October 25, 2002—A survey conducted in September by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) indicates that 69% of the surveyed facility managers are implementing “green” building concepts and 58 percent use or plan to add environmental criteria to vendor and product selection.
The statistics reveal that facility managers are moving away from evaluating sustainability simply by recycled content and are adopting a broader approach that addresses all stages of a product’s life cycle. Fifty-one percent have implemented or plan to apply practices that consider product life cycle analysis and 94 percent believe that a product is sustainable or green if it is manufactured in an environmentally favorable manner. While facility managers are implementing the use of recycled content products in their facilities, more believe that lower total environmental impact is a better indication of sustainability.
The survey revealed the following statistics among the facility managers polled:
Percentage of facility managers that have the following green initiatives in place or plan to implement them in the next two years:
- 58% Use of environmental criteria for vendor and product selection process
- 64% Purchase of “earth friendly” products, systems or materials that produce as little pollution as possible in use and in production
- 51% Use of product life-cycle analysis:
Level of importance among facility managers regarding the following reasons for “greening” a facility:
- Cost Savings. 72.4% very important 23.9% somewhat important 3.7% not important
- Environmental responsibility:
65.5% very important
32.7% somewhat important
1.7% not important - Product Life-Cycle Analysis 47.6% very important
41.6% somewhat important
10.9% not important:
- Percentage of facility managers that believe a project to be green if it includes the following green strategies: 96% Has lower total environmental impact
74% Uses environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP)
57.5% Contains products that are durable
44% Easy to maintain and clean - Percentage of facility managers that believe sustainability will become an important issue for the industry: 95%
Results of the survey conducted for DuPont Antron were unveiled during the October World Workplace in Toronto. For more information contact the International Facility Management Association.
