How green buildings and sustainable practices help businesses & the environment
We’re surrounded by messaging to turn our everyday practices “green”. Changing to a reusable coffee cup, better lightbulbs, monitoring our emissions, these are all stepping stones and sustainable changes that when made to buildings and facilities across a portfolio can make a big difference.
Integrate these changes with an IWMS solution and effective reporting, and you’re on the road to sustainable operations. Green buildings are built with intentional steps and design that align with organizational ESG goals and business operations over the long term.
Green buildings
In 2010, studies found that buildings accounted for 32% of total global energy use. Unfortunately, this has changed in the decade since, with the United Nations citing that 37% of process related emissions and energy came from buildings.
This presents a real problem, as cities and our built environments continue to grow with our population, we need solutions and processes to combat this. Mandates like Canadas greening government vow to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, need concrete action and steps to be carried out in order to be seen as impactful in the coming years, but are a starting point for world governments and organizations.
One approach the real property sector is taking is the formation of green buildings to match green initiatives in real estate. This gives leaders a way to optimize buildings emissions & facilities to be more sustainable long term while leveraging digital solutions and tools that are already in place.
The sustainability of these buildings however is not based on one or two systems, but rather how they work together as a whole over the long term. Moving to these green operations in buildings and eventually whole cities will make a significant difference in carbon emissions over time.
Benefits of green buildings
Green buildings designs lend themselves to the improvement of outputs and overall handling of emissions and energy, but also to create a healthy environment within them for their occupants.
Outfitted with smart technology, green buildings can track energy use and demand while using data to find areas that require attention or could benefit from an upgrade or optimization. Specific attention to things like lighting, heating & air conditioning during peak and down hours can drastically impact a buildings “green status”.
Through these lowered emissions and improved energy efficiency, repeated action over and over in buildings creates greener portfolios and pushes us closer to net-zero.
Bolster this with the integration of IWMS or IoT solutions to monitor assets and facilities that contribute to healthy occupants. Keeping an eye on energy consumption and output to discern when a system is no longer in the desired range for sustainability, and adjusting using the data collected and systems that are available..
These changes can work to improve the internal environment as well, making the office space more comfortable, and healthy for tenants.
Green technology
Thankfully, emerging technology in the areas of automation is making green buildings easier to maintain and evolve over time so that our now green tech does not fall out of favor.
Green technology also extends outside of buildings – the implementation of automation in industries such as transportation or agriculture (two of the other largest contributors to emissions) where congestion or energy consumption can be optimized and adjusted to be more sustainable and eco-friendly.
As for green buildings, automation and the internet of things (IoT) are the primary drivers of turning built environments green and sustainable for the future and their occupants. A network of sensors, monitors, and systems feed data into an application or software such as Archibus which in turn presents a comprehensive look at the portfolio and how facilities are functioning.
Using this technology allows for real-time quantitative looks at how a building is functioning which can highlight areas of concern or which systems are not performing at a “green” level, aiding in the transformation into a green office.
Green office space
Green office space should be a goal for every organization, as we are seeing more and more large companies such as Amazon are making moves towards green buildings and environmentally sustainable practices in business and in their investments.
Green office space encapsules several things and is usually designed to improve their carbon footprint and emissions as well as create a greener, healthy space internally for occupants.
Striking a balance between green both inside and outside can be tricky however, as sometimes the most optimal outputs for emissions don’t create the best internal environment whether it be due to heating, lighting or other factors.
A Harvard study released covering the foundations of a healthy building mentioning that air quality/ventilation can improve cognitive function along with physical health. Combined with lighting and natural views of landscapes or the inclusion of green walls or plants, which have been shown to have positive psychological effects on occupants.
The design of an office space that promotes health and wellbeing will produce a healthy and productive staff, only benefiting the organization in the long run.
Environmental Sustainability
With green measures and initiatives being taken by more and more businesses, the importance of sustainability is at the forefront of all decisions, as without sustainable practices it becomes a band-aid fix and we end up back at square one in a decade or so.
Finding sustainability and maintaining it are the main hurdles here as maintaining it with an IWMS or supporting application can be helpful as their automated systems can control things like lighting or smart windows to control energy use.
Efforts like recycling wastewater in buildings can have a profound impact long-term on water consumption and energy used to pump in new water. Sustainability can also look like effective facilities management in order to guarantee functionality and lower costs of repair or replacement.
Monitoring Emissions
Of course, you can’t reduce emissions through guesswork and a few lucky tweaks to the systems, optimizing emissions and energy use for environmental sustainability means consistent monitoring using technology and maintaining said tech to perform over time.
Investment in this technology is the first step to monitoring emissions, once technology has been deployed then facilities managers or a designated equivalent must be tasked with tracking of emissions and related outputs and see to it that they are within the organizations target ranges.
Collection of data is not enough, knowing how to use it is the next step, spotting inconsistencies or areas of concern and knowing how to deal with them and improve can make sure a company gets to their target emissions and stays there.
The Future of Environmental Technology
The market for environmental technology is expected to expand significantly in the coming years, and the future is bright as increased investments are yielding means to further efforts in electric cars, clean water, and clean energy.
The invention of smart windows could help to revolutionize heating and cooling as they can impact a rooms heat and take the burden off HVAC systems.
As more buildings are turned green and more businesses cast aside budgets and prioritize their environmental sustainability, green technology will continue to advance as we create fully green cities that are sustainable and largely running on automated networks.
As AI and IoT become increasingly popular, we could see entire sectors being run on automated systems tracking emissions and ensuring the ideal levels of lighting, HVAC, and energy use.
Takeaway
Your business is likely taking, or considering taking action to become more environmentally friendly and improve their overall carbon footprint. As technology advances and sustainability becomes paramount, be careful to check all the boxes and can not only become environmentally friendly but stay there as well.
Using an IWMS, IoT or automated software to aide in environmental action can be a good way to get started on turning your office green with sustainability.
Horizant – how we can help
Horizant’s experience with facilities solutions and IWMS means that our experts can help guide you to the best customized experience for your business and ensure you’re getting the most out of your software while being prepared to use it to the fullest.
Any questions? Visit our website for more information or to talk to our team.