facility manager, the CEO couldn’t say enough good things...

Ten years ago, the idea of winning acceptance for green buildings represented a big challenge. In hindsight, green design seems more like it was an opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of. Green buildings bring real benefits, not just to the environment, but also to the people who use them and the...

At the heart of the House and Senate climate-change bills is cap-and-trade, a complex system that, put very simply, requires companies to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions. Opponents of cap-and-trade like to call the idea cap-and-tax. But the preferred alternative to cap-and-trade, in the eyes of...

Of all the developments in the building industry over the past 10 years, I can’t think of one that’s had as much impact as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED system. Wouldn’t it be great if the same thing turned out to be true for the next decade? That is, LEED not only serves...

It’s too late to prevent all the harm that will be caused by climate change, say some experts, so we now have to start dealing with the new risks. The idea of adapting to shifts in the climate is gaining momentum in the face of evidence that climate change is already taking place, and will continue...

When it comes to saving energy in the data center, the HVAC system receives the lion's share of the attention. And rightly so. But that doesn't mean the other aspects of the data center don't offer energy saving opportunities, said Munther Salim at NFM&T during a Tuesday session on data...

Barack Obama’s honeymoon period has already come to an end. Between concerns about the cost and content of the stimulus package and the administration’s bad habit of picking nominees who failed to pay their taxes, the glow that surrounded the new president has dimmed. Add in the other major...

Life cycle costing for buildings just got a big boost in the United Kingdom. With any luck, developments there will be a harbinger of things to come here. “Standardized Method of Life Cycle Costing for Construction Procurement” is the name of new publication issued by a pair of prestigious...

The green building movement has advanced, not only by leaps, but by small steps. A leap happens when an organization decides to commit to getting LEED certification for its buildings; it marks a transformation in the way that the organization approaches construction projects. The introduction of the...

I got a surprise reading about results from a new survey conducted by the Uptime Institute . According to the survey , communications between IT and facilities are good or excellent in 57 percent of the companies that responded. In 59 percent of companies, communication was formal, structured and active...

I have to admit I was a bit surprised to read that Jacoby Development , which wants to build a green mixed-use development around Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, expects to attract 72,000 vehicles a day to the site once work is done. Jacoby says it’s goal is to create...

If you’re a facility executive responsible for data centers, the following undoubtedly makes immediate sense. As servers, storage devices and other IT gear get smaller and more powerful, they generate more heat. That translates into greater cooling load in the same space, which in turn means more...

Rebates for energy upgrades have become more widespread in the past few years. But finding them isn’t necessarily easy. The incentives may not be well publicized, the programs don’t always last very long, and money is available on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you’re late...

There are many reasons to build green. Up to now, public pressure hasn’t been one of them. But that seems to be changing. The Majestic Star casino is a $450 million project planned for a prominent location on the Pittsburgh riverfront. It came under fire from the Pittsburgh Civic Design Coalition...

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...

The proliferation of green products is a boon to facility executives who are involved in green building projects – or who simply want to make buildings a little more environmentally friendly than they would otherwise have been. But the flood of claims about environmental benefits presents a challenge...

Over the years, interest in energy has ebbed and flowed. While factors like energy cost will clearly continue to influence investments in efficiency and renewables, I believe the current upswing in activity marks a departure from what we’ve seen in the past. I think the interest in energy is far...

Want to get an idea of building technologies to start considering for projects in the years ahead? Take a look at the public review draft of a proposed standard for green buildings being developed by a trio of powerhouses: ASHRAE , IESNA and the U.S. Green Building Council . Many of the technologies...

Is the glass half full or half empty when 61 percent – or should I say only 61 percent? – of facility professionals say that commissioning is not a priority in their organizations? In the latest FacilitiesNet survey , commissioning is very important to 28 percent of respondents and somewhat...

Next time you’re wondering if it’s worth trying to justify more energy-efficient equipment, you might check out a Web site that has nothing to do with either facilities or energy. It’s the online home of the Nathan Cummings Foundation . The Cummings foundation is a non-profit with a...

Multitenant office buildings have historically been laggards in green design and construction. The last year or so has seen signs of a shift in direction, especially with regard to energy efficiency. And now there is evidence of a new awareness of green building practices generally: “ The G.R.E...

An environmental think tank says that businesses ought to pay attention to climate change. What’s the big deal about that? Two things. One is the arguments they marshal to support their thesis. The other is that the Harvard Business Review agreed with them enough to publish an article they wrote...

Chances are fairly good that you heard about the Conference Board earlier this week, though you may not have noticed. The group released its consumer confidence index for the month of February, and the widely reported number hit a five and a half year high. The index might be better known than the Conference...