When deciding where to locate a facility, companies are thinking green, a new survey has found.
Choosing a design that doesn’t disturb the surrounding natural environment or opting for processes that reduce water consumption are just two examples revealed in the recently published Facility Sustainability Survey Report by Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium.
The survey found that 65 percent of respondents always locate their buildings away from floodplains, prime farmland, habitats for endangered or threatened species and wetlands.
And 67 percent always eliminate all pollution from the building to control erosion, runoff to storm sewers or local waterways and dust generation.
Also, more companies are installing systems to allow them to capture waste water for reuse.
“While businesses are still seeking to achieve an acceptable ROI for their green building initiatives, they are also beginning to show a greater general concern for the environment,” said Bruce Tompkins, executive director of Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium and author of the report.
“Decisions are still being made based on the bottom line, but this general concern shows that companies are increasing their triple bottom line, benefiting three elements: people, planet and profit.”
Other results
The survey also revealed the following statistics:
• 39 percent of companies always ensure they have adequate controls to allow all HVAC and lighting systems to be shut down or controlled by occupants;
• 30 percent of companies always ensure they design building systems such as HVAC, electrical, mechanical and plumbing to be complementary when possible, and use efficiencies aimed in one system to assist in another system; and
• 39% of companies prepare a natural resources inventory of their selected site that catalogues the current status of the area.
The survey is the third of four on green supply chains issued by the Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium. The first two, on packaging and transportation sustainability, were released in 2009. The final report, on waste and recycling, will be published later this year.
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