What kind of jobs are available in sustainability, what kind of education and experience are required, will sustainability persist or will it fade away? Such questions lead one to ask what is sustainability? Multiple people have multiple definitions depending on their unique take on it. The triple bottom line is emerging as a defining conceptual explanation for what sustainability means, but widespread understanding of what this means remains somewhat shallow. This post suggests some of the expertise aspiring sustainability professionals should have.
This post poses the question whether or not reporting is a waste of time and then continues by showing three varying examples of where the GRI reporting is incomplete in very important ways and does not include critical data that is needed in order for the report to give a clear and actual picture of what kinds of waste are being generated and how they are being handled (or not handled). Elaine concludes by providing an example of what she feels is a GRI report, by Vestas, that provides clear numbers, clear narrative, clear graphics, clear reporting, in conformance with EN22 performance indicator.
A pending lawsuit alleges that the USGBC and its LEED standards are false advertising. Bob Faulhaber, who is himself a LEED, AP defends this green building certification system pointing out how it has succeeded in raising awareness and increasing involvement in developing and promoting green building techniques and that it has helped to promote an integrated approach to design and construction that has in fact lead to more sustainable buildings.
Bio-domes are a sustainable low cost water treatment technology that uses just one third the energy of traditional mechanical aeration systems and is also suitable for rural and other communities that currently rely on essentially unimproved treatment lagoons. They work by providing an optimal environment that promotes flourishing communities of beneficial bacterial biofilms that naturally process the dissolved and suspended pollutants in order to cleanse the water.
Jacquie discusses the consumer revolution that is driving the phenomena of green marketing outlining six new rules being written by consumers for manufacturers and marketers. While in the past consumers bought solely on price, performance, and convenience, today they are increasingly making their purchasing decisions based on additional criteria such as how products are sourced, manufactured, packaged, disposed of – and even such social aspects as how factory and farm workers are treated – now all of these other factors also matter.
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.
It can be said that lean is green. The obvious benefits of green and lean are energy savings, productivity savings, and savings from improved utilization of materials. They can also lead to innovations that involve creation of new products out of waste materials.
With LEED certified projects growing in popularity, green can be a major selling point to investors and tenants alike. These initiatives not only offer significant and measurable savings in terms of energy usage, but contribute to the health and well being of the people who live and work in your project, so green messaging is very important.
Green leasing plays an important role in the sustainability of the building stock; building operations themselves must be “greened” as well. Green leasing introduces sustainable goals and commitments into building operations and into the lease itself.
