What Makes a Building Actually Sustainable

There reaches a point with many commercial buildings where the architect shows up with awards, the developer sends out press releases about LEED ratings and green design features, and everyone takes pictures of the solar panels and green roof. And then… the building goes on its merry way just like every other building. Sometimes worse.

This is because sustainable design is not sustainable performance. A building can check all the boxes throughout construction and use an ungodly amount of energy for the duration that people are inside. It’s the gap between design intent and operational success that drains many sustainability aspirations.

The First Year Surprise

Buildings ultimately don’t perform as designed. HVAC systems that looked ideal on paper run non-stop because no one adjusted the schedule for occupancy. Lighting controls fail because they’re annoying. Building management systems are collecting data that no one is looking at.

That’s because buildings are complicated. They’re not static things – they’re systems needing constant attention. Whether it’s temperature variances throughout the day or occupancy patterns shifting or equipment failing or seasonal impacts on how a building is supposed to operate.

The user doesn’t know that’s going on, though. They just know their office is too hot in the afternoon or the conference room is too cold in the morning. So they open windows that aren’t supposed to be opened or buy space heaters, creating inefficiency upon inefficiency.

What Keeps Buildings Sustainable

The buildings that retain their sustainability nomenclature after the ribbon cutting do something different. They take operations just as seriously as they did design. They monitor. They analyze. There is someone who knows what the data means.

Energy consumption occurs in patterns – it doesn’t just happen. If a building is consuming a lot of energy at 3 a.m., something’s running when it shouldn’t be running. If it’s steadily getting louder and louder over the course of several months, then the equipment is going down. These patterns do not reveal themselves without someone looking for them.

This is where specific energy and buildings expertise comes to the forefront as energy optional, not a nice-to-have. The technical knowledge needed to interpret building performance data and make adjustments is not what most facility teams have in-house. This possesses a specialty skillset where engineering knowledge meets operational experience.

For example, buildings receiving energy management use 15-30% less energy than comparable buildings without energy management. It’s not better equipment; it’s proper use of the existing equipment.

Maintenance

The more sustainable the building, the less maintenance attention it gets. Those high-efficient systems that cost additional construction dollars?

They require more intimate calibrations and adjustments/frequency of repairs than standard equipment.

Air filters need to be replaced, sensors need recalibration, control sequences need adjustment as building-use patterns shift away from how they originally had been implemented before occupancy even started. If they don’t, efficiency plummets fast.

But here’s the kicker: most commercial buildings are on reactive maintenance. Something fails; someone fixes it. That does not work to maintain sustainability performance because by the time it fails? Efficiency has been sacrificed for months.

Preventive maintenance schedule sounds mundane, but it’s what keeps buildings that retain their performance apart from those that find themselves in a spiral of energy waste. The same HVAC system that is checked every three months and adjusted seasonally will use significantly less energy over five years than one that is identical but only gets attention when it fails to run.

User Behavior Changes Everything

You can build an efficient building, but occupants will find a way to ruin it. Not because they’re malicious but because sometimes, they’re just uncomfortable, or the systems aren’t responding how they think they should.

Desk space heaters are a prime example. One space heater may seem innocent, but 20 of them across one floor equals serious electricity consumption. More importantly, they represent that something is failing within the HVAC system – information someone should act on.

Building operators recognize trends – if people on the north end of the building are always too cold but people on the south end are consistently complaining about heat, that’s not just comfort; that’s an efficiency concern – two competing systems are trying to meet needs.

Occupant training helps – but only so much. Systems need to be receptive enough so occupants feel inclined not to intervene. When comfort occurs naturally, occupants leave it alone.

The Technology Trap

There’s significant push for more technology in buildings – more sensors, more automation, more AI-driven controls. While this helps sometimes, it often builds in unnecessary complexity without building actual performance.

The problem with these complex systems? They need complex management. If no one knows how to operate all the bells and whistles, then it’s back to square one with basic operations – and worse – troubleshooting down the line takes longer and is more expensive when something’s wrong.

Sometimes, less sophisticated performance measures work best. Sometimes, operating within capabilities works best relative to those managing buildings day-to-day. A monitoring system someone actually utilizes beats an advanced system someone neglects any day.

What The Data Really Says

When you look at data across multiple buildings, trends emerge. Buildings with dedicated energy management outperform those without regularly – age and design attributes do not matter as much since a mediocre building will outperform a sustainably designed one just running its course if the mediocre building has active management’s involvement.

The same happens with carbon emissions – with operational carbon footprints almost exclusively reliant on how a building is managed over construction materials invested in over time; during occupancy operations, energy consumption dominates those calculations across time.

For Long-Term Success

Sustainability operations don’t end when tenants move in – they’re ongoing measurements that need resources and sustained attention.

Those who want to take a passive approach fail with systems underperforming their potential; those who incorporate energy management into their budgets from day one know what they’re doing – they set metrics and track them, assess necessary personnel and systems to keep efficiency up over time.

This does not mean every building needs an energy manager on staff; however, this means that recognized performance is its own specialized discipline – it requires real expertise – and whether that’s internal or external does not matter – it must be available for true success. This way there’s someone on hand to help decouple sustainable design intent from sustainable operational reality.

Buildings don’t stay efficient by themselves; buildings stay efficient because someone’s paying attention – and making little adjustments along the way – to keep everything on track and that’s what makes a building truly sustainable once construction crews leave for good.

*