Jay Pearlman, a Buildings & Grounds guest blogger this summer, is director of product development for Sightlines, a consulting firm that focuses on campus facilities management and environmental stewardship.

Reports on sustainability often arrive on a college president’s desk from the provost or the faculty. And students certainly make their voices heard regarding the need and desire to have a “greener,” more sustainable campus.

But who manages the buildings and energy use that contribute to the vast majority of the carbon emissions from a campus? Facilities and physical-plant staff members.

Various reports have estimated that 70 percent to 80 percent of campus emissions come from heating, cooling, and electric use in buildings. Our experience echoes these numbers. We work with numerous colleges on greenhouse-gas inventories, and typically 70 percent of their emissions are the result of operating buildings, and an additional 10 percent come from other physical-plant related sources.

With so much of a college’s carbon footprint coming from facilities, it is obvious that facilities managers need to play an important role in sustainability planning. They need to be front and center. But as in all planning projects at a college or university, silos can develop. This can be particularly true in the case of sustainability efforts because facilities-staff members and the other groups involved often report separately within an institution.

Over the past several years, facilities managers have shifted from counting barrels of oil and BTU’s to calculating emissions of greenhouse gases and tons of carbon-dioxide equivalents. Facilities-staff members are developing the expertise and ability to have the most impact on carbon emissions, and they need to play a major role in sustainability efforts. They are especially crucial to the development of climate-action plans that are feasible, measurable, and properly financed.

All the colleges I have worked with over the past year have slightly different structures for their sustainability working groups. Varying numbers of faculty and staff members, administrators, and students make up these committees. But the institutions have one thing in common — their facilities directors are present and engaged. Taking the seat at the table is the first step. But how can facilities managers and staff members best serve their institutions in reaching their sustainability goals?

The next postings in this series will discuss the systems and tools that facilities managers have relied upon for managing bricks, bodies, and BTU’s to contribute to effective climate-action planning. —Jay Pearlman