SFTool Blog
Welcome to the SFTool Blog. The Sustainable Facilities Tool (sftool.gov) helps you do more than learn about high-performance buildings and purchasing. SFTool helps you put this knowledge into practice, and assemble the people you need to help you get stuff done.
We’ve decided to share some of our experiences while developing SFTool. We’ll talk about interactions with the building community, challenges we’ve overcome designing the site, and other stories about putting high-performance ideas into practice.
Note: The SFTool blog may contain links to websites of public and private organizations, as well as references to specific products used in development. A link or mention anywhere on SFTool is not an endorsement of the views, products, or services provided by the mentioned resource or product.
Friday, October 28, 2016
Happy Halloween!
So how do you fight energy vampires? Check out SFTool's Plug Load page and more strategies from the Department of Energy (DOE).
Visit DOE's Energyween page for more Halloween-themed tips plus some great costume and pumpkin ideas!
Thursday, September 22, 2016
New SFTool Framework on Managing Climate-Related Risks to Federal Supply Chains
To help Federal agencies meet the requirements of this EO and manage climate-related supply chain risks, we've partnered with GSA's Office of Acquisition Management to develop a new set of pages, Managing Climate Change Risks to Federal Agency Supply Chains. They provide a framework for assessing climate- and weather-related risks to supply chains and developing plans to minimize those risks.
The framework, outlined in the figure to the right, offers information for approaching risk management in the context of climate change through four common risk management steps. Each step provides flexible guidance to meet the needs of different agencies, as well as background information on the fundamentals of climate change. By working through the framework, agency staff can determine whether new risk management strategies or changes to existing risk management practices may be necessary to accommodate climate change-related risks.
An Excel-based companion workbook allows you to document findings as you work through the framework. This workbook, as well as a PDF version of the framework for offline use, is available for download from the new pages.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Energy Exchange 2016
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Green Leasing: Coming Soon to SFTool!
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Sustainable Child Care Centers
There are many building aspects we take for granted as adults that affect children differently. For example, windows at a height acceptable for an adult might be too high for a child to see. Lighting fixtures should promote indirect lighting; the children will be looking up at the adults in the classroom and shouldn’t be looking into direct light! A lot of these seem like no brainers, but you would be surprised at how these little considerations come together to have a big impact on child care centers. Design from the child’s perspective.
Material selection is especially important for children’s facilities. It is no secret that kids spend a lot of time on the floor (and occasionally licking it!). Non-toxic flooring and furniture with VOCs well below the legal limit are important, as are any cleaning products used on the toys, furniture, and flooring. All this ensures that children are protected from anything that could harm their growth or intellectual development at this early stage of life.
You might be wondering where this all comes from. We’ve got you covered on that too. GSA has a comprehensive Child Care Center Design Guide, full of information and requirements for planning in GSA controlled spaces (but applicable to everyone). We’ve also curated a list of credits in major green building rating systems that relate to child care centers.
All of these efforts offer a golden opportunity to involve young children in sustainability conversations. If they grow up turning out the lights, using less water, and understanding their place in the environment, future generations will be well suited to protect and improve the planet when it is their turn.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Bike to Work Day 2016!
First and foremost, where your building is located is paramount to encouraging biking or walking to work, not just this Friday, but every day. Choosing a sustainable site can have as large an effect on the greenhouse gas emissions of your building as any other consideration. Commuting often makes up a significant portion of emissions, and biking and walking are zero-emission methods! In addition to access to public transportation, any location should be evaluated for its walkability and rideability. GSA and EPA recently released their Smart Location Calculator, which rates buildings for several location efficiency factors – enter your address to find your Walk Score and more!
Second, providing the infrastructure for employees to easily bike is crucial to increasing adoption. Bike racks are a must, as are showers and changing facilities. You probably don’t want your employees spending their day in sweaty gym clothes, so make sure they’ve got access to a place to clean-up and change. It may be worth seeking an agreement with a nearby office or gym with the appropriate facilities to accommodate cyclists if your building doesn’t have them.
Third, incentivize! Bicycling is not only good for the earth, it’s great for building occupants’ health and happiness. All over the country on Bike to Work Day, cities and towns set up events, offer breakfast, and even sponsor convoys between major employment centers around town to encourage newbies to come out. Haven’t pulled your bike out of the shed in a while? Many events offer free tune-ups, and more experienced riders should be carrying the tools and tricks you need to have a successful ride to and from work. Make sure you’ve got an extra inner tube, just in case.
Also, it may have been awhile (or it may be your first time) riding on public streets alongside traffic, so safety is paramount! Wear reflective clothing, especially if you leave before the sun is fully up. Don’t forget a lock either, if your workplace does not have indoor bicycle storage. Perhaps most important is your helmet; wear it and make sure it fits properly. Check your brakes too – we know you’re in a hurry to get to work, but you’ll have to slow down and stop at some point! On top of all this, make sure to have fun this Friday while you make the Earth a better place with a little less traffic!
Monday, April 18, 2016
Earth Day 2016: Trees!
Even as steel skeletons dominate the skylines of many cities today, wood is still widely used in buildings. Floors, walls, and tables are just a few, and wood can be new or reused from other sources. In any situation, it is important to ensure your wood was sourced sustainably, and our new Verifying Delivery page can help you do that. Organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative ensure responsible forest management through their industry certification programs, and are another way of confirming a wood resource’s sustainability.
Wood products, like hardwood flooring, that contain sealants, adhesives, or other coatings may contain volatile organic chemicals, or VOCs. Make sure any wood product complies with international standards, which will ensure the indoor environmental quality of your building remains impeccable.
Forests play a key role in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a process known as ‘sequestering’ CO2. According to the Earth Day Network, an acre of trees sequesters enough carbon every year to offset 26,000 miles driven by the average car. In addition to preserving and managing forests, reusing and recycling wood products is also a great way to avoid chopping down trees unnecessarily. Often, this method is not only sustainable, but can be cheaper and produce more aesthetically pleasing results than new wood.
Planning an expansion or some landscaping? Save those trees! Any efforts in landscaping or development on your site should utilize low-impact development (LID). LID emphasizes maintaining a site’s existing hydrology as much as possible. Maintaining undisturbed areas or planting of local tree and plant species are two of the best ways to achieve this.
Regardless of theme, Earth Day is all about protecting the natural resources of the Earth in a way that will allow every future generation to experience them as we have. If you’ve recently completed a project that highlights Earth day principles, or your organization does something special for Earth Day, share it with us, or connect with us on Twitter so we can see!
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
SFTool on the Road – NFMT Conference
The focus of our booth is the Federal Facilities Skills Assessment Tool (FEDSAT). FEDSAT is a no-cost online skills assessment tool designed to help federal facilities personnel comply with the Federal Buildings Personnel Training act (FBPTA) of 2010. FEDSAT allows FBPTA affected personnel to demonstrate knowledge of high priority FBPTA “performances,” defined as typical job functions for facilities personnel.
FEDSAT helps facility managers assess their knowledge of the high-priority performances, fill gaps in those performances, and locate free training resources available from the Federal government, industry associations, and other sources, including resources that count for continuing education credits.
GSA’s Facilities Management Institute allows federal facility managers to manage and track progress towards fulfilling FBPTA requirements, and FEDSAT is fully integrated with the system to evaluate personnel on the 80 highest-priority performances. FMI also allows qualified individuals to ‘opt out’ of certain performances in FEDSAT if they are already satisfied by another professional certification or educational course.
Come over to booth #2395 and chat with us about everything FEDSAT and our other educational resources have to offer! We’ll be looking sharp, like we did at the Greenbuild Conference in November – check it out below!
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Social Sustainability
Social Sustainability, is defined broadly by the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability as “the social relationships, interactions, and institutions that affect, and are affected by, sustainable development.” SFTool’s new Social Sustainability module describes best practices, offers strategies, and provides resources from around the world designed to identify sectors at-risk for human rights violations so organizations and individuals can easily verify compliance with national and international standards. Follow the guide to help your building and procurement projects achieve their economic, environmental and social sustainability goals.
Concerns over socially sustainable development can originate both domestically and abroad and can come in many forms, such as:
- Unsafe working conditions, discrimination, and other workers’ rights violations
- Human trafficking
- Child labor or forced labor
- Privacy rights
The Social Sustainability page brings a wealth of information from across the globe into one place, including guidelines from the UN Guiding Principles, Global Reporting Initiative, US Departments of Labor and State, and many more. Procurement resources are further broken down into pre-award actions, like identifying human rights risks by category and country, and post-award actions, including verification of contractors’ claims of sourcing sustainably. In fact, there’s a whole separate page dedicated to resources that help with verification.
Those more interested in the issues or looking to ensure their projects, organizations, or business efforts are in line with international standards can go to the Initiatives, Guidelines, and Standards page. You can search by industry or guidance organization to see resources relevant to many social sustainability concerns.
SFTool’s new Social Sustainability module incorporates many strategies, best practices, and resources, but if you have an additional resource you think may be beneficial, send us a note using the ‘Give Feedback’ button at the bottom of every sftool.gov page!