Value of Green Retrofits Becoming Clearer

WASHINGTON — The green building revolution might not get a lot of air time, due to the relatively blasé headlines it tends to create, but change is still occurring, even if its mostly taking place in the background of public perception.

Even the numbers for individual sections of the green building market are staggering. A new study demonstrates that green building retrofits have become a self-sustaining industry on their own. The U.S. Green Building Council and Booz Allen Hamilton, a technology and national defense industries consulting firm, found that the green retrofits industry supported two million jobs in the United States this year and contributed over $100 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) and wages to the economy. Those figures don’t even include new construction projects that use green principles.

The study also demonstrated the green retrofit sector of the economy would be self-sustaining, as it predicted those job numbers would remain stable, with 7.9 billion jobs being supported by the industry over the next four years. The study actually found that the industry’s contribution to GDP and wages would increase over time, accounting for $554 billion over that four-year period.

At the same time, end users are beginning to realize the benefits of investing in green buildings, which was also the topic of a recent study, carried out by the University of San Diego and a commercial real estate company, CB Richard Ellis Group. The research indicated commercial buildings that qualified for some level of LEED certification and an Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star label were more profitable for owners than similar structures that did not meet those standards. The study found that green buildings had 3.5 percent lower vacancy rates and enjoyed 13 percent higher rental rates. Essentially, this seems to indicate that the market has deemed spaces in green buildings to be more valuable than identical openings in run of the mill structures.

Though the market appears to have spoken on the value of the green building and green retrofit industries, government entities are fanning the flames as well. President Barack Obama launched his Better Buildings Initiative in 2011, which provides nearly $4 billion in incentive-based funding for green retrofit projects in the public and private sectors.

Some local governments have gotten into the act as well. Chicago recently launched a plan to retrofit 100 city buildings. The city expanded that campaign to the private sector, asking commercial building owners to voluntarily become part of the initiative, with no offer of government money. A group of private building owners have already answered the call, with 14 buildings signed up so far. The Windy City is already known for having the largest green roof [Millennium Park] in the world and the most total square footage of green roofs of any city. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Louisville have engaged in municipal retrofit projects similar to Chicago’s, while New York, Austin, and Seattle have changed rules to require private structure owners to provide potential customers with information on the energy consumption trends in their buildings.