This coupled with the long-term implications of the downturn in the economy makes going green and investing in building management technology the sensible thing to do.

To help, architects, design engineers, building owners and managers are turning to green products and procedures, building information modeling (BIM), and energy analysis to significantly reduce a structure’s energy demand, building operating costs and environmental concerns.

“If done correctly, financial savings from green architecture and construction are realized throughout the building process, as well as the lifetime of the building,” says George Davis, president and CEO of Avatech Solutions, which develops BIM products. “In addition to the environmental and building performance benefits, these processes improve bottom line performance… by reducing costs and driving greater efficiencies.”

ABM Industries, Inc. says the need for green cleaning is acute, citing statistics from the EPA that say, poor indoor air quality costs the U.S. economy $60 billion in lost worker productivity every year. And the World Health Organization estimates that the air quality in one of every three buildings is so poor that it has a negative effect on the health of its occupants.

So the need is well-established and widespread, underscoring the challenges facing the professionals operating and managing today’s buildings, who must be increasingly sophisticated. To meet their needs, the International Facility Management Association has released a new publication that examines the impact of technology on the facility management profession.

The “FM Technology Update,” a detailed report on the current state and future outlook of technology in facility management, focuses on the evolution of traditional technologies such as Computer Aided Facility Management and explores cutting edge technologies just beginning to impact the profession.

“Our constituency has really identified a strong need to understand what emerging technologies are going to be important to facility managers, why they’ll be important, and how they’re going to impact the profession,” said Eric Teicholz, an IFMA Foundation trustee and editor of the report. “You cannot Google all this information. It’s for the most part forward-looking, with a focus on the near-term future — not something you can get off the shelf now.”

With the prospect of a shrinking economy, volatile energy costs and environmentally focused government regulations, sustainable buildings are becoming the norm, as is the need to look forward to technology that can help make them so.

Thanks, good luck and Happy New Year.