The 10-Minute Tune Up About Energy
Carbon Footprint, Energy Efficiency August 25, 2010
Today's tip is about how one organization's facility team is working to communicate to its occupants what they can do to help the company's overarching energy and carbon footprint goals.
The organization, IFC, a development bank in Washington, D.C., is in the midst of what it calls its 10-Minute Tune Up Initiative. Essentially, a member of the sustainability or carbon footprint team is going around to every one of the 2,500 employees that work at the bank's headquarters building to tell them about things they can do to help save energy and be more environmentally conscious - like setting their computers to sleep after five minutes and making sure they understand recycling and composting procedures.
The organization is using the facility's LEED Platinum certification as a way to frame these strategies, as well as telling staff about the organization's goal of being carbon neutral.
Despite the sheer time it will take to complete this initiative, the facility folks at IFC consider it a worthwhile endeavor, as it represents a way to continuously improve after its LEED Platinum certification.
Whether or not facility managers set themselves a goal of talking on a one-on-one basis to each building occupant, FMs should definitely devise a way – whether newsletter, help desk or even making themselves available in the cafeteria during lunchtime – to stay in constant communications about sustainability and energy initiatives. After all, occupants are a key part of energy-saving success.
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