Rhythms Blog

Making the Case for Green Building

janderle@sustain-rhythm.com — 2010-09-05T09:21:59-04:00

The motivations and factors leading to the implementation of green building practices can be quite diverse relative to a client’s overall facility and organization objectives. In reviewing the responses to “How well do you think the case for green building is being made around the following concepts” from the Opening the Door to Green Building study, the strongest resonating arguments in the market seem to be related to energy efficiency by a wide margin.

How well do you think the case for green building is being made around the following concepts	NOT WELL- RARELY WELL	SOMEWHAT WELL	WELL- VERY WELL
MARKET CASE
To respond to growth in green building market	26%	55%	19%
To raise industry standards through specific standards or certifications	38%	40%	22%

COMPETITIVE CASE
To increase brand competitiveness	32%	37%	31%
To demonstrate “Corporate Social Responsibility”	27%	45%	28%
To increase workplace health and productivity	44%	36%	20%

ENERGY/FINANCIAL CASE
To reduce the overhead of energy costs	16%	33%	51%
To increase energy efficiency	20%	31%	59%
To realize long-term financial return-on-investment	38%	37%	25%

ENVIRONMENTAL CASE
To help reduce environmental or “Climate Change” impacts	31%	33%	36%
To reduce “Carbon Footprint”	36%	38%	27%
REGULATORY CASE
To justify or respond to legislation or policy activities	37%	43%	20%
To anticipate response to regulatory activity	37%	52%	19%

Green building as a catalyst to increase workplace health and productivity is perceived as the weakest case with 45% responding that it not being made “not well” or “rarely well”. Though there are some studies available on this argument for green building (see Occupant Satisfaction with Indoor Environmental Quality in Green Buildings, 2006, Center for the Built Environment, University of California Berkeley and Do Green Buildings Make Dollars and Sense? 2009, University of San Diego and CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc (CBRE)), the recent surge in green building implementation will not be measured on a comprehensive scale for a few years. Perhaps, this has made access to this data and the strength of this case difficult to convincingly present.

Top Five Green Building Market Shape Shifters

janderle@sustain-rhythm.com — 2010-09-03T08:34:15-04:00

With GreenBuild 2010 on the horizon, which is always accompanied by a flurry of reporting, research and projections for the green building market, I have been thinking about what factors will most influence the green building marketplace over the next 12 months. As in any situation analysis, one must accept to a degree certain definitions of the current market place, with that in mind I am treating the state of the overall economy and its effect on the construction industry as a constant at least for the near future.

So within the current reality of the sustainable building design, construction and operations what are the five most impactful stories to watch?

1. Legislation: CalGreen
The California Building Standards Commission adopted the nation’s first mandatory statewide green building code that January 12, 2010. CALGreen will take effect in California on January 1, 2011 along with the other 11 published parts of the 2010 version of Title 24, the California Building Standards Code. It will be important to watch both the market reaction to the new code and to see how other states look to follow suit or remain at status quo.

2. Financing:: PACE
The excitement and hope for residential energy efficiency programs across the country seemed to all take a collective body blow this summer. The announcement in July by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that PACE financing would not be underwritten by their organizations halted a great deal of momentum in the residential marketplace. Earlier this week, the two mortgage giants also indicated that they will not purchase mortgages secured by properties subject to PACE obligations that provide for first lien priority.

With numerous lawsuits having been filed against Freddie and Fannie’s position and Congress potentially weighing in with legislation, the final chapters on the PACE program have not been written yet. Will another creative form of financing evolve to take the place of the PACE program?

3. Standards: FTC Green Guides
While probably more of a personal issue of mine, I do believe that the upcoming release of the revised “Green Guides” by the FTC will have both near and long term ramifications on the green building product market. I anticipate that the new guidelines will support more clarity within the product labeling and certifications arena.

4. Performance: USGBC Performance Initiative
A year ago, touched off by some national media attention, the LEED certification process came under scrutiny for certified buildings not performing up to the “standards”. The USGBC has moved to address this issue with its Building Performance Partnership Initiative. The success of this initiative could bring a whole new level of market acceptance to green building techniques and certainly a foster more accessible actual performance data which I believe the market is definitely hungry to receive. The BPP Initiative was recently expanded, the USGBC has opened the program to all current whole-building LEED-Certified commercial and residential projects.

5. Corporate Attitudes towards Sustainability/CSR
It has been encouraging to watch the growing momentum for overall corporate sustainability programs and some of the related certification programs that have been introducing more accessible tools and entry points in the market place. As a significant component of corporate sustainability, the green building market should continue to benefit from overall organizational strategies and programs. I would think that in the coming year, we will see even more collaboration between CSR and Green Building standards, associations and consultants. Tim Mohin at GreenBiz.com this week made a great case for CSR in response to the Wall Street Journal recently critical article.

IFMA Foundation's Study on Sustainability and Energy Efficiency in CRE

janderle@sustain-rhythm.com — 2010-09-02T06:29:29-04:00

As green building and sustainability have grown beyond a niche market, it becomes critical to assess and understand decision points and the variety of customer motivations and priorities. The Economics of Sustainability in Commercial Real Estate (IFMA Foundation and Manhattan Software, July 2010) by Kristian Peterson and Ross Gammill is an in-depth analysis of the incentives and motivations related to sustainability and energy efficiency in commercial real estate. The research examines the various decision making parties throughout the real estate management chain in existing office buildings.

In addressing the question of why more existing buildings have not been retrofitted, the study research was based on a qualitative study including interviews and a quantitative analysis utilizing financial modeling.

From the Executive Summary

"The white paper concludes that financial considerations are the primary drivers behind
real estate investment decisions. Secondary factors that drive investments in energy efficiency
improvements include: fostering a positive public image, winning new business and focusing on
environmental responsibility. Recommendations to increase investment in energy efficiency are
also provided within the white paper. Increased investment in energy efficiency will result if
managers recognize that energy efficiency projects can decrease the volatility of returns, and
that these returns are maximized by making the investment in energy efficiency prior to significant
lease rollover."

To download the study
email registration required

What is motivating Green Building?

janderle@sustain-rhythm.com — 2010-09-01T06:49:49-04:00

In the results from the Opening the Door to Green Building Communications Study, a joint survey conducted by the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the USGBC and Sustainable Rhythm, respondents overwhelmingly indicate reducing overhead, energy efficiency and ROI as the primary motivators for pursuit of green building practices, and many echoed the sentiment directly:

“In my industry, payback, ROI, and guarantees of energy reduction/costs are bottom-line motivations for constructing/retrofitting buildings.”

“The green building sector needs to stop the selling job of "social responsibility" /GHG reduction/brand development and focus more on $$$ and energy efficiency and cost reductions”

“Some of my clients think 'green' and 'sustainable' are bad words, but they are fine with 'energy efficient'.”

In other words, “conscientiousness” is not – at least not yet – a primary motivator for the pursuit of green building practices. As the research above indicates, the perception of going green is not as significant as the business case for implementing green practices.

But knowing what motivates a buy is not enough: knowing how to communicate in a manner that will motivate that buy is critical, and language is important. According to the building owner/developer category of the study, “Energy Efficient” is the most effective term to communicate the green-building value proposition for buyers with 67% rating it between “effective” to “highly effective” while the word “green” garnered only a 24% rating.

Its not the color..Its the bottom line

janderle@sustain-rhythm.com — 2010-08-31T07:47:23-04:00

Walking the exhibit floor at a green building conference, a colleague mentioned that a red or blue booth would really stand out in the sea of green that swam before our eyes. Now so prevalent in all of the exhibitors’ booths, product packaging and service firm collateral, green in all its shades looks to be “the new black.” Wading through the associated claims, certifications and sustainability verbiage that now populate the built-environment marketplace, he added, has become another dizzying challenge.

And this is from one “insider” to another – people “in the biz” trying to differentiate the meanings and messages of “green” within a familiar conference-hall landscape. If it is this difficult for insiders, how challenging must it be for our clients??

According to the JWT Anxiety Index Report, The Recession and Its Impact on the Environment, “Some of the language we use to talk about being green is not clear to consumers or even defined at all. Other terms such as “going green” are clearer, making consumers think of a product or marketing, but with a tinge of cynicism.”

Whether you wrap the message in green, blue, orange or red – and perhaps we could use a little more of the color spectrum back in the picture -- the most important current question is how can we impact our client’s bottom line, and then how do we stand out above and beyond the areas of Planet, Prosperity and People. Listening to your market – what it needs now and what will impact it later -- is the first priority.

Rhythm Recommended Reading 8/30/10

janderle@sustain-rhythm.com — 2010-08-30T14:42:23-04:00

Labor Day is just around the corner, its time to move away from your sustainable beach reading to sustainable building reading.

The following recommendations highlight a few reports released this summer covering corporate sustainability, green building health and green building and the human experience.

The first report, published by Deloitte, Sustainability in Business Today: A Cross-Industry View examines the commitment at 48 companies to a sustainable aspirations and the gap between those aspirations and enabling actual sustainable business practices.

Sustainability in Business Today: A Cross-Industry View

Deloitte-sustainability-survey
Deloitte
Chris Park and Kathryn Pavlovsky

The Effects of Green Building on Employee Health and Productivity looks to shed some light on a area of green building benefit that has really yet to be quantified. Two case studies are examined analyzing the health and productivity changes experienced by tenants moving from a conventional building to a LEED certified building.

Effects of Green Buildings on Employee Health and Productivity

Effects of Green Buildings on Employee Health and Productivity
Amanjeet Singh, MS, Matt Syal, Phd., Sue C. Grady, Phd, MPH, Sinem Korkmaz, Phd

The USGBC Research Groups’ Green Building & Human Experience concludes that and opportunity exists to “shift green building from the implementation of Best Practices toward an evidence-based practice based on practice‐based evidence.”

Green Building and Human Experience

Green Building & Human Experience
United States Green Building Council, by Chris Pyke, Sean McMahon, Tom Dietsche
U.S. Green Building Council® Research Program White Paper , June 10, 2010

Truth or Consequences: Green Building Products

janderle@sustain-rhythm.com — 2010-08-29T09:01:34-04:00

Often when discussing green building I encounter a crinkled nose, furrowed brow and roll of the eyes when I mention green building products. I must admit that I completely understand specifiers and owners’ frustration.

Though the industry has done better recently. One still needs a machete to cut through the “green marketing weed-like” overgrowth regarding green building product claims and certification types. What does this overgrowth hide? The market’s demand for actual performance data and return on investment information for sustainable construction and building systems product types.

Hopefully the upcoming release of the FTC’s updated Green Guides, which the development of included a focus area specifically on green building and textiles will spur a version of Truth or Consequences for the building industry. See Environmental Leader’s coverage here

GREEN BUILDING COMMUNICATIONS STUDY PUBLISHED

janderle@sustain-rhythm.com — 2010-06-22T08:07:24-04:00

Over the last few years in an economy that has slowed the building industry and perhaps altered it for the foreseeable future, the implementation of green building principles has transformed from a specialty market sector to one that is being considered across every building market. The infusion of “green building” concepts and practices has become quite common in project discussions and delivery, conferences/meetings, service firm and product companies’ business plans and throughout the media.

Amidst the overall goal of market transformation by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and other green building advocacy groups, it can be difficult to discern the progress of this shift in the day-to-day world of building design and construction. How has the mainstream introduction of green building principles altered the approach, motivations and business development of the industry? Is adoption of these principles becoming more prevalent and how is it shaping the construction market?

In March and April 2010, the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the USGBC and the marketing consulting firm, Sustainable Rhythm conducted the Opening the Door to Green Building Communication Study to analyze the market transformation. This analysis, one of the first of its kind, engaged multiple perspectives in the building industry to examine issues of the overall market, the perception of the financial investment, the role of certifications and finally how the benefits of green building are being communicated among building design and construction professionals.

FOR MORE INFORMATION