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Green products and green regulations are rolling out at an accelerating speed. For facility managers starting the green process, the Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments (www.greenerfacilities.org), offers a roundtable primer. This consortium of international building industry manufacturers is committed to educating decision-makers about how their choices can have economic, social and environmentally beneficial results.

Methodist School of Nursing in Omaha, Nebraska installed Milliken Contract modular carpet tiles as part of its sustainable interiors design for improved IAQ and extended product life.

Five Alliance members offer insights from experience and professional training: Bill Gregory, director of sustainable initiatives, Milliken Floor Covering; Robert S. Dehne, AIA, CSI, architectural services manager, Owens Corning; Paul von Paumgartten, director of energy & environmental affairs, Johnson Controls, Inc.; Tim Cole, director of environmental initiatives and product development, Forbo Flooring; and Cameron Adams, government and education marketing manager, JohnsonDiversey, Inc.

1) Where do I start?
Robert S. Dehne, AIA, CSI: It is most effective to start at the project’s very inception and look at every aspect. Pulling a team together that would include not only the design professionals, owners and facility managers, but also contractors, construction managers, financial managers and school or healthcare managers. In this way, all participants have an opportunity to understand the importance of thinking through the planning, design, construction and operational issues in developing the “integrated” design/solution for the project. The key words are “team”, “integrated” and “solutions”. It is the only way to fully leverage the full potential of the systems and solutions.

Bill Gregory: Sustainability requires a holistic methodology from the beginning that includes all the stakeholders. This approach ensures greater understanding and commitment to the process and allows everyone to work from the same knowledge base toward agreed goals.

Tim Cole: There are many places to start; it all depends on priorities. Be sure to put at the top of your list some of what is called, “low hanging fruit”, as you may not want to tackle the more difficult things at the start. I recommend the Internet as a source; just don’t let it overwhelm you. Also, start questioning your suppliers on their commitment to sustainability.

How do I sell sustainable choices internally?
Gregory: Studies are now available which provide beneficial metrics for going green. When the decision makers understand the people and profit advantages, selling environmental is not required.

Dehne: Sustainability sells itself by demonstrating the long term benefits. A payback as high as seven years is still a return on investment of 14% and in today’s market that’s a very good return.

Cole: Groups like Healthcare without Harm (H2E), ASHE, and IFMA’s Healthcare Council all promote sustainable programs. The best way to sell sustainable best practices internally is to offer examples of the leaders within the industry. There is now data available from these leaders that show better worker productivity, less absenteeism, healthier indoor environments, marketing advantages and above all greater profitability.

Paul von Paumgartten: When people understand sustainability, it’s not a hard sell. You simply outline the environmental, social and financial risks that your organization faces — and the benefits that will accrue when sustainable practices are followed. The risks vary but they generally include rising energy costs, energy and environmental mandates, and reduced availability of local energy and water resources. The more you show how your organization will gain through proven sustainable practices the easier it will be to sell it.

Cameron Adams: A strong communications program is essential to selling sustainable choices internally and externally. Understanding and communicating the benefits of the program internally will help secure buy-in from all parties.

Will we sacrifice performance?
Gregory: No. High performance and green are interchangeable in discussing building operations.

Cole: In no way. Most products with a lower environmental footprint actually outperform their competition. Sustainable product manufactures learned early on that if they wanted to help transform the market to sustainability that their products must perform equal to or better than the competition, and that the costs had to be in line as well. Currently, the best way to confirm manufacturer claims as it pertains to its environmental impact or footprint is through life cycle assessment (LCA) data from third party review.

Adams: If you are interested in implementing green programs, independent third-party certification from Green Seal or other reputable organizations is important.

What are the arguments for green specific to health care?
Gregory: Designing and managing a green health care facility requires considering the needs of many people—patients, physicians, staff, visitors and community. Providing safe and healing surroundings serves everyone. Sustainable choices provide solutions.

Dehne: Properly designed and installed green products/solutions will result in a healthier environment, a better healing environment with higher comfort and daylight levels, and improved employee satisfaction.

Cole: Creating a healthy indoor environment is key to eliminating perceptions that the public has about health care facilities. For example, there are studies that show endocrine disruptors linked to some plasticizer emissions from plastic (PVC) products. The Healthy Building
Network is a good information source on this topic.

Adams: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls indoor air pollution one of the greatest risks to human health. It can be as much as 100 times more polluted than outside air. The quality of air in health care facilities is of critical importance since patients may have weakened immune and respiratory systems. The Greenguard Environmental Institute has developed an indoor air quality (IAQ) standard for cleaning systems and products based upon allowable chemical emissions criteria.

What are the green advantages specific to K-12 environments?
Gregory: One of the most significant benefits for K-12 is healthier interiors that contribute to better learning environments. Green solutions that improve IAQ, offer high performance, absorb sound, provide energy efficiencies and pleasing aesthetics are welcome attributes for any interior, but especially valued in educational settings.

Cole: California led the way with the Collaborative High Performance Schools (CHPS) program. All building products used must meet emissions requirements that are safe for exposure to children. CHPS also looks at recycled content and the environmental impact of the building products. Many other state and local governments are creating environmentally preferable product requirements.

Adams: Poor IAQ in schools adversely affects students and can aggravate asthma and other respiratory conditions. It can result in sick days, reduced productivity, and lower test scores. In fact, asthma exacerbated by poor IAQ causes children to miss more than 14.5 million school days a year. Asthma is also the third leading cause of hospitalization amongst children under the age of 15 with annual healthcare costs for all asthma patients exceeding $11 billion.

Can we be green without LEED ® ?
Dehne: Yes. The key to being green is to put a process in place during the development, implementation and operation of a project, continually looking for improvements to both process and operations once the project construction is complete.

Cole: Of course. Though the LEED® rating system probably offers the most robust criteria for sustainable building practices, not being certified does not mean your facility is not green. Many use the LEED criteria as a guide for best practices, but may not certify their project. Many that obtain certification state that setting a goal of silver, gold, or platinum created an incentive that brought all the stakeholders closer together with a strong commitment to their cause.

Von Paumgartten: Any time a facility saves energy and water or reduces waste, it’s being green. For hospitals, in fact, the Green Guide for Healthcare (www.gghc.org) is a voluntary, self-certifying best practices toolkit based on LEED. And facilities that want to improve their environmental footprint can find numerous suggestions on the Internet. LEED, however, provides the certification preferred by a growing number of cities, states and the federal government.

Does green cost more?
Gregory: With any construction project, managing costs requires planning and review. Green projects should start with holistic thinking that involves the full team from the outset, so that upfront costs are balanced against operating costs. As the marketplace becomes better educated about building green, the process will be better under-stood and there will be fewer misconceptions. There is a full selection of green products, which was more a challenge in the past. From an operating perspective, conservation of energy and water alone may save a typical hospital between $100,000 and $200,000 annually. This economic benefit—whether realized as a cost or resource saving— is spurring the rise of sustainable buildings.

Johnson Controls was instrumental in developing a comprehensive, 80-school modernization project plan for the Buffalo School District.

Dehne: Yes....and No. A good way to think about the cost is that you pay more to understand the issues and possible solutions, and if cutting edge technology is employed in the solutions. You will realize savings, not just in the energy cost to operate the facility, but in the cost of downsized structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, a direct result of the improved energy efficiency.

Cole: During the beginning of the sustainable movement many claims were made about “green” costing more. Today there is a multitude of case studies available through organizations like the Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments, the US Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org), the International Facility Managers Association (www.ifma.org) and others.

Adams: A good resource is Greening America’s Schools Costs and Benefits report sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, American Institute of Architects, American Lung Association, Federation of American Scientists and U.S. Green Building Council. In a comparison of green and conventional schools examined over a period of time, the long-term financial benefits to green school design may be more than 20 times as large as the initial two percent investment due to reduced energy, water and waste consumption.

von Paumgartten: In general, LEED projects have lower construction costs through reduced site preparation and landscaping. With the LEED for Existing Buildings rating, operating costs have proven to be lower, including reduced waste disposal costs by 50 to 98 percent and utility costs by 20 to 50 percent. On top of that, consider the better tenant and worker attraction, retention or reduced employee absenteeism and higher productivity, and the savings add up. Smart facility managers employ performance contracts that use up-front  savings to balance the cost of long-term green projects, such as capital items or renewable energy.

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