SCUP Annual International Conference

• Sustainability requires full-time attention. Each one of these can profit from the full-time effort of at least one person: marketing & communication, energy costs, waste management, best practices, fostering behavioral change.
• Changing behavior requires making expectations clear. Clear expectations (let’s call them “policies") will be necessary for operation of lights, operation of computers, temperature set points, hours of building operation, comprehensive energy usage, comprehensive sustainability targets, utility metering, and a general philosophy of new technology adoption. (More on that last one, later — the rest should be pretty specific.)
• For any construction project, make sure you make your sustainability, energy usage, and LEED certification goals early. Changing your mind, late in the process (even late in the planning phase of the process) costs money.
• Make sure the responsible operating staff have the opportunity to contribute to building design decisions. They can provide a useful reality check.

Labels: sustainability