What’s Driving Green Building?
Steve Wenc, UL Environment from U.S. Green Building Council on Vimeo.
These factors are driving dramatic green building market growth
- The economy
- The largest nonresidential projects by size are more frequently green
- Mandates and policies
Why Build Green? Building green saves money
- The cost per square foot for buildings seeking LEED certification falls into the existing range of costs for buildings not seeking LEED certification.
- An upfront investment of 2% in green building design, on average, results in life cycle savings of 20% of the total construction costs – more than ten times the initial investment.
- Building sale prices for energy efficient buildings are as much as 10% higher per square foot than conventional buildings.
- Real estate and construction professionals overestimate the costs of green building by 300%.
- Perceived cost benefits of green building according to building owners:
- Operating costs decrease 13.6% for new construction and 8.5% for existing building projects
- Building value increases 10.9% new construction and 6.8% existing building projects
- Return on investment improves 9.9% new construction and 19.2% existing building projects
- Occupancy increases 6.4% new construction and 2.5% existing building projects
- Rent increases 6.1% new construction and 1% existing building projects
Why Build Green? Green buildings consume less energy and fewer resources
- In comparison to the average commercial building:
- Green buildings consume 26% less energy
- Green buildings have 13% lower maintenance costs
- Green buildings have 27% higher occupant satisfaction
- Green buildings have 33% less greenhouse gas emissions
Why Build Green? Green building occupants are more productive
- An experiment identifies a link between improved lighting design and a 27% reduction in the incidence of headaches, which accounts for 0.7% of overall employee health insurance cost at approximately $35 per employee annually.
- Sales in stores with skylights were up to 40% higher compared to similar stores without skylights.
