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Greg Katz Study: The True Cost of Building Green
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The True Costs of Building Green

The cost premium for green buildings is nominal over that of traditional, "to-code" structures

 

Benefits of Green Buildings

  1. They use key resources like energy, water, materials, and land much more efficiently than buildings simply built to code.
  2. They create healthier work, learning, and living environments by providing more natural light and cleaner air.
  3. They improve employee and student health, comfort, and productivity.
  4. They save money by reducing operations and maintenance costs, and also by lowering utility bills.

Thanks to programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s landmark LEED rating system for buildings, green facilities have crept into the mainstream.


“There are about 500 million square feet of green buildings under design, development, and completion,” says Greg Kats, principal of Capital E, a Washington, D.C. consultancy focusing on clean energy. “There’s a lot of success in applications of LEED to the different market sectors.”

But challenges toward widespread acceptance remain.


Despite the growing recognition of sustainable practices, green products, and high-performance technologies in building design and construction, concern within the facilities industry continues due to lack of accurate, thorough, and quantifiable information regarding the financial and economic impacts of high-performance buildings. “There definitely are hurdles when it comes to the perception of cost,” notes architect Dan Heinfeld, president of LPA Inc., Irvine, CA. This thought has become a prohibiting factor in the mainstreaming of green building practices.


Read more.....

http://www.buildings.com/articles/detail.aspx?contentID=3029
Pages: Greg Katz Study: The True Cost of Building Green Last Editor: Shari Aaron