SFP cheat sheet

Triple bottom line: sustainability decisions are evaluated on three axes - social (people), environmental (planet), and economic (profit); a facility initiative justified on cost alone is incomplete.

Alignment test: an initiative enters the sustainability strategy only if it maps to at least one organizational goal, has a named owner, a metric, and a target date.

Materiality test: a topic is material when it significantly affects environmental, social, or economic performance AND could influence stakeholder decisions; material topics set reporting and program priorities.

ISO 14001 environmental management systems run on Plan-Do-Check-Act and require an environmental policy, a register of aspects and impacts, a legal compliance register, objectives and targets, and management review.

Simple payback (years) = initial project cost / annual savings; simple payback ignores the time value of money, so long-horizon facility investments are also screened with life-cycle cost or NPV.

Influence/interest grid: high influence + high interest = engage closely; high influence + low interest = keep satisfied; low influence + high interest = keep informed; low + low = monitor.

Charrette: a facilitated multi-stakeholder workshop held early, before design is fixed, to agree sustainability goals, performance targets, and trade-offs among owner, designers, operators, and users.

Reporting frameworks: GRI = broad ESG disclosure standards; CDP = climate, water, and forest questionnaires for investors and customers; GRESB = ESG benchmark for real estate and infrastructure portfolios; ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager = energy benchmarking.

Green lease: clauses allocating responsibility between owner and tenant for data sharing, submetering, cost recovery of efficiency upgrades, and minimum operating standards - used to remove split incentives.

Life-cycle assessment stages: raw material extraction, manufacture, transport, use, maintenance, and end of life; alternatives are comparable only when they share the same functional unit and system boundary.

Environmentally preferable purchasing rule: specify recycled content, low VOC emissions, water and energy efficiency, durability, and take-back; verify claims with third-party certifications rather than marketing language.

Commissioning verifies that installed systems meet the Owner's Project Requirements (OPR) and the basis of design; retro-commissioning applies the same process to an existing building that has drifted from design.

Energy project screening: rank by annual savings times cost-effectiveness (simple payback against a hurdle rate), and check interactive effects - lighting savings also reduce cooling load but may raise heating load.

IPMVP M&V options: A = retrofit isolation with measured parameters; B = retrofit isolation with some stipulated parameters; C = whole-building utility meter comparison; D = calibrated computer simulation.

Waste hierarchy, in order of preference: prevent/reduce, reuse, recycle or compost, recover energy, dispose in landfill last.

Indoor environmental quality references: ASHRAE 62.1 for minimum ventilation rates, ASHRAE 55 for thermal comfort, plus low-emitting materials, daylight and views, and acoustic criteria.

Certification selection rule: LEED BD+C for new construction and major renovation; LEED O+M for existing buildings scored on measured operating performance; WELL and Fitwel target occupant health rather than building performance.

Water measures: low-flow fixtures and flush valves, submetering by end use, leak detection, native or adaptive landscaping, and cooling tower conductivity control to raise cycles of concentration.

Energy use intensity (EUI) = annual energy consumption / conditioned floor area, in kBtu/ft² or kWh/m²; it normalizes for size so buildings of different scale can be compared and trended.

ENERGY STAR score: 1–100 rating from EPA Portfolio Manager comparing weather-normalized source energy use against similar buildings; 75 or higher is the certification threshold for eligible property types.

HVAC efficiency controls: air-side economizer for free cooling, demand-controlled ventilation via CO2 sensors, optimal start/stop, static pressure and supply air temperature resets, and staging of chillers and boilers.

Lighting operations: reduce lighting power density with LEDs, add occupancy sensing and daylight dimming, and manage lamps, ballasts, and batteries as universal waste because of mercury and heavy metals.

Cooling tower water use falls as cycles of concentration rise; each additional cycle cuts blowdown and makeup water but increases scaling risk, so conductivity, biocide, and bleed control are monitored together.

Green cleaning: certified low-emission products, dilution control, microfiber tools, entryway matting, and day-cleaning or after-hours equipment scheduling to protect indoor air quality and occupant comfort.

Integrated pest management: monitor and identify pests, set action thresholds, apply sanitation, exclusion, and least-hazardous treatment first, and communicate pesticide use to occupants.

Waste operations: right-size and co-locate containers where waste is generated, control contamination in recycling streams, and require hauler weight and diversion reporting to verify performance.

Measurement and verification converts utility and submeter data into reported savings by comparing measured use against a weather- and occupancy-adjusted baseline; unverified savings cannot be defended in budget cycles.