It is now regarded as fact that sustainable initiatives make buildings work better. In many cases, they even enable buildings to do more than ever before. If you have followed this series, you know that owners and occupants of commercial structures across the country are learning that they can achieve better control of their workspaces and reap energy savings from intelligent initiatives. Since we talked about high-profile projects like the $550 million retrofitting of the Empire State Building and Ford’s transformation of a defunct automobile plant into a renewable energy park, new projects are popping up everywhere, driven by calculable financial gains.
Pennsylvania-based PNC Bank is building 100 LEED certified bank branches – in bulk. Each bank is identical and designed to use an average of 38 percent less energy and 25 percent less water than the bank’s non-green branches. In the green-tech world, Google is a role model. It uses fresh-air ventilation and formaldehyde-free products in buildings on its main campus. The company is even investing in geothermal and solar-powered structures. The most compelling incentives for commercial enterprises to go green For businesses of all sizes, the greatest immediate advantage in commercial green building is found in reducing pass-through costs. Typically, tenants share these utility and maintenance costs equally, regardless of size of space they occupy or energy they consume. In a smart building, these costs are measurably less because the building operates more efficiently. This savings is passed through to tenants and owners.
Compounding the savings, sustainable commercial structures commonly use electric sub-meters, which control usage rates on an individual tenant basis. In smart buildings with sub-meters, tenants pay only for energy they consume directly. Sub-metering is gaining popularity in other energy-conscious countries. British Gas is teaming with Landis + Gyr, the Swiss leader in energy management, to develop the United Kingdom’s first commercial-scale sub metering program, which they believe will save consumers 200 million pounds annually.
“The financial advantage of sub-metering works to everyone’s advantage,” says Clay Little, AIA, of NoackLittle Architecture and Interiors. “In our commercial retrofits, we find that smart-energy initiatives reduce time-on-market and increase occupancy rates for our clients.”
New as of this month, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched a volume-based LEED certification program, whereby national chain companies can submit a prototype for a store, bank, office or restaurant planned for multiple locations. This is significant for the company seeking LEED status on multiple chain-style locations. If the design, construction and building management plans outlined in the prototype meet LEED standards, the USGBC will waive resubmissions of each individual project.
“The LEED process is tedious, time-consuming and expensive,” Little says. “This represents an incentive for companies to pursue LEED.” The program developed out of a pilot project with companies like Bank of America and Target. Jen Bussinger, IIDA, LEED AP and director of interiors for NoackLittle, questions the realities of a program like this. “It will be challenging to apply an identical design plan to different sites when no two sites are ever the same,” Bussinger says. “Somehow the prototype must be orientation-neutral and accommodate multiple climate needs.” According to Doug Gatlin, VP at the Green Building Council, 355 projects are already certified.1
LEED versus sensible sustainability?
LEED, an internationally recognized brand for green building, applies to any building type during any time in its lifecycle. In addition to commercial structures, schools, hospitals and neighborhoods can be LEED certified. The Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, in fact, is the first hospital in the world to achieve a platinum rating, the highest LEED standard. In general, though, how important is LEED certification to actually achieving sustainability? This is increasingly debatable. Incentives aside, pursuing LEED certification will necessarily add time and expense to a project, largely due to added documentation and fees. The rating system for commercial structures measures a building’s design, construction, materials and operational efficiency (energy and water) in terms of health and environmental considerations.
For companies that believe in sustainability, yet do not have external pressures to become LEED certified, taking the route of sensible sustainability may make more sense. This approach is a pragmatic way to go green. It involves comparable considerations, but without the LEED seal of approval or added expense. On the other hand, decision-makers sensitive to stakeholder expectations or industry demands may find the LEED process a more appropriate course of action. In the last issue, we looked at 1300 Guadalupe, an example of a commercial retrofit in downtown Austin. While this project qualifies for LEED status, the owners chose the sensibly sustainable route. “The environmental, health and economic aspects of sustainability are important to us,” Little says. “Since our budget was really tight, we opted to invest everything we would have spent on LEED in better systems and building materials.”
Interestingly, even with an infinite budget, the design solution for this project would not differ dramatically. “We would have invested in even higher-end HVAC units, insulation and sunshades, and maybe upgraded the window glazing, but probably not much else,” says Gary Morris, LEED AP. These added features would provide 10 to 25 percent additional savings in energy costs over time. But for the owners of 1300 Guadalupe, the up-front opportunity cost was prohibitive. Wrapping up this series, it is clear that living and working greener is inevitable everywhere. This simply means increasing efficiency in the built environment – an old, enduring idea, really. The question in all this for today is, “What’s the right approach for your business?”
For more information, contact Lauren Austin at 917-804-3612 or la@austinyessayan.com. You may also see the NSIDE Austin September/October and November/December 2010 issues.
1 Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2010.
