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How-To Guides
The IFMA Foundation, with support from IFMA’s Sustainability Committee, is producing a series of white papers to provide data and information associated with a wide range of subjects related to sustainability.
These guides are currently available on the IFMA Foundation web site:
Getting Started
The detailed findings in this Getting Started Guide include a step-by-step process for assessing your organization, finding your starting point, identifying initiatives, evaluating their value, and implementing, measuring and monitoring their effectiveness. One of the most valuable sections of this guide includes case studies of three organizations that are on the path of Sustainable Facility Management.
Carbon Footprint Guide
Carbon has become the currency of the sustainability movement, impacting energy management, waste handling, air quality, environmental stewardship and a host of other sustainability issues. Because energy usage is usually the largest portion of a building's operational cost, the drive to make buildings more energy efficient directly aligns with the desire to reduce the carbon footprint.
US Government Policy Impacts and Opportunities for Facility Management
Companies of all sizes are striving to reduce any negative impact that their businesses are having on the environment through improved sustainable practices and more efficient source reduction initiatives. They are looking to their facility managers to be leaders and manage the planning and implementation of complete sustainability programs that are consistent with corporate strategic plans; meet and exceed applicable laws and regulatory acts; and demonstrate to employees, customers and the communities within which they operate that they are exemplary environmental stewards.
Commisioning Existing Buildings
This guide covers:
- The Purpose of Commissioning an Existing Building
- The Process for Commissioning Existing Buildings from Start to Finish
- Budget Guidelines for Time, Money and Resources
- Real-World Case Studies
Global Green Cleaning
This guide integrates cleaning operations that are found outside of North America – hence "Global Green Cleaning." The authors chose to develop this guide using the spectrum approach, thus providing readers with a range of green cleaning options. Through this approach, the authors provide information about each of the building blocks of a cleaning structure, ranging from the most basic to the most robust and comprehensive.
Data Centers
To help achieve a successfully executed effort to green a data center, this How-To Guide provides guidance to facility managers and other site infra¬structure personnel seeking to reduce data center energy costs by making existing facilities more energy efficient.
Green Building Rating Systems
The intent of the guide is to provide the reader with realistic data, including costs and benefits of the systems, allowing the reader to make educated sustainability decisions. Each system has its own merits and the authors have tried not to influence or direct the readers toward any particular rating system.
Water Guide
This guide is designed to review the basics of water use and disposal in commercial buildings. By learning about the fundamentals of water conservation, readers will hopefully be able to implement projects that will help lower water consumption and thus lower water bills, as well as sewer bills that are affected by the amount of discharge. In the process, the impact of water consumption on the world in which we live will be reduced.
Landscaping Guide
The goal of this guide is to help facility managers, and those who work with facility managers, to better understand what sustainable landscaping is and how to apply sustainable landscaping practices.
Lighting Guide
This guide has been written to explain the benefits of investigating and upgrading lighting systems in and around facilities.Based on extensive research, input from lighting specialists and general experience, it provides a broad description of options available to facility professionals to enhance the indoor quality of buildings while saving energy, dollars and manpower to maintain proper lighting.
No Cost/Low Cost Guide
The goal of the guide is to provide facility operations personnel with a practical document that will provide the resources to initiate no-cost/low-cost energy-efficiency measures at their sites. This is not a theoretical piece, but aims to present specific maintenance targets in a “here’s where to go, here’s what to look for” format. The Web site articles from which this guide was derived have several bullet lists that can be translated to spreadsheet templates and used as checklists for facilities managers to reference.
Food Service Guide
This guide provides practical, real-world guidance on how to introduce and advance sustainable practices within the food service environment. The guide provides direction for individuals in leadership and management positions within the food service environment, as well as general information for professionals within the operation and management of buildings, including real estate management, property developers, architects, engineers and government entities. Students in facility management degree programs will also find the guide relevant.
EPA's Energy Star Portfolio Manager
Energy management is an integral part of the day-to-day operations of facility managers and operators of existing facilities. Rising energy costs and increasing interest in sustainability are driving us to scrutinize energy consumption in our buildings and develop strategies for better management. Do you know how efficient your building is? How does your overall efficiency compare to buildings in your portfolio? Or, how does it compare to other similar buildings regionally, nationwide or internationally? This Guide will help answer these questions as the authors walk you through the online tool from the Environmental Protection Agency, the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
Sustainability Knowledge
Browse a variety of sustainability-related content for the facility practitioner including the IFMA Foundation’s “Sustainability 'How-To' Guide Series,” recent research publications and helpful links.
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