Sustainability
Sustainable solutions.
At SFS, we pursue human health, energy efficiency and environmental stewardship in five key areas:
Indoor Environmental Quality
The quality of the indoor work environment has an impact on employee retention and wellness, both of which have financial benefits for employers. Contributors to indoor quality and comfort are individual control of lighting and temperature, and the use of materials that have a positive effect on indoor air quality. Active design can encourage healthy physical activity.
Passive Strategies
By maximizing daylighting, the use of electric lighting can be reduced and in turn lowering cooling loads. Analysis confirms that appropriate lighting can be achieved at work surfaces via modeling of combined daylight and artificial lighting with integrated controls. The use of biophilic design strategies and natural materials like wood and stone are often healthier and more sustainable than synthetic options. They also provide the added benefit of subtly reminding occupants of nature.
Healthy Materials Selection
Every product specified has a direct impact on the health of building inhabitants and our environment. Americans, on average, spend 90 percent of their time indoors[1]. Two to five times as many air pollutants are found indoors as out, and this number can rise to 100 times higher[2]. By selecting appropriate materials using Health Product Declarations (HPD’s) we can reduce or eliminate toxic substances, support human and environmental health, and produce healthier office environments.
[1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1989. Report to Congress on indoor air quality: Volume 2. EPA/400/1-89/001C. Washington, DC.
[2] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1987. The total exposure assessment methodology (TEAM) study. EPA/600/6-87/002a. Washington, DC.
Material Sourcing
By utilizing efficient adaptive reuse of existing materials and focusing on regionally available products we can reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions. We also review product specific Environmental Product Declarations (EPD’s) to maximize recycled content, reduce overall embodied carbon, and consider the potential for reuse at end-of-life.
Planning Together
The best sustainable strategies are forged when a diversity of perspectives come together. As part of the planning process, we recommend sustainable workshops with participation from stakeholders, users, facilities, operations and maintenance staff, consulting engineers and — when appropriate — contractors. The purpose of these workshops is to establish clear and measurable goals. We have found that in addition to attainable goals, aspirational goals are necessary to push the envelope, explore new alternatives and discover relevant strategies. Throughout this discovery we inform one another in order to make smarter decisions, many times without impacting cost. Experience shows that these workshops are an invaluable method of launching a project and ensuring that the entire team has a common basis of knowledge and understanding.