This Week in Sustainability: Smart Growth Development and How Facility Data Managers Make Buildings Greener

| Josh Henretig

flowerscityThis week, Fast Co.Exist examined the efficiency of smart growth in urban areas. A new report from Smart Growth America reviews 17 different municipalities and compares the impact of smart growth development in more concentrated urbanized areas and conventional suburban development where infrastructure is more spread out. On average, the smart growth option costs 38 percent less in upfront infrastructure than suburban development. In fact, Champaign, Illinois, one of the cities highlighted in the report, concluded smart growth could save $52 million, or 42 percent, over 20 years. Through examination of infrastructure, public services and tax revenue, the report demonstrates the practical application of smart development and the future of city planning—and clearly shows how compact smart growth can set the stage for smarter cities.

Elsewhere, GreenBiz published an in-depth article on efficiently using smart building data. Even when buildings are designed to be smart buildings, they can often have data stored away in a variety of formats scattered about an organization, which can make it difficult to use data to manage a building more efficiently. With an explosion of data, building managers increasingly need to monitor large amounts of data. That’s where a facility data manager comes in. By creating a position with the responsibility to oversee a building’s data from construction to facility management, building operators will be able to ensure that using data to boost efficiency is a top priority. This is similar to what we’ve done at Microsoft on our Redmond campus with our smarter buildings program, which combines technology and a dedicated team of building management professionals. Smart buildings can yield increased efficiency and cost benefits, cutting down on carbon emissions for society and reducing energy costs for businesses, and the best way to maximize these benefits is to have a data manager on board who understands the data from a micro and macro level. As we move toward a more IT-based system for buildings, this week’s piece in GreenBiz is a reminder that people are needed more than ever to apply a building’s data in a smart way.

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