Have you ever thought about the cities we live in? You might be surprised to learn that in the next twenty to thirty years (around 2050, as per UN reports), 68% of the world's population will be living in these cities. This changes the entire landscape, the number of offices, facility centers, residential, and other buildings will be at an all-time high.
However idyllic this utopian urban living sounds, it is an ecological nightmare. By 2050 the meager 3% of the earth's surface that's covered by cities will be producing a staggering 60% of the global greenhouse emissions and consuming 78% of the worldwide energy.
The current situation is not much better either. As per the Tracking Report- September 2021, an astonishing 30% of the world's final energy consumption can be mapped to building operations, resulting in 27% of total energy sector emissions.
There is still time to take action. A more sustainable approach to facilities management is vital to tackling the growing amount of energy waste and harmful emissions.
Aim of Sustainable Facility Management
In the race toward achieving Net Zero and combating the pressing climate crisis, Facility Management (FM) emerges as a key player.
At its core, FM comprises the tools and services dedicated to optimizing building operations. It entails formulating strategies and implementing tools that drive efficiency across all assets within a facility. From maintenance tracking to energy consumption, repairs, and acquisitions to proper asset disposal, Facility Management oversees it all.
However, in the pursuit of a sustainable future, a new approach comes to the forefront: Sustainable Facility Management. This tailored version of traditional FM aims to regulate and direct operations with the goal of achieving minimal, neutral, or even zero impact on the environment. By establishing a framework for an energy-efficient workspace, Sustainable Facility Management endeavors to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.
Benefits of Sustainable Facility Management
Sustainable facility management is revolutionizing the way we manage assets and buildings. The system it helps build isn’t limited to reducing carbon footprints and energy consumption. The sustainable management route helps institutions cut costs, improve employee satisfaction, ensure good ROI, and more.
The impact of sustainable facility management covers three broad areas: the people, the community, and the company. Naturally, the improvement in quality of one of the three improves the other two through indirect means as everything is a closely-knit system.
These are a few reasons why more and more facility managers are adopting sustainable facility management techniques:
The People
Employees
This holistic approach toward building management vastly improves the indoor air and water quality improving the health and vitality of the tenants and employees of the building. Employees are hence, happier, healthier, and more productive which in turn turns the cogs of the company allowing it to meet its goals and objectives in a timely fashion.
Prospective Employees/ Potential Hires
The newer set of potential hires nowadays gives a lot of importance to the “eco-friendliness” of the company that they will join. Prospective employees look for companies that are sustainably operating and helping by contributing to the green movement.
Trends have changed and people have begun looking for companies that value the well-being and health of their workers and environment, and this criteria is slowly moving on to being a major decision factor before people embark on new jobs in new companies.
The Company
Corporate Citizenship
The growing importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the FM community requires all companies to make conscious choices about their building management systems. Adopting a sustainable facility management system improves the company image, and helps foster a culture of good corporate citizenship.
Each company hence can help make mindful ecologically friendly choices and help make a bigger impact together. Companies can become pioneers to change by improving the external environment by carefully monitoring individual harmful contributions. Big changes start with small actions, and swapping to a sustainable FM system is step one to better corporate citizenship.
Return on Investments
Assets within the property are maintained well-using approaches such as preventive maintenance, which increases the lifespan of all assets. The cost of major maintenance is reduced, and assets perform with maximum efficiency.
Increased productivity of employees and decreases employee turnover. A 2021 IBM survey observed that 48% of investors place importance on sustainability and another 21% plan to do so in the near future.
Additionally, according to a 2018 study titled "The Financial Case for High Performance Buildings," it is proposed that productivity would experience a 3% growth, talent retention would see a 5% boost, and absenteeism would decrease by 30%.
The Community
According to the world economic forum, green buildings can reduce a city’s temperature by a whopping 2oC. Moreover, the efficient usage of energy, reduction in wastage of resources, and asset life, reduce the carbon footprint left by the property.
Ensuring well-maintained assets such as HVAC systems that are known to consume large amounts of energy are vital in creating a green building and reducing harmful emissions and energy wastage by these systems.
As made known by the Architect 2030, currently commercial buildings contribute to 40% of the carbon emissions and a mindful approach to managing them will easily mitigate the threat.
Sustainable facility management is no longer a new fad but is slowly becoming the new normal. Changing years of concrete building management systems might be a daunting task.
Fret not! At IQnext, we aim to make taking the next step ahead a smooth transition. So are you up for the challenge? Our mission is to empower buildings & spaces, making them continuously efficient, sustainable, and productive for a better tomorrow.
Follow us to see how we can help you optimize your energy consumption and work towards a greener tomorrow. Connect with IQnext today!
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