May 2, 2012
Dear INFM working group on Sustainability,
Please find below the draft for Commitment 2 of our work plan. The feedback I would appreciate from
you is:
1. In which project document would this checklist best be included?
2. Are there any questions that are not relevant?
3. Can you add any questions that are important for your facility and its’ sustainability?
Please send back this document with your answers/comments imbedded in it. In tracking mode and
COLOR please.
Sincerely yours,
Dominique Brief
Your SUN colleague
1
INFM Working Group on Sustainability
Goal: Moving towards high-performance building management
Commitment 2: One-page checklist of best practice sustainability issues to include in future projects
Definition: What is Sustainable Facilities Management?
A Facilities Management process which optimizes financial, environmental and social factors in support of the
primary purpose of the organization1
What is this Checklist for?
 This checklist is to help facility managers identify best practice sustainability issues to include in upcoming
projects.
 The INFM working group asked for a one-page summary of core sustainability issues so this product satisfies
that request.
 Best Management Practices (BMPs)for sustainability will improve the financial, environmental and social
impacts of the project compared to standard practices
 This checklist is a guide only - it does not include legal requirements or regulations.
 As this checklist is a guide, some of the questions may not be applicable to your facility. Conversely, you may
also want to add issues that are particular to your project.
 Sustainability in this checklist is defined by three pillars of impacts: economic, environmental and social.
 This checklist includes practices relating to the cross-roads between facility management and sustainability. It
includes the issues of: energy efficiency and renewable energy, direct and indirect environmental impacts,
resource conservation and recycling, indoor environmental quality, and community issues.
 The sustainability issues included in this checklist take into account the whole-building management
perspective by incorporating both operations (operations and maintenance) and the physical aspects of the
building (structure and technology).
 This checklist covers the core sustainability issues of building performance identified in UNEP’s upcoming
Sustainable Buildings (SB) Index, which are: energy/greenhouse gas emissions; water; materials; social issues;
biodiversity; and economics.
How to use this Checklist?
Read through the questions. When you reach a question which you did not include in your plan, see if it is
relevant to your project and include a strategy for dealing with it.
1
Sustainable Facilities Management. ABS Consulting. London: UK
2
1-page CHECKLIST: Twenty-five questions for improving the sustainability components of future projects
Question
Financial considerations
1 Have you identified the investment costs? (e.g. $)
2 Have you estimated the payback period? (e.g. years)
3 Did you calculate the potential financial savings? (e.g. $/year)
YES NO N/A
Environmental considerations
4 Have you determined the GHG/carbon emissions impacts?
5 Did you calculate the energy savings of the project (specify type and unit, e.g. kWh/year),
6 Have you included the waste reduction impacts of the project (tons/year)?
7 Did you include the water quality impacts of the project ?
8 Did you include the water conservation impacts of the project ?
9 Are there any Indoor air-quality considerations to take into account?
10 Are there any toxic chemicals to consider?
11 Will the building site be impacted? (e.g. landscape/hardscape/soil health/water table)
12 Has the local biodiversity been taken into consideration (e.g. wildlife, plants)?
13 Have you analyzed if there are any fuel source implications? (e.g gas, oil, coal, electricity)
14 For construction projects, can you recycle or reuse operational, construction or demolition
materials? Select building materials based on sustainability standards?
Social considerations
15 Have you included staff training for those responsible for any new technology and
equipment?
16 Has an outreach/education/awareness component for staff affected by the project been
established?
17 Did you identify the aesthetic values of the project?
18 Are there human health and safety considerations?
19 Are there any local community social and recreational opportunities to take advantage of?
Cross-over considerations
20 Is the project necessary or can an alternative be found?
21 Has space utilization optimization been evaluated? (economic, environmental and social)
22 Have you included the relevant considerations listed above (economic, environment,
social) in your bidding and procurement documents?
23 For rental agreements, have you negotiated the lease structure with the landlord to
include environmental improvements? (e.g. reduce GHG emissions, improve energy
efficiency, conduct an energy audit)
24 For energy management, is your facility eligible for a utility rebate program? (Check local
energy and utility providers and governmental agencies); Have you compared your energy
tariff structure and green power options from energy suppliers?; Are your offices metered
and sub-metered so that you can measure individual systems (e.g. lighting, cooling) or
areas (e.g. data centers, kitchens) energy consumption over time?
25 Have you consulted with an interdisciplinary team of relevant colleagues to consider the
sustainability implications of the project? Does your core team include senior
management?
3