 |
| Census Bureau Headquarters |
Built: 2006
Cost: $307 million
Square Feet: 2,340,988
Occupants: 5,360
LEED Certification: Gold
ENERGY STAR Score: 91
Performance: Did not meet national average on water use, utility costs, or aggregate operational costs due to densely populated spaces, but exceeded national average in all other areas with scores similar to other LEED Gold buildings in the sample.
INFORMATION COURTESY OF GSA AND SKANSKA USA
“In general, buildings incorporating sustainable design practices perform better than industry average buildings,” Reed says. “Upfront investment in sustainability measures needs to be matched by sustainable operations and maintenance practices. Building owners need to compare the performance of their buildings to internally established baselines.”
The Road to Cost Parity
As the marketplace gradually adopts green technologies, costs for today’s new innovations will drop just like yesterday’s newest, costliest innovations, says Douglas Pierson, partner of an architectural firm, (fer) studios, and lead architect on The Green Building, the first LEED Platinum commercial building in Louisville, KY. This will eventually drive down the costs of greening buildings, which in turn can have a considerable effect on O&M costs when the greening process includes high-efficiency equipment and other improvements that lower consumption of energy, water, and other resources.
 |
| Census Bureau Headquarters |
However, those O&M practices must also be sustainable or they could negate some of the savings from your energy-efficient equipment and building improvements. Most of the buildings in the GSA study showed savings in aggregate maintenance costs. However, the ones ranking in the bottom third of the 22-building sample showed unusually high aggregate maintenance costs, about 25% above the national average for U.S. commercial buildings. “O&M costs are lowest when sustainability is integral to every aspect of a building,” the study notes. “Building and systems efficiency alone isn’t enough. Upfront investments in sustainable measures need to be matched by sustainable O&M practices.”
 |
| Census Bureau Headquarters |
Pierson, whose firm approaches all buildings with sustainable design regardless of whether the owner is seeking green certification, says those upfront investments in green materials and technologies aren’t quite on an even playing field with the older non-green versions, but the costs are quickly evening out.
“Building green has moved closer to the center in that there are a lot more options out there for green resources and materials,” Pierson explains. “For example, paints are almost all low-VOC right now, whereas when we were doing the Green Building in 2006, it was a different story.”
The cost of retrofitting some green upgrades into existing buildings can sometimes seem high simply because the new, more sustainable materials or equipment weren’t originally designed into the building. This can affect product choice and the scope of work. Implementing a skylight, for example, requires a hole in an existing roof, so a building owner adding a skylight or roof monitor may be more favorable toward a small installation over an inadequately lit room rather than a large one taking up most of the roof.
 |
| Census Bureau Headquarters |
Smaller, less invasive changes, however, are much easier to implement and the green materials involved may come with little to no premium, Pierson explains. Read product documentation carefully to choose the greenest product for your money.
Comments
Post a Comment