IFMA, the International Facility Management Association, just released the results of its latest survey of facility managers, which includes a question on energy and sustainability strategies.

The good news is that 85 percent of facility managers have energy conservation programs in place, with 61 percent planning to do more in the next 12 months and another 7 percent planning to start new programs. More specifically, 44 percent are planning lighting retrofits and 38 percent expect to install light sensors.

The bad news is that even though 33 percent expect to increase their spending on building systems equipment in the next six months, only 24 percent said they expect utility costs to decrease, while 26 percent anticipate increased costs.

It seems that some facility managers expect to spend time and money without seeing any measurable benefit.

Or maybe they just lack the means or motivation to conduct the measurement.

Tellingly, only 47 percent are currently participating in Energy Star in any way, and 43 percent said they have no plans to do so. Energy Star is not the only way to measure energy efficiency, but it is a fairly simple, cost-free and accurate way to gauge performance.

A facility manager with no interest in Energy Star is probably not tracking normalized utility costs, and therefore can’t determine the return on investment for past capital expenditures. That must make it tough to get more money.

The original version of this post appeared on the Jones Lang LaSalle Green Blog and is reprinted with permission.

^{Image CC licensed by Flickr user mlinksva.}