|
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. |
