Property, facility managers play crucial role in facing environmental challenges

MANILA, Philippines - Because energy prices and electricity costs continue to spiral, facility and building managers who guarantee energy savings are in high demand. Berna Santiago, head of Integrated Facilities Management and Property Asset Management of Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu, relates that savings from energy management are now a standard feature of its service offerings “or at the very least are an expected value-add.”

Jones Lang LaSalle is a professional services firm specializing in real estate in 70 countries.  The firm is an industry leader in property and corporate facility management services, with a portfolio of approximately 1.8 billion square feet worldwide. In the Philippines, where the company operates as Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu, the firm reviews, analyzes and improves a client’s organization processes with the goal of reducing and streamlining space and utility usage.

Santiago relates that gasoline, electricity, and water rates are expected to keep rising. “With no downward trend in sight, it is absolutely necessary to know how businesses use energy and how it can be used more productively.”

Jones Lang LaSalle reports cite a United National Environmental Program that estimates that buildings are responsible for more than 40 percent of global energy use, one third of global greenhouse gas emissions and 20 percent of raw material use.” Colin Dyer, CEO of the Jones Lang LaSalle global network, observes: “As a business – and as an industry – we have a responsibility to respond to these challenges… We enthusiastically embrace every opportunity to partner with our clients to advance (the aims of sustainability and prosperity…)”?

Santiago shares that in offices, air-conditioning accounts for 34 percent of energy used; lighting, 30 percent; office equipment, 16 percent; water supply, 9 percent. The figures are widely accepted benchmarks offered by industry experts.  But while most people will agree that energy saving is an important principle, they more often than not don’t practice what has long been preached to them.

Henry Torremonia, who leads JLLL’s property management arm, relates that few employees are conscious of the fact that leaving computers on for long periods even when they are idle, and keeping lights open do add up to the energy bill. In one multinational operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, JLLL worked with an energy point person to simply unplug idle monitors, adjusted the illumination of light bulbs from 60 to 50 watts, set the air-conditioning at an optimum temperature, and replaced the water heater at the canteen with a solar powered one. All told, the firm saved P10 million in electricity charges over 12 months across a portfolio of 85,000 sqm. in four different buildings from these simple measures.