Integrating Sustainability into the Capital Planning Process

By Susan Buchanan on February 17, 2011 3 Comments automated building management systems, bio-based content, BRE Environmental Assessment Method, BREEAM, built environment, capital planning process, carbon footprint, CIEB, code compliance, community initiative, controls and sensors, ecological footprint, environmental, environmental design, facilities condition assessment, FCA, financial metric, green building, green chemicals, green economy, Green Globes for Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings, Green Globes® for Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings, healthy building, high-efficiency lighting, Inc., indigenous landscape maintenance, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance, LEED-AP, LEED-EB O&M, lifecycle costing, local sourcing, low-cost initiative, natural resource consumption, organic, real estate objective, recycled content, ROI, short-term payback, strategic business goal, Susan Buchanan, sustainability, sustainability initiative, sustainable investment strategy, triple bottom line, VFA, water-conserving plumbing fixtures

Company management should evaluate and prioritize green options while remaining aligned with their organization’s overall business mission. In this post, Susan Buchanan advises organizations that are just beginning the approach to sustainability to start with the low hanging fruit, i.e. the relatively achievable and lower cost green initiatives that can deliver short-term paybacks by reducing energy and natural resource consumption. Starting with an objective evaluation of their current state of sustainability and the options for change both in terms of financial metrics of course, but also looking at other metrics such as footprint and life cycle costing. Once these baseline metrics are established then the many green opportunities become more clear.