An Update on Environmentally Sustainable Design, Construction and Maintenance News for Commercial Real Estate
GREEN LEAD is a column on environmental and sustainable design and construction, best practices for green building maintenance and operations, economic impact on developers and owners, new LEED and Energy Star building certifications, and trends in the Green Building movement.
Send in your Green News Leads to news@costar.com
Energy Efficient Retrofit Market To Double by 2020, According to Pike Research
Study Shows Spending on Commercial Buildings Could Surpass $152 Billion Worldwide
Retrofitting commercial buildings to achieve higher energy efficiency is driven by manor factors, including social and environmental responsibility to reduce greenhouse gasses and carbon footprints, attempting to retain top tenants or gain an edge in the market, or increasing the bottom line by reducing operational costs and energy consumption. Regardless of the many reasons for it, energy efficient retrofits represent a growing market that, according to a new report from Pike Research, could expand from $80.3 billion to $151.8 billion in worldwide spending by the year 2020.
In the report, "Energy Efficiency Retrofits for Commercial and Public Buildings," Pike Research examines the global market landscape for energy efficiency retrofits in commercial and public buildings, and analyzes and forecasts the trends in eight different building types and eight product and service categories. In-depth profiles are done on more than 50 industry players segmented by world region and key countries through 2020.
Pike Research identifies that Western Europe will remain the strongest market for energy efficiency retrofits in commercial and public buildings, but total share of the market will drop from 41 percent in 2011 to 37 percent in 2020. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow from 32 to 36 percent of worldwide spending in the same time frame. North American energy efficiency revenues, however, are expected to more than double over the remainder of this decade, increasing to as much as $35.3 billion by 2020.
BOMA Asks GSA to Support Choice in Building Rating System
RE Associations Don't Think One Size Fits All in Green Benchmarks
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International and several groups representing various commercial real estate sectors sent a letter to Daniel Tangherlini, acting administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), requesting that the federal government allow a choice of building rating systems when evaluating individual properties for government use.
The GSA is currently evaluating several building rating systems in an attempt to select a single rating system to be used by all federal agencies, as required by the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007.
BOMA feels that selecting a single rating system may not provide the best solution due the age, finances, size, market or submarket location, property type and tenant mix of each individual building. The group identified a range of non-regulatory, voluntary systems that have entered the marketplace in recent years that are gaining industry traction, including ASHRAE for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings, Green Globes, International Green Construction Code, the USGBC's own Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Living Building Challenge and the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard.
"The current catalog of building rating systems allows for choice, which is crucial for building owners as there isn?t a ?one size fits all? solution," remarked BOMA International Chair Joseph W. Markling, managing director of Strategic Accounts at CBRE. "Owners need the flexibility to select a rating system that meets the unique goals for that property in areas such as budget, consumer demands and environmental goals."
Read the Full Story.
Green Building Industry Marching Forward, but Facing Some Uncertainty
By Randyl Drummer
Even as the CRE industry continues to embrace higher levels of green certification as the norm, diminished government commitment to sustainable building practices and achieving conformity between a myriad of local codes and international voluntary requirements continue to present challenges that green building teams will have to face going forward, noted experts at CoStar?s most recent Current Trends In Green Real Estate webinar.
A major issue for the green building industry is expectations for continued pull-backs by the government, both in the volume of construction undertaken and the public sector?s commitment to sustainable measures, with more lean years ahead in both areas, said Peter Morris, director with Davis Langdon, consulting company on cost modeling and other economic issues in sustainable building.
Morris made his presentation during CoStar?s recent summer update in its green construction webinar series hosted by CoStar Research Director Anthony Guma. The event also included a presentation by Nils Kok, a respected economist and visiting scholar at the University of California/Berkeley, on the relative costs and benefits of green construction and retrofitting for investors.
Read the Full Story.
Solar is Popular, But LED Saves
SL Green Selects Seesmart for Large Scale LED Lighting Retrofit
While LED lighting may not be the most well-known of the sustainability options, it can be an easy and inexpensive place for companies to start implementing a long-term plan of energy efficiency - reducing their carbon footprint and saving money - due in large part to relatively low upfront cost and quick payback period when compared to more popular, and often cost-prohibitive options like solar panel installation, HVAC upgrades, or replacing plumbing fixtures.
That may be why SL Green, the largest property owner in New York City, has decided to use a commercial retrofit of LED lighting in 21 of its commercial properties. The owner is expecting to see initial savings of $750,000 in combined energy and material / labor costs, resulting in a total project payback period of just three years.
SL Green has selected Simi Valley, CA-based LED lighting manufacturer Seesmart Technologies, Inc. to implement one of the nation's largest LED lighting efficiency retrofits with its industry-leading LED products. When completed, Seesmart will have installed more than 16.000 lamps, replacing antiquated lighting technologies like incandescent, halogen and fluorescent bulbs.
Energy usage will be reduced by an estimated 50 percent across the board. When combined with a superior lamp life of more than eight years, additional savings can be realized through reduced costs in materials and labor to replace worn out bulbs.
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Solar Projects Face Risks
Fitch Ratings Identifies Construction and Operational Risks in Solar Panel Industry from Sitting, Sun, Tech and Regs
Construction delays, actual output, unpredictable technology and shifts in regulations present distinct risks to solar power projects, this according to a new Fitch Ratings report on more than 25 public and private large-scale photovoltaic, concentrating PV and thermal concentrating solar power projects over the past two years.
A special report titled "Construction and Operational Solar Project Issues" is available on the Fitch Ratings website at www.fitchratings.com.
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Beauty Is as Beauty Does - But When it Comes to Buildings, Does Beauty Outperform?
By Mark Heschmeyer
It certainly appears to be true that society favors the beautiful. In real estate there is even a phrase for it: curb appeal. And Realtors know there can be a payoff to property that looks better than the other houses -- or buildings-- around it.
But while beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, is there perhaps a correlation between better economic benefits in a building and its appearance? It being August and an opportune time for a 'soft' news feature, this week CoStar News analyzed the performance of two very specific subsets of office properties and compared their performance with all existing Class A office buildings in the country.
The buildings in the subsets achieved a higher rate of tenant retention during the Great Recession and regained tenants much more quickly as markets have recovered. Rental rates in these properties did not decline nearly as much, started recovering earlier and have moved up much more quickly than rents in all other Class A properties.
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Does CoStar Know About Your LEED Project?
Send info on your newly certified LEED or Energy Star buildings to news@costar.com, and it may be published in the next issue of Green Lead.
Shorenstein Receives LEED Gold at Three US Properties
USGBC Recognizes Office Bldgs in LA, NYC and DC
Shorenstein Properties LLC has added three more buildings... Read the Full Story.
Cisco Tower Earns LEED Platinum
Shorenstein Strikes Again, Firm Boasts 18 Bldgs with LEED Certification
Cisco Tower, a 12-story, 283,000-square-foot office building... Read the Full Story.
ARC Designed Biologics Bldg Achieves LEED Gold
Genzyme Corp's New Framingham Campus Meets High USGBC Standards
The new $85 million Biologics Support Center, designed for... Read the Full Story.
363 North Belt Certified LEED Gold
Houston Office Tower Took Three Years to Green
363 North Belt's transformation from an 80's-era office... Read the Full Story.
Capital Gateway Earns LEED Platinum
Bethesda Office Becomes Third EBOM Platinum Bldg in Maryland
Capital Gateway has received LEED Platinum certification... Read the Full Story.
WakeMed Brier Creek Healthplex Receives LEED Certification
Newly Opened Healthcare Center Sees 12% Improvement in Energy Efficiency
The newly-opened WakeMed Brier Creek Healthplex in... Read the Full Story.
Warehouse Facility in Long Beach Earns LEED Platinum
Green Features Include Rooftop Solar Panel System
The 110,000-square-foot warehouse facility and... Read the Full Story.
Monday?s Twin Towers Earn LEED Gold, Wins TOBY
Roslyn Office Towers Implement Sustainable Efficiencies
Monday Properties' two trophy, Class A office... Read the Full Story.
Mint Green: 801 9th Street Earns LEED Gold
US Mint Bldg Receives Sustainable Honors
The U.S. Mint Building at 801 9th Street NW in DC... Read the Full Story.
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