In 2015, the green building industry expanded drastically as companies continued to find cost savings and energy efficiency by building sustainable facilities. Architects and owners used innovative design features to achieve LEED certification and create a better environment for employees.
AMHERST, Ma. — The University of Massachusetts (UMass) recently celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of its $52 million, energy-efficient Design Building. The ceremony honored the state-of-the-art academic facility and the innovative wood construction technologies it will incorporate.
About 100 people celebrated at the event, which featured remarks from UMass President Marty Meehan. Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Katherine Newman and State Rep. Ellen Story also spoke.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Located near the University of Maryland, the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in College Park has become one of only four LEED Platinum certified hotels in the United States. During the renovation, which lasted from 2012 to 2015, management paid close attention to the hotels sustainability and energy efficiency.
NEW YORK — As a result of efforts to become more energy efficient, Rockefeller University (RU), located in New York City, was recently honored with a local award from the Association of Energy Engineers for its multi-year initiative to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions.
AMSTERDAM — A comprehensive new study entitled, The Financial Rewards of Sustainability: A Global Performance Study of Real Estate Investment Trusts, has recently shown that sustainable facilities do financially “pay off,” performing more efficiently than their less sustainable competitors and better in the stock market.
Higher education institutions spend almost $14 billion annually on energy, and those costs are expected to climb. Coupled with constrained budgets and new regulations requiring schools to improve efficiency, energy management within the higher education market has proved to be a conundrum.
CHICAGO — Adding to their comprehensive energy services, Chicago-based real-estate consultant, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), signed a letter of intent to acquire Washington-based CoR Advisors, a business that specializes in smart building consulting and solutions.
CoR Advisors, founded in 2009, works to transform buildings into energy-efficient, high-performance facilities. The company, a network of thousands of subscribers and followers, is considered a leader in energy efficiency due to its strategic approach to educating, consulting and solutions.
HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced May 12 that new energy efficiency measures planned for Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH) in Middletown and several Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices throughout the state will reduce energy costs at those locations by more than $3.3 million per year.
The measures are being implemented under the state’s “Lead by Example” initiative, which was designed to reduce energy use in state and local government buildings.
WASHINGTON — President Obama signed a bill on Dec. 19 that would extend a tax deduction for energy-efficient commercial buildings. The bill, the Tax Increase Prevention Act includes the 179D deduction, which is only applicable for projects in the 2014 tax year.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy (DOE) has introduced two new energy efficiency standards in support of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan.
The new standards apply to general service fluorescent lamps (GSFLs) and automatic commercial ice makers (ACIMs).
