GreenBuild Blog
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Challenge and Promise of Green Buildings: Chapter 10 of Green Building Trends: Europe
Green buildings are growing rapidly in the United States, with cumulative new projectregistrations under the LEED rating system growing 50 percent in 2006, 75 percent in 2007, and more than 80 percent in 2008. Yet more than half of LEED project certifications are still at the lower levels of Certified and Silver, indicating that the ability of design and construction teams to deliver high-level green buildings is still at an early stage of development. By contrast, the BREEAM system has certified about 9 percent of its buildings at the Excellent level, equivalent to LEED Platinum, the highest level, against about 5 percent in the LEED system.
This is an excerpt from Jerry Yudelson’s book, Green Building Trends: Europe
To read the entire chapter, click here to download the PDF version.
Click here to order this book at Island Press.
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Business Case for Green Buildings
The business case for green buildings rests on five legs: economics, risk management, marketing, gover- nment relations and employee relations. Most people look only at the economic benefit of savings on energy costs, neglecting the mounting evidence that green buildings return higher rents, offer faster letting, secure greater occupancy and generate higher resale value. In an economic environment where quality is foremost, green buildings offer higher quality at modest additional cost. Green buildings also reduce a variety of risk factors, including marketing, financing and securing political authorization to develop. They also offer greater public relations and marketing benefits, assistance with stakeholder relations and, perhaps most importantly, provide a positive story to tell to employees of development firms, thereby aiding in recruiting and retaining key employees. While the economic slowdown and global financial crisis is likely to affect overall commercial construction significantly in 2009 and 2010, the green building movement is likely to continue to gain market share over the next five years.
Download the Business Case for Green Buildings (PDF 140KB)
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