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"APPA Promotes Leadership in Energy and Sustainability with New FPI Tool"
Author: Boyce, Darryl K.,
Published In: Facilities Manager
Date: September/October 2012

Although sustainability best practices for buildings are generally well understood, campuses face unique challenges because they are developed to support a diverse community with a variety of facilities. From academic facilities and labs to residences and sports facilities, all operate under one organizational umbrella. This can make it difficult to compare the performance of individual buildings because of their varying operational requirements. It can also be a challenge to determine where resources should be allocated toward facility upgrades to derive the greatest environmental benefit or return on investment. For a number of years APPA has been developing and enhancing the Facilities Performance Indicators program (FPI) used by APPA members to assess and benchmark critical areas related to the construction, operation, and maintenance of institutional facilities. The FPI program has developed into a comprehensive database to support ongoing performance monitoring and benchmarking. The FPI program is currently being expanded to provide assessments and tracking of energy use and other sustainable operations criteria related to the campus and individual building operations. A working group was established under the APPA Information and Research Committee to review and evaluate strategies to expand the assessment in the critical areas of energy use and sustainable operations. To achieve the greatest benefit from an energy use/sustainable operations assessment tool, the database needs be dynamic so that the user can track and analyze key indicators, by building type, on a monthly basis. A system based on the Green Globes assessment structure was proposed, and Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, agreed to work with Jones Lang LaSalle to develop and pilot the enhanced Energy Module for the FPI program. The new program is called the Energy and Sustainability Assessment. APPA chose the Green Globes approach because it firmly establishes energy, water, and environmental baselines for each building against which the performance of implemented retrofits can be accurately measured.


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URLhttp://www.appa.org/files/FMArticles/fm_s_o2012_Feature4.pdf


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