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According to a NYT article, as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlanNYC, a proposal seeks to employ mandatory energy audits of existing structures of 50,000 square feet or more and requires owners to make certain improvements to make the buildings more energy efficient. James F. Gennaro, chairman of the council’s environmental protection committee and a sponsor of the measures, says “Eighty-five percent of the buildings that we have in 2009 are going to be here in 2030.”

Director of long-term planning and sustainability for the Bloomberg Administration Rohit Aggarwala tells an audience at The Urban Green Council (the newly renamed NY Chapter of the USGBC) that the building community now needs to address questions that go beyond a property’s design and construction. Aggarwala cites an important example to consider how a property can be truly green if there are no leasing requirements in place to ensure it’s operated in an eco-friendly manner. At present, there is no standard in place to determine the owner’s or tenant’s responsibilities for sustainable operation. While the general perception of sustainable buildings is  new construction, “if we’re going to make our big cities greener we have to focus on our existing buildings,” Aggarwala said.

Elemental has actively engaged its commercial clients, particularly building Owners and managers, to offer leasing structures which allow ‘green’ tenants to benefit directly from the economic savings of resource conservation. Suggested measures include individually metering electricity, heating, cooling and water use – and allowing the data of their use to be analyzed/displayed in real-time – as well as  energy and resource efficient upgrades for windows and plumbing fixtures which further reduce energy use for heating, cooling, domestic hot water and circulation. Individual tenant metering means that each tenant can reap the dollar savings resulting from those energy upgrades. In short, energy conservation by Owners can translate into economic benefits for every tenant.

Read more on Aggarwala’s address here:

Researchers at the University of San Diego’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate and CB Richard Ellis have found that employees who work in green buildings are more productive than their counterparts who work in non-green buildings. Green buildings were defined as those that are LEED-certified at any level or those that bear the Energy Star label.

In the study, researchers Norm Miller, Ph.D., academic director at the Burnham-Moores Center, and David Pogue, national director of sustainability at CBRE, surveyed 154 green buildings nationwide containing over 2,000 tenants, 534 of which participated in the study. The study is the largest of its kind by far; a 2003 study looked at productivity levels in just 33 green buildings. Miller and Pogue used two measurements of productivity: sick days and the self-reported productivity percentage change after moving into a new building.

Forty-five percent of respondents reported that they had experienced an average of 2.88 fewer sick days at their new, green office location vs. their previous non-green office location. An equal amount noted no effect, while 10 percent reported more sick days. The 10 percent that reported more sick days were residents of Energy Star-labeled, not LEED-certified buildings. Unlike LEED buildings, Energy Star buildings do not have air quality requirements.

Based on the average salary of the tenants, an office space of 250 square feet per worker and 250 workdays a year, the 2.88 fewer sick days translate into a net impact of $4.91 per employee, according to the authors.

On the self-reported productivity measure, 12 percent of respondents said that they strongly agree that employees were more productive in green buildings, 42.5 percent agreed that employees were more productive and 45 percent noted no change in productivity. According to the authors’ calculations, the increase in productivity translates into a net impact of $20.82 per employee, based on an office space of 250 square feet per worker and using average salary as an index.

For the full study, go to www.usdrealestate.com.

SOURCE Burnham-Moores Center at the University of San Diego

Today in the Green Inc. blog of the New York Times, a fascinating study by the Harvard Business Review about corporate sustainability being a “key driver” of innovation that also yields real financial rewards rather than extra cost is discussed. We’re still reviewing the study and will contribute our thoughts on it soon.

In today’s New York Times there is a telling article that talks about the ‘soft underbelly’ of LEED. The article observes that many LEED-rated buildings perform well below their projected levels. The article goes on to say that this is largely because there is no incentive for owners and users to efficiently operate their buildings once the LEED certification has been achieved, generally at the end of or shortly after construction. This misses a basic point of sustainable design and also points to a serious weak spot in the otherwise-useful LEED rating system.

Truly sustainable architecture results primarily from obtaining the optimal services from the fewest resources. Rather than relying on superimposed equipment and technologies, the most effective measures for improving building performance come from basic planning and design strategies which recognize the programs to be served and the ways in which the building is to be operated.

A new report on energy efficiency from McKinsey found that the US alone could save $1.2 trillion through 2020, by investing $520 billion in improvements like sealing leaking building ductwork and replacing inefficient household appliances with new, energy-saving models. The report recommends such items as education about potential energy efficiency savings,  more stringent energy codes, efficiency requirements for appliances and stronger financial incentives for making efficiency improvements.

As the debate over the preservation of what is considered to be Marcel Breather’s last project continues, Carl Stein is mentioned as one of the Library’s creative contributors here. Carl, prior to departing the Breuer office to join his father Richard Stein, FAIA to form  The Stein Partnership, served as Project Manager for the building’s design.  Metropolis Magazine discusses the battle here.

Jones Lang & Lasalle released their white-paper on their spearheaded efforts to make the Empire State Building more energy efficient.