What’s the Future Of Green Buildings In 2014? Industry Leader Offers Top 10 Megatrends

Green Building by quint via flickr.com

Happy New Year's Eve! As we welcome the year 2014, let's take a look forward at one of the most significant building and maintenance issues - being green and sustainable. Today's Facility Manager offers their perspective on green building trends. One surprise might be the focus on making existing buildings more green, instead of only new building. What do you see coming?

What are the major trends likely to affect the green building industry and markets in the U.S. in 2014? As one of the world’s leading green building consultants, Jerry Yudelson thinks he knows the answers. In fact, his Top 10 list of green building megatrends has become an annual event.

At the top of Yudelson’s 2014 list is the prediction that green building in North America will continue its strong growth in 2014, with the ongoing expansion of commercial real estate construction together with government, university, nonprofit, and school construction. “Green building is the tsunami of the future that will inundate the entire real estate industry,” says Yudelson.

The second megatrend on Yudelson’s list is the growing focus on energy efficiency in all kinds of buildings, including the increasing role of building automation…

Read the full article at Today's Facility Manager. 

Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year

We hope you enjoy your holiday season with family and friends!

Best Wishes,
Power Pusher

Getting the decorations out by m_shipp22

5 Questions Landscapers Hate to Hear

by Ryan Milani, via flickr.com

This article on TotalLandscapeCare.com makes it clear that potential landscaping clients sometimes misunderstand the process of hiring a landscaping professional. How do you handle client expectations, or try and educate them about what the process involves?

Are there questions you dread? Here are landscaper Ben Bowen’s top five inquiries he doesn’t like hearing:

1. Are you guys expensive? I don’t know. “Expensive” is totally relative, and I have no idea what you are using as a reference. I can’t honestly say “Yes” or “No”.

2. What does something like this cost? First of all, I am horrible with ballpark figures. Second, I know you say you won’t hold me to it — but you kind of will.
Read the full article on TotalLandscapeCare.com. 

Diesel exhaust the culprit in some lung cancer deaths

1 Diesel Engine 1930s by Rich701 via flickr.com

With the possible cancer causing effects of diesel, will that impact how you purchase new equipment or replace existing equipment in the coming year? How do you manage the long term impact of job sites on health with immediate business needs? Read more on the topic of diesels harmful effects on ISHN.com.
 
An estimated 6 percent of lung cancer deaths in the United States and the United Kingdom – 11,000 deaths per year – may be due to diesel exhaust, according to a study recently published in Environmental Health Perspectives.
 
The researchers estimate that 4.8 percent of lung cancer deaths in the United States and the United Kingdom is due to occupational exposure to diesel exhaust, while 1.3 percent is due to environmental exposures to the exhaust.

Truckers and miners exposed over their careers to diesel exhaust face a risk of deadly lung cancer that is almost 70 times higher than the risk considered acceptable under U.S. occupational standards. The scientists calculated the lifetime risk for these workers at up to 689 extra lung cancer deaths per 10,000 workers exposed.

Read the full article on ISHN.com. 

How To Run a Successful Snow-Removal Business

Expanding a landscaping business into snow removal can be lucrative, but it can also be expensive, exhausting and require dealing with stressed out people in stressful situations. Learn the ropes at TotalLandscapeCare.com and read an excerpt below.

Snow Removal by Eric Kilby via flickr.com

A successful snow removal business can help a landscaper’s year-round cash flow, but there’s more to it than just pushing the white stuff out of the way.

“If you don’t love it, don’t get into it,” says Harry Turner, founder of TLC Turner Lawn Care, a family-owned landscaping business in Monticello, Wisconsin. “I’ve gone as long as 47 hours without sleep.”

Long hours in negative 20-degree weather, working on holidays, equipment expenses, customers who don’t pay — all of these factors will make running a snow-removal business challenging. So before jumping in, business owners should take time to research the competition, available customers and how to charge.

Research the market Large commercial sites like banks, hospitals or mall parking lots offer one-stop plowing opportunities – but keep in mind the liability pitfalls. Also, since many of these sites are sewn up with a large provider deploying multiple trucks via sophisticated storm-tracking equipment, it may be worthwhile to research the benefits and drawbacks of signing on as a subcontractor.

Read the full article  at Total Landscape Care

Does Poor Safety Equal Poor Management?

Safety Signs, photo by mikecogh via flickr.com

Seeing accidents as inevitable, or devaluing human capitol, might be at the heart of poor safety culture decisions. As with any aspect of a business, if it's pushed down the ladder or put off for the future, it can be overlooked. With safety, that can have serious consequences. Read more about the connection between poor safety and poor management on EHSToday.com. See an excerpt below.

Many high-ranking leaders in various organizations have been quoted as saying that poor safety results are an indicator of other poor management practices. In interviews with top officials, the majority indicated that they demand excellence in safety from contractors and suppliers for the very reason that they view poor safety results as a warning sign of other management or performance weaknesses. Following this lead, many contractor management firms have vaunted safety as a primary condition of being included in the list of approved providers. But is safety necessarily linked to other performance areas, and if so, which ones? And what is the link?

To better answer this question, consider the potential causes for poor safety performance:

• Leaders of some organizations simply view safety as a low priority. This view can originate from other, more-valued priorities or from a philosophy that accidents are inevitable and unavoidable. Sadly, some organizations value the management of capital or technology more than the management of people and don't appreciate the importance of human capital.

Read the full article on EHSToday.com. 

Shipping Options Driving Consumer Purchases

Super Power Pusher at work

Shipping costs are increasingly a factor in holiday shopping. With the holidays almost upon us, how much are you considering shipping in your preparation? Does it involve more personnel, or technology upgrades? The excerpt from the Material Handling & Logistics article below examines the impact of shipping costs.

Consumers consider shipping options—including free shipping—to be an important factor in their overall shopping experience, according to 80 percent of those responding to a recent survey commissioned by Pitney Bowes Inc. The survey polled consumers on attitudes toward shipping through all channels, including in store, online, catalog, and phone.

“Shipping has become a considerable factor in consumers’ buying choices,” said Jim Hendrickson, vice president and general manager of shipping solutions, Pitney Bowes. “In fact, there’s now a blurred line between the decision on a shipping method and the selection of a product when it comes to the overall buying decision.”

The survey found free shipping is by far more important to Americans surveyed over fast shipping (77 percent vs. 19 percent). That number spikes further among those who’ve shipped a purchase in the last year (82 percent vs. 16 percent, respectively).

Read the rest of the article on MHLnews.com.