From the Editor
Imagine this: The folks who hold the purse strings call you up and say, “Hey, we’ve got $3 million lying around, and you can have it for energy efficiency projects, as long as you spend it in the next three months, and provide adequate reporting on paybacks and precisely what you spent it on.”

Sounds outrageous, right? Well, that exact scenario happened earlier this year for John Shea, CEO of the Department of School Facilities for the New York City Department of Education. Since Shea was hired to his position in 2008, he’s made it his mission to build the credibility of his department.

By working closely with the other agencies that help manage New York City school buildings, he’s earned the trust of the folks who pay the bills that scant city money is spent appropriately. Shea manages more than 1,200 buildings that encompass 130 million square feet so determining how and where to spend money is no small feat. But Shea’s done it, earning the respect, and daresay, clout, enough to be given a chance with the cash when there happens to be a surplus.

Clout is a nebulous thing, and there’s no simple roadmap to getting it. It goes by many names – credibility, respect, influence, authority — and you sure know when you have it, and perhaps more so when you don’t.

Energy projects are one of the best opportunities to earn clout, because they can be measured very accurately in terms of cost savings and payback. Do a few of these projects and prove you’re saving the organization money and adding value, and clout is just around the corner.

Over at our social networking web site for facility managers called myfacilitiesnet, we’ve started a discussion about clout. How have you worked to secure clout in your facilities? What lessons have you learned in your pursuit of clout? Please come by and join the discussion.

Cheers,

Green Strategies
Clout: Making Things Happen, Getting Things Done

When it comes to advancing the facility agenda, facility managers can’t afford to be invisible. Here is a look at how to boost your standing in top management’s eyes while adding value to the organization.

In the News
ASHRAE Encourages States to Meet Current Energy Codes
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers applauds the Department of Energy’s effort to look into what it will take to require states to adopt the most current version of its 90.1 energy code. Currently, the building codes of 14 states don’t meet the requirements of ASHRAE 90.1-2007.

Green Multimedia
Five Approaches To How Facility Managers Get Clout
These short “video articles” explain how top facility managers have worked diligently to gain clout and add value in their organizations.

GreenTech Conference & Exposition

Managing & Controlling Your Energy Costs

This presentation by John Studebaker of Studebaker Energy Consulting from GreenTech 2010 gives a good overview of how to create your energy baseline and then creating an action plan to reduce energy use and minimize energy costs.