Why Invest In High-Performance Green Buildings?

A look into how utilising smart building strategies help reduce environmental impact, ensure occupant satisfaction, drive better business outcomes, and maximise asset value.

- Melissa O’Mara And Shan Bates

A quick Internet search for the term “green buildings,” would get 18.3 million hits in less than a second. Words like “sustainable” and “green” have long been associated with premium buildings. Today, these words have become part of our global conversation about everything from worldwide movement towards energy efficiency, environmentally sound buildings to enterprise wide real estate portfolios. Acronyms like GBL, BIM, and IPD have entered the scene. We live in a time of global-climate change challenges; increasing regulatory pressures for greater energy efficiency and carbon reduction; consumer interest; and employee pressure on corporations. These trends have fuelled corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, voluntary enrolment in nongovernmental organisation initiatives like the Carbon Disclosure Project and Climate Registry, and integration of sustainability into daily business practices. All of this coupled with increased energy demand and rising energy costs, has created many challenges but few answers. Building owners, operators, and occupants are left to sift through mounting “green noise” to understand how to achieve environmental and economic benefits through smart building design and operation strategies.

Green building pays

A fundamental change is taking place. With the rapid increase of renewable energy use, and the convergence of information technology and building technologies, we are on the path toward net zero energy or even positive energy buildings. This is reflected in the fact that smart grid, smart cities, eco-districts, and green campuses are already being built and retrofitted. Further, when implemented strategically, green construction and retrofits bring social as well as financial benefits.