I just had the pleasure of serving on a panel at GreenBiz Media’s VERGE Boston conference, which focused on the convergence of buildings, technology and transportation. The panel, called “The Trillion-Dollar M2M Opportunity,” was about the dramatic impact of machine-to-machine (M2M) technology on four industry segments: energy, transportation, the built environment and agriculture. 

M2M technology, also known as the “industrial Internet” or the “Internet of Things,” is the term used to describe the application of information and communication technology to improve and automate almost any business process. In the built environment or real estate world, this technology is enabling us to pull data out of building automation systems and to run real-time analytics that enable us to fine-tune the performance of all building systems and equipment—and significantly reduce reduce energy consumption. 

The analytics also enable us to tell when the performance of equipment is beginning to degrade and to correct small defects before a failure occurs, thus improving comfort and reliability. The Jones Lang LaSalle service that utilizes this technology is known as IntelliCommand. As discussed in the panel discussion, IntelliCommand consistently delivers 10% to 25% energy savings while also improving operational performance for our clients. 

On a related note, The Carbon War Room recently released a white paper that further describes the exciting possibilities across all four industry segments and describes the M2M industry as a potential trillion-dollar industry. If you thought that the Internet changed the way that we do business, the industrial Internet is going to have an even more dramatic effect.

We recently held an Energy and Sustainability round table event at VMware in Silicon Valley.  This event brought together some of our existing clients, along with potential clients, and led them through an open discussion around sustainability topics likely on the forefront of their minds.  This conversation proved extremely valuable, spurring new ideas and leading people to consider alternative solutions issues they faced. 

Our current ESS clients in attendance included Yahoo! and Intuit, and they were joined by representatives from EA, Juniper, and our host, VMware.  We covered a wide variety of topics including: smart building technologies; green building certification options; sustainability as a tool for engagement and recruitment of employees; and how to benchmark your sustainability program.   We saw how these leading companies in silicon valley were all keenly aware of the competitive advantage that a robust sustainability program could provide them in recruiting top talent.  The group also shared numerous common challenges, and we discussed strategies on how to obtain C suite buy in obtain funding for projects.  

The conversations contained so much passion and interest, we had to bypass a few topics our team had been prepared to lead.  Our event received extremely positive feedback from all who attended.  Our existing clients appreciated the opportunity to learn about our strong team of experts whom they could potentially leverage, and our potential clients saw our vast array of services we can provide. 

As an example of an opportunity that may not have been otherwise realized, VMware is going through a rapid expansion; the new construction is visible behind us in the photo (left) and felt by all of us who attended and had to park a few blocks away.  VMware is looking to ease this congestion with an employee shuttle program, something with which Frank Teng has experience as he helped deliver a world class program to Yahoo!  The ideas Frank shared were met with great appreciation.  

Based on the success of this event, we plan to hold a similar event in San Francisco in the near future, and highly recommend this format, if applicable, in your region.

At Deutsche Bank this year we made a huge effort to raise awareness of Earth Week and to encourage residents to take part in various activities. We even participated in Earth Hour where we switched off all lights within our floors for an hour!

For Earth Week, the HK Deutsche Bank team created a rainforest jungle within the client restaurant and provided a computer application where residents could calculate their carbon footprint. The rainforest jungle was created by adding various plants in the restaurant to create a green environment where people could have lunch and relax. We also created a step counter competition to encourage residents to use the internal staircase instead of the lifts and gave out food coupons for the residents that completed the most steps during the week.

We displayed posters with recycling initiatives that took place in the building in the last 12 months. We recycled various things throughout the week such as electronic waste, old clothes, books and eyeglass frames! This helped the clients understand the impact that our day-to-day actions have in the environment and also find innovative ways to change our habits and create A Cleaner Tomorrow (ACT)!

Our catering business partner delivered an excellent nutrition seminar around low carbon food options during Earth Week. We take ACTion throughout the year by having the Green Monday initiative where the catering offering is expanded to low carbon dish options with plenty of vegetables and less meat.

I am very excited to be part of the ACT program in creating a sustainable environment for the future and it is really interesting that all team members and clients are willing to participate!

Jones Lang LaSalle is committed to creating a more sustainable environment for current and future generations. We help clients do this throughout the world and we do this internally through our internal program ACT: A Cleaner Tomorrow.

This year, the ACT committee joined the Earth Day 2013 challenge and asked our employees to post photos of how they are taking ACTions to improve sustainability in the workplace or at home. Submissions came in from all over the world. There were quite a few photos of employees making great progress at reducing waste through recycling, composting and beach clean-up days. There were trips to national forests and biking to work. Of course several employees were running Earth Day events at their buildings – some ran events for an entire week!

Below are photos of the top ten finalists as voted on by their peers. Learn more in our latest Global Sustainability Perspective.

Cat Bampakou (Hong Kong)

The HK Deutsche Bank team has created a rainforest jungle within the client restaurant and provided a computer where residents could calculate their carbon footprint. We also provided step counters to encourage residents to use the internal staircase instead of the lifts and created a competition within users. Finally we invited a professional nutritionist to conduct a seminar about carbon free food.

Charles Carnahan (US)

My team in Northern Virginia is retrofitting fluorescent lighting with in house staff in our building. We are going from a system that uses 2 magnetic ballasts and 3 F40 bulbs to 1 electronic ballast and 3 F28 bulbs. A net reduction of about 47% in operating costs per fixture. We are also installing occupancy sensors that are estimated to save an additional 20-30%.

Jon Casteel (US)

Good Day. My home strives to promote a healthier planet through recycling, purchasing local foods and services. 6 months ago we started composting to further reduce waste, and I began to hug trees.

Victoria Chua (US)

Every year, our Earth Day event includes a planting booth where tenants are encouraged to plant their own flower/vegetable to take home and cultivate.

Ronald Dewey (US)

I will be running 3000 feet of drip irrigation to water my windbreak which we planted for erosion control.

Tony Dzick (US)

Earth Day 2013, my son Jake helped with the back yard garden. We expanded our operations to a massive 8×16 garden and installed some homemade “worm composting towers”! If you are unfamiliar to what a worm tower is; here is a YouTube link.

Cecilia Ortiz (US)

For Earth Day in Mexico´s office, Green Team brought basil plants to grow home vegetable gardens.

Kumar Ramaiah (India)

I have been composting domestic waste in a three layered structure made from clay. While all the vegetable waste from home is composted and dumping as municipal waste is avoided, this technology provides employment to local folks in making these terracotta. We have invited the inventor to speak about this at our Bangalore office on Earth Day. Please visit www.dailydump.org for more details.

Andy Rothman (US)

I have been committed to Earth Day over the years by helping out my local community, just recently I stepped it up and personally installed a 10 KW PV Systems that powers most of my house. Attached is a picture of the system that I installed, hope everyone has a great day!!

Miklos Szebenyi (Hungary)

For Earth Day we organized litter picking with our tenants around Dorottya Udvar office building in Hungary. Employees of Northgate Arinson, Lease Plan and PPD joined us. The result is on the picture.

The expansion of multi-national businesses, demand for commodities and foreign direct investment are driving economic growth in Latin America. As a result, real estate investment opportunities are growing throughout many of the largest markets and cities in Latin American countries, and sustainability initiatives are playing a role in improving economic stability.

Recent industry research analysing Latin American real estate suggests a trend in these markets: the strongest performing economies, which are best positioned to grow and accommodate urbanization, are those that have made investments in sustainable real estate. These markets have witnessed lower office vacancies and spikes in development over the last year. For example, in Lima, Peru, 6.3% GDP growth helped the overall office vacancy rate fall to just 1.1%, while in Bogotá, Colombia, vacancies are at their lowest since 2008, despite a boom in construction.

As international companies and investors focus more on Latin American operations, cities are facing more pressure to address issues relating to energy efficiency and climate change. In response, Latin American businesses and communities are working with organizations and programmes, such as Carbon Disclosure Project’s Cities programme (CDP), that measure the impact of energy and sustainability initiatives.

Companies and economies must provide employees, customers and people in the wider communities with spaces that promote safety, health and well-being, starting with the quality of air they breathe and the water they drink. Investors need assurances that cities have sustainability plans in place that will accommodate population and economic growth and address climate change. Environmental sustainability has become a business priority, not an option.

Five years ago, I saw this trend in full force when a Mexico City office building was the first in the city to receive LEED Gold Certification from the US Green Building Council, which recognizes environmentally friendly construction. Fast-forward to 2013, and sustainable, energy-efficient practices are critical considerations for growth across all sectors. For example, Monterrey, Mexico – a sustainable industrial space – is one of the leading industrial hubs in all of North America. Recently, a global telecommunications provider rolled out sustainable management and construction practices across its 2,000 retail locations in six Latin American countries.

Cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, both of which hosted global climate summits in recent years, have helped to raise awareness in the region. In fact, the 2016 Olympics in Rio are expected to be the most sustainable Olympic Games ever, surpassing the benchmark set by London in 2012.

Nine cities across Latin America report data to CDP Cities, including five that measure and report carbon footprint data: São Paulo, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba. Relative to other reporting cities around the world, those five share all the characteristics of low emission cities; for example, all have relatively large populations and are densely populated – two factors that help minimize per-capita environmental impact.

These moves towards sustainability are helping Latin American cities compete on a global stage. Sustainability is an increasingly important focus in order to ensure clean air and water, infrastructure for transportation and waste disposal, and building standards that promote the well-being and productivity of workers.

A “green lease” can mean many things, but it’s always a good thing to value energy and sustainability issues in lease negotiations—good for tenants, landlords and the environment. Here are 10 reasons why:

1. Save money. A 2009 report from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) found that commercial and residential buildings account for almost 40 percent of all energy consumed in the United States. Our clients have identified short-term utility spend savings of 3-13% from easy-to-implement measures built into their green leases. On the high end that could be more than $350,000 saved on a 1 million-square-foot lease.
2. Strengthen the landlord-tenant relationship.  Both tenants and building managers have roles to play in creating a sustainable workplace. By establishing those roles from the start, a green lease avoids problems later on.
3. Support your corporate sustainability objectives. The majority of U.S. companies on the S&P 500 Index and the Fortune 500 list now publish sustainability reports, according to a new study by the Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A). Many companies have set public carbon footprint reduction goals in their sustainability reports that can only be achieved with the help of common-sense energy measures in the buildings they own and the space they lease. Although they may have focused on owned space previously, more and more are coming around to their leased space.
4. Enhance your corporate brand.  Companies set those carbon footprint goals for a reason: organizations such the Carbon Disclosure Project have more and more authority with the investment community. With a green lease program, your company will have better answers for CDP—so you’ll score better on green rankings.
5. Demonstrate vision. There’s still time to be ahead of the curve in pursuing a strong green lease program. While companies look for ways to differentiate their sustainability profile, surprisingly few have established portfolio-wide green lease programs with measurable results. You could be the first in your industry.
6. Show civic leadership. Since buildings account for more than half of most cities’ carbon footprint, cities have a big stake in improving energy efficiency in leased space. In fact, last year’s USGBC Annual Report found that 442 U.S. cities have adopted LEED and green building-based policies. Companies leading this trend are gaining influence as members of civic organizations like New York’s Green Lease Task Force and San Francisco’s Business Council on Climate Change.
7. Get certified. LEED certification can show sustainability in new or existing buildings as well as in tenant spaces. A green lease will look at sustainability criteria in line with LEED CI (commercial interiors) standards, even if certification isn’t a near-term goal. With 125,000 projects currently participating in LEED that comprise more than 17 billion feet of commercial space, buildings are simply more competitive when LEED certified.
8. Improve employee productivity.  Shoot, I buried the lead! A 2% improvement in productivity virtually covers your company’s occupancy cost.  Productivity is not always easy to measure, but the available evidence is overwhelming: employees work better longer with fewer sick days–and enjoy higher job satisfaction—when the work environment promotes health and well-being, uses natural light and enables common-sense conservation.
9. Get cash for your trash. It won’t be a line item on your P&L, but some recycled material is worth money. Reducing waste can save on handling costs, offsetting the cost of a recycling program. Collecting data on waste can also improve reporting practices and results, as companies find they can achieve diversion rates over 80 percent.
10. Help the environment. Wherever you believe we stand on the path of global environmental upheaval, everyone can agree to do the things we can easily and profitably do to reduce waste, maintain clean water and air supplies, and conserve resources for future generations. We are all ultimately tenants renting space on planet Earth—hopefully with an option to renew.

This week, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) are expected to reintroduce legislation to support energy efficiency improvements across the nation.  If this bill mirrors the last Shaheen-Portman bill, expect focus on topics such as industrial energy efficiency tax credits and state grant programs, research and development funding and more stringent efficiency standards for new building codes.

Urging federal policymakers to take action on climate change, Jones Lang LaSalle recently joined Intel, Starbucks, Nike, CA Technologies, and other large companies by signing a “Climate Declaration,” asserting that a bold response to the climate challenge is one of the greatest American economic opportunities of the 21st century.

At JLL, we’ve shown how energy efficiency and renewable energy sources are important opportunities to reduce our clients’ costs and carbon footprints.

Last week, I had the opportunity to join Darrell Smith, Director of Facilities and Energy at Microsoft and and Jim Young, Founder and CEO of Realcomm Conference for a virtual round table discussion  hosted by IDC Energy Ingisghts of the real world implications of adopting smart building solutions and what the potential implications to yoru business can be by deploying smart technology.

Our conversation focused on next generation energy management solutions.  These smart building technologies are characterized by IT architecture and enable advanced integration and automation of control over energy consuming and producing assets in a facility from heating and air conditioning to plug loads.  Two big themes resonated on the hour long webcast: the understated value of operational efficiency and the evolution of facilities management processes significantly shape the business case for smart building solution investment.

First, smart building solutions generate the often understated and overlooked business value of operational efficiency.  When we talk about smart building solutions, energy efficiency improvements are often the first and dominating focus of the conversation due to the direct and quantifiable business impact of the reduction in kWh from streamlining HVAC or lighting systems for example.  This makes sense because we can tie a clear and impactful economic measure to the benefit of the technology deployment when we look at the project costs and benefits through utility bill savings.  The operational benefits, on the other hand, sometimes referred to as soft benefits, can generate just as significant business value by shifting management processes from reactive to proactive.  Smart building technologies enable real time equipment optimization through fault detection and diagnostics to predictive maintenance.  This means operators can more effectively deploy their staff resources and maintain equipment in new ways to avoid or reduce capital expenditures.  The business value of this new level of operational efficiency is magnified when you think about a mobile staff servicing a campus or portfolio of buildings.

We also talked about how these new solutions impact business from a process perspective, and as Jim put it, advocating smart building solutions is a “change management business.”  Smart building technologies change the conversation in facilities management as these IT enabled solutions drive facilities management with data.  As Darrell explained on a large campus like Microsoft’s Redmond campus, building systems across facilities were disparate and it was historically impossible to get one unified comprehensive view of equipment operations.  With the deployment of smart building technologies today, it is possible to proactively manage and prioritize maintenance and operations.  I discussed that the technology available today overcomes the integration challenge of disparate systems and software algorithms can analyze thousands of data points to drive real time action.  The change management is successful when you have a smart building champion that helps overcome the status quo by effectively communicating the efficiencies these new technologies bring to make the operators’ jobs easier and help the C-suite boost the bottom line.  This is about changing the process of facilities maintenance to utilize information technology and advanced, automated controls for new levels of efficiency.

The themes from the conference will be further explored this June in Orlando at Realcomm’s 2013 IBcon conference, Embracing the Real Estate Technology REvolution – REdefining REal Estate Operations through Technology, Automation & Innovation, symbolizes the tremendous speed with which technology is permeating every department and major process in today’s real estate organization. This continued rate of adoption and redefinition of business processes will revolutionize the real estate operating model and dramatically redefine how commercial real estate will be owned, operated, and used for the next 100 years.

At the 2013 Building Energy Summit in Washington, DC prominent leaders in the public and private sectors made a strong case for investment in smart technology to drive operational and energy efficiency. Discussion at the summit touched on how M2M technology will play pivotal role in the future of the building community:

• Despite uncertainty in the real estate market over the past few years, investment in smart and sustainable technology to bring about operational efficiencies increases the value of portfolios.
• The emergence of real time managed services coupled with a positive attitude towards sustainability is driving success in energy efficiency projects across the nation.
• New synergy between public and private sectors is providing opportunities for even more growth for the industry.

A recent Machina Research white paper on the global M2M market in 2013 predicts that by 2022 there will be 18 billion M2M connections globally, up from approximately 2 billion today, with intelligent buildings accounting for 37% of all connections. As you can imagine, this staggering increase is accompanied by similar growth revenue and value. Rob Lloyd, President of Sales and Marketing at Cisco, projects that the M2M market will be worth $14 trillion in 2020.

This increase in connected devices and smart systems will inspire new value propositions in otherwise unreachable areas. This phenomenon is discussed in a white paper by Harbor Research as “emergence.” It goes on to say:

“The many ‘nodes’ of a network may not be very ‘smart’ in themselves, but if they are networked in a way that allows them to connect effortlessly and interoperate seamlessly, they begin to give rise to complex, system-wide behavior “

To put it simply, managed services for the facility management industry can drive 10% to 15% cost savings in one building but managed services to a city’s ecosystem can drive up to 50%.

If you are a supplier to Bank of America, Microsoft, or Walmart, your company is probably asked to respond to the CDP Supply Chain questionnaire about its efforts to reduce carbon emissions.  CDP is one of the most popular vehicles for gathering carbon footprint management information. However, the questionnaire can be intimidating, and the score doesn’t always reflect all of the great things that a company is doing to improve its environmental impact.

Following are three ways that companies can improve their CDP response, based on our experience:

1. Earlier and methodical project management and stakeholder engagement
2. Write responses which match the rules according to CDP scoring guidelines
3. Engage a third party to conduct an Independent Assurance of your company’s emissions data

• This is important!

CDP is an independent not-for-profit organization representing 722 investors and over US$87 trillion in assets under management.  Over 80% of the world’s largest public companies use CDP to disclose their impacts on the environment and natural resources to stakeholders.  If your company is one of them, this is a great opportunity to tell the world about your progress in fighting climate change.

CDP Supply Chain responses are due July 31^st!