April/May 2009
A Case Study
C O N T E N T S
Executive Director's Corner: Standing with Giants, by Deb Kleinman
Special: Remembering Greg Franta, by Annette Stelmack
LEED: Aardex Receives Second Platinum LEED Certification from the USGBC, by Mike Hehir
Energy Incentives: Xcel Announces New Incentives, by Erine Mathe
Sustainable Development: Grassroots Efforts Support a Sustainable Ethic, by Sarah Martinez
Government: Greening the Government: State Leads by Example, by Angie Fyfe
Case Study: Extracting Value From NAIOP's Highly Criticized Building Cost Report, by Courtney France
Go Green, Save Money: Rep. Perlmutter Legislation Promotes Going Green To Save Green, by Christopher Votoupal
Colorado Building Green is the official newsletter of the U.S. Green Building Council – Colorado Chapter, and is published bi-monthly. If you are interested in submiting a story, ideas or other information for publication, please contact the editor at sarah@usgbccolorado.org
The Reality of Case Studies: Extracting Value from NAIOP's Highly Controversial Building Cost Report
For most projects, a real challenge to balance environmental responsibility and developmental profitability still exists.
By Courtney C. France, Principal, France Sustainability Solutions
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Based on the information presented by ConSol and valuable insights from sustainable building experts responding to the research results, we can extract the important themes from NAIOP’s honorable mission:
- The study is not perfect, but it provides a general sense of what proposed mandates for 30% efficiency by 2010 means for properties. In addition, the study brings attention to how site area, geographic locations, tenant lease rates and even building delivery methods can influence the cost pro-forma for your next sustainable project.
- Standard, economical, best design practices for sustainability are capable of achieving 20%+ energy efficiency in buildings. The NAIOP report, and many other past cost studies have now confirmed this level is achievable in today’s market.
- Where there are incentives, there will be more cost-effective sustainable strategies implemented. As predicted, Federal/State/City incentives attract more green projects to the development market than locations lacking financial enticements.
- The analysis underlies the importance for policy makers to collect sufficient performance data on a cross-section of buildings in order to justify implementing ‘one-size-fits-all’ mandates.
- Alarmingly, the study emphasizes the urgency of our proposed energy efficiency targets – this is not 5-10 years out to plan for, this is critical to addressing within the next year to meet the planned reduction goals.
- Most importantly, it re-emphasizes to the building industry that to achieve the goals of any sustainable commercial development project…the building must be profitable.