Sustainability Study
Summary
The majority of respondents, IFMA members, have implemented
a variety of sustainable practices. The majority does
not have a master plan in implementation but rather
selectively choose different sustainable practices.
Many are familiar with the term "green design,"
but were not as familiar with the LEED rating system
or environmentally preferable purchasing.
The facility managers in this study consider projects
to be sustainable if they:
- Have a lower total environmental impact
- Have fewer harmful emissions
- Use a minimal level of energy to operate
- Contain products that are easily recycled
- Use products manufactured in an environmentally
friendly way
- Have products made from recycled products
Study sponsors This study was conducted by IFMA with
support from DuPont Commercial Flooring.
1. Does your facility have a program in place
for:
- 88% Recycling solid waste
- 49% Re-using materials
- 36% Reducing the production of solid waste
- 12% Recycling water
2. Listed below are some common ways to make
a facility greener. Of those listed, which ones are
currently in place at your facility, and which do you
plan to implement in the next two years?
|
Green
Practices |
Now
in
place |
Plan
to
do |
No
plan at
this time |
| Use of natural daylight
|
78% |
6% |
16% |
| Lighting fixture retrofits (other
than EPA directed) |
67% |
14% |
19% |
| Purchasing recycled office products
|
67% |
8% |
25% |
| Light sensors |
58% |
14% |
28% |
| Employee education program |
51% |
10% |
39% |
| Participation in incentive programs
offered by local utilities or state/provincial agencies
|
50% |
14% |
36% |
| Purchasing "earth friendly" products,
systems or materials that produce as little pollution
as possible in use and in production |
48% |
16% |
36% |
| Water conservation |
48% |
12% |
40% |
| Green plant program (to control indoor
air pollution) |
45% |
6% |
49% |
| High performance windows |
44% |
13% |
43% |
| Product life cycle analysis |
37% |
14% |
49% |
| Adding environmental criteria to vendor
and product selection process |
36% |
22% |
42% |
| Energy Star |
33% |
15% |
52% |
| Green Lights Program (developed by
the EPA) |
26% |
13% |
61% |
3. Which one of the following statements best
describes your facility's attitude toward green building
concepts? Often used as a synonym for "sustainable"
building, a green building is defined by ASTM E 2114
as "a building that provides the specified building
performance requirements while minimizing disturbance
to and improving the functioning of local, regional
and global ecosystems both during and after its construction
and specified service life."
- 8% We are following a master plan to implement all
feasible green concepts at our facility
- 61% We are implementing selected green building
concepts, but without a master plan
- 15% We haven't implemented any green strategies,
but will do so within the next two years
- 16% We haven't implemented any green strategies,
and do not plan to do so
4. How important is each of the following reasons
for greening your facility?
| Reason
for greening facility |
Very
important |
Somewhat
important |
Not
important |
| Improved employee health and productivity
|
76% |
22% |
2% |
| Cost savings |
72% |
24% |
4% |
| Environmental responsibility |
65% |
33% |
2% |
| Reduced liability |
51% |
38% |
11% |
| Life cycle cost strategy |
41% |
48% |
11% |
| Public opinion |
32% |
53% |
15% |
| Government mandate |
32% |
43% |
25%
|
| Corporate mandate |
28% |
38% |
34% |
5. How familiar are you with the following terms:
| Terms
|
Very
familiar |
Somewhat
familiar |
Heard
of it in name only |
Never
heard
of it |
| Green Design |
29% |
56% |
13% |
2% |
| Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
|
19% |
47% |
20% |
13% |
| Leadership in Energy & Environmental
Design rating system (LEED) |
16% |
31% |
25% |
28% |
6. Please provide your level of agreement with
these statements about projects that are sustainable/green.
Would you say that a project is sustainable/green if
it:
|
Statements
regarding sustainability |
Top
2 box Strongly Agree + Agree |
Strongly
Agree |
Agree |
Neither
Agree
or
Disagree |
Disagree |
Strongly
Disagree |
No
Opinion/
Not
Applicable |
| Has a lower total environmental impact |
96% |
44% |
52% |
4% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
| Has fewer harmful emissions |
95% |
42% |
53% |
5% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
| Uses a minimal level of energy to operate |
95% |
48% |
47% |
5% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
| Contains products that are easy to recycle |
94% |
30% |
64% |
3% |
2% |
0% |
1% |
| Uses products manufactured in an environmentally
favorable manner |
94% |
39% |
55% |
4% |
1% |
0% |
1% |
| Has products made from recycled products |
93% |
43% |
50% |
6% |
1% |
0% |
0% |
| Uses environmentally preferable purchasing - that
is, EPP |
74% |
24% |
50% |
20% |
1% |
0% |
5% |
| Meets LEED specifications |
65% |
34% |
31% |
23% |
0% |
0% |
12% |
| Contains products that are durable |
57% |
11% |
46% |
28% |
11% |
2% |
2% |
| Has products that do not go out of style prematurely
|
49% |
8% |
41% |
30% |
15% |
3% |
3% |
| Is easy to maintain and keep clean |
44% |
10% |
34% |
34% |
17% |
3% |
3% |
7. Do you believe in the future that sustainability
will become an important issue for the facility management
profession?
8. How long have you been practicing facility
management?
- 3% 0-5 years
- 17% 6-10 years
- 24% 11-15 years
- 56% 15+ years
Methodology
This study was conducted using a Web-based
survey. A total of 3,405 U.S. and Canadian members were
randomly selected from IFMA's database. These individuals
were contacted by e-mail in the late afternoon on Tuesday,
September 17. They were invited to take a short survey
on environmental issues. The survey was removed from
the Web Monday, September 23 at the end of the day.
At cut-off, 357 people had responded to the survey,
which garnered a 11.13% response rate.
The margin of error at the 95% confidence interval
for these questions is between + 4 and + 5 percentage
points. This means that for a given statistic, the chances
are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus
or minus, by more than 4% or 5% from the results that
would have been obtained if a survey had been conducted
with all persons in the universe represented by this
sample. |
