Facilities survey preview.

AS PART OF LAST MONTH'S "GOING GREEN WHILE Saving Green" special section, University Business teamed with E&I Cooperative Services to conduct a wide-ranging facilities survey.

Called "A Study of Facilities & Environmental Considerations: 2006," the survey polled 475 qualifying senior administrators and facilities managers to learn how committed their institutions were to the green philosophy and other issues. The purpose was to gather benchmark data for comparison with annual follow-up studies. The survey was designed by market research firm Martin Akel & Associates and conducted by California-based Wilson Research over a period of several weeks in June. E-mail invitations were sent out with a link to the web-based survey.

While the final report is being prepared for distribution at this month's "Campus of the Future: Meeting of the Minds," a joint conference of the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA), the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), and the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), we're pleased to present a preview of some of the results here.

For example, the participants were asked how their institution's emphasis on the use of environmentally responsible approaches changed over the last four years when it came to areas such as recycling, reducing pollution, reusable products, and green building designs. Nearly 64 percent said there was a greater or much greater emphasis on environmentally friendly approaches, while nearly a third of the respondents said there was no real change.

When asked to rate their institutions' commitment to green approaches, nearly half the respondents believed there was room for significant improvement. The good news is that the rest believed that a "small amount of improvement" or "no real improvement" was required.

Respondents were also asked how likely their institution was to seriously consider LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for future construction/renovation projects. Encouragingly, about 60 percent said that LEED would at least be considered for future projects.

With outsourcing taking on increasing importance as a cost-saving strategy at many schools, survey participants were also asked about the extent of outsourcing in their institutions. Not surprisingly, food-service/dining services were outsourced more often than any other service. Interestingly, 12.5 percent of respondents said their institution doesn't outsource any services.

The full survey results will be available later this month on the University Business website.

RESPONDENTS WERE ASKED HOW THEIR INSTITUTION'S
emphasis on the use of environmentally responsible or
"green" approaches has changed over the last four years.

Base: Total Answering
Count: 473 Percent: 100%

Much greater emphasis on
environmentally-friendly approaches   17.8%

Greater emphasis                      49.0%

No real change                        32.6%

Less emphasis                          0.4%

Much less emphasis                     0.2%

RESPONDENTS WERE ASKED TO RATE THEIR INSTITUTION'S
commitment to green approaches.

Base: Total Answering
Count: 473 Percent: 100%

Very committed/responsible (no real
improvement required)                   11.8%

Committed/responsible (small amount
of improvement required)                40.4%

Somewhat committed/responsible
(significant improvement required)      40.4%

Not really committed/responsible (very
significant improvement required)        7.4%

RESPONDENTS WERE ASKED TO CHECK ALL THE FACILITY OPERATION
activities their institutions generally outsourced to other
organizations.

Base: Total Answering
Count: 471 Percent: 100%

Foodservice/dining services               65.8%

Cleaning/maintenance/custodial services   33.3%

Groundskeeping services                   25.1%

Security services                         23.1%

Laundry services                          20.2%

Other outsourced facility services        12.7%

Do not outsource any service              12.5%

Energy monitoring/management              11.0%

Residence/dorms/management                 5.3%

Conference center management               4.0%

Note: Table made from bar graph.