Green Building Energy Savings Confirmed
Certified buildings outperform peers in sale, rental and occupancy rates
Palm Coast, Florida – August 7, 2008 – Two studies, one by the New Buildings Institute (NBI) and one by CoStar Group, have validated what the green building community has known all along: third party certified buildings outperform their conventional counterparts across a wide variety of metrics, including energy savings, occupancy rates, sale price and rental rates. The studies focused on commercial buildings but the benefits translate to residential construction as well.
In the NBI study, the results indicate that new buildings certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED certification system are, on average, performing 25- 30% better than non-LEED certified buildings in terms of energy use. The study also demonstrates that there is a correlation between increasing levels of LEED certification and increased energy savings. Gold and Platinum LEED certified buildings have average energy savings approaching 50%.
“The NBI Study confirms that newly constructed LEED certified buildings use significantly less energy than their conventional counterparts, and that they perform better overall,” said Brendan Owens, Vice President, LEED Technical Development, U.S. Green Building Council.
“The report also underscores that monitoring a building’s ongoing operations and maintenance, as required in LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance and ENERGY STAR, is equally important,” continued Owens. “Buildings are complicated systems and achieving and maintaining high performance is a process that requires the ongoing discipline and commitment to green practices. LEED and ENERGY STAR provide building owners and operators with valuable structure to maintain high performance and deliver savings over time.”
Energy savings under EPA’s ENERGY STAR program are equally impressive: buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR label use an average of almost 40 percent less energy than average buildings, and emit 35 percent less carbon. But beyond the obvious implications of reduced energy use and reduced carbon emissions, the results from both studies strengthen the "business case" for green buildings as financially sound investments.
According to the CoStar study, LEED buildings command rent premiums of $11.24 per square foot over their non-LEED peers and have 3.8 percent higher occupancy. Rental rates in ENERGY STAR buildings represent a $2.38 per square foot premium over comparable non- ENERGY STAR buildings and have 3.6 percent higher occupancy.
And, in a trend that could signal greater attention from institutional investors, ENERGY STAR buildings are selling for an average of $61 per square foot more than their peers, while LEED buildings command a remarkable $171 more per square foot. The group analyzed more than 1,300 LEED Certified and ENERGY STAR buildings representing about 351 million square feet in CoStar’s commercial property database of roughly 44 billion square feet, and assessed those buildings against non-green properties with similar size, location, class, tenancy and year-built characteristics to generate the results.
“ENERGY STAR is a prerequisite in LEED for Existing Buildings, signaling our strong commitment to the energy savings component of green buildings,” said Owens. “Add to that the additional performance enhancements in LEED around intelligent site selection, water conversation, improved indoor air quality, waste reduction and smarter materials selections, and it’s easy to understand why owners and tenants are placing a premium on green buildings.”
The NBI study was funded by USGBC with support from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
About USGBC
The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since UGSBC’s founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 14,500 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry’s popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 72 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit https://www.usgbc.org/.
About LEED®
The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include:
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Sustainable Sites
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Water Efficiency
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Energy and Atmosphere
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Materials and Resources
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Indoor Environmental Quality
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Innovation and Design
Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. LEED can be applied to all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities. LEED for Healthcare is currently under development and is expected to be released in early 2008.
Incentives for LEED are available at the state and local level and LEED has also been adopted nationwide by federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested private companies. For more information, visit https://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19.
Building Green in Flagler County
If you are interested in building a green home, I would suggest looking into the Florida Green Building Coalition for certification. https://www.floridagreenbuilding.org The FGBC certification is based on building in Florida. LEED is a national program and does not have regional adjustments for weather or code. The National Association of Home Builders green standards are currently going through ANSI review and will soon be available. The NAHB standards are a national standard, but do include regional adjustments. Third party certification for FGBC is also considerably less then LEED, in some cases as much as 10 times less. NAHB certification costs are not known at this time. For more information about building green in Flagler County please contact the Flagler Home Builders Association at (386)445-9399.