http://www.usgbc.org/articles/business-case-green-building
Attract Tenants
Today's tenants understand and are looking for the benefits that LEED-certified spaces have to offer. The new Class A office space is green; lease-up rates for green buildings typically range from average to 20 percent above average.
Cost Effective
- Owners of green buildings reported that their ROI improved by 19.2% on average for existing building green projects and 9.9% on average for new projects.
- Operating costs decreased by 13.6% for new construction and 8.5% for existing building projects.
- Building value increased by 10.9% for new construction and 6.8% for existing building projects.
- Increased asset valuation: New green building projects 5%; Green building retrofits 4%.
Increased Productivity and Worker Satisfaction
- Recently conducted scholarly research in the field of behavioral psychology has also found that companies that adopt more rigorous environmental standards are associated with higher labor productivity—an average of 16% higher–than non-green firms.
Better Health Standards for Commercial Building Tenants
- People in the U.S. spend about 90% of their time indoors23. EPA studies indicate indoor levels of pollutants may be up to ten times higher than outdoor levels
- In terms of health care costs, building retrofits which improved the indoor environment of a building resulted in reductions of: communicable respiratory diseases of 9-20%; allergies and asthma of 18-25%; and non-specific health and discomfort effects of 20-50%.
Increased Rental Rates
- A business case study examining the San Diego real estate market showed that the overall vacancy rate for green buildings was 4 percent lower than for non-green properties—11.7 percent, compared to 15.7 percent—and that LEED-certified buildings routinely commanded the highest rents.
- Lux Research’s found that buildings with LEED Gold certification significantly outperformed their peers. In one prominent California example, LEED Gold certification resulted in $4.1 million in higher rental income to a model 80,000 square foot commercial building in Los Angeles.
"ICP creates a standard approach...The protocols will provide the investment community with the confidence that projects will yield actual benefits and results similar to those that were predicted.”
- Andrew Brooks, AEA
http://www.eeperformance.org/
ICP Protocols
The core of the ICP methodology are the ICP Protocols that define a standardized road map of best practices for originating energy retrofits. The ICP Protocols leverage existing and commonly accepted standards such as ASTM-BEPA, ASHRAE Guideline 14, and EVO-IPMVP in conjunction with ICP specified elements, procedures, and documentation based on the various stages of a project life-cycle to create standardized projects with reliable returns.
Examples
Church Retrofit - Stamford, Connecticut
http://www.eeperformance.org/project-profile-jci-srs.html
Apartment Retrofit - Berkeley, California
http://www.eeperformance.org/project-profile-aea.html
Examples
OIC of New London
http://www.cpace.com/projects/oic-new-london
542 Westport Avenue Shopping Plaza
http://www.cpace.com/projects/542-westport-avenue-shopping-plaza
