The Trend Toward Green

All colors have many different shades.  Take the color green for instance.  You have dark greens that many people describe as emerald and you have have lighter greens that many might describe as mint or pastel.  The same is true for individuals and companies that claim to be GREEN (some are emerald and some are mint).  The truth is there are as many ways to be GREEN as there are to catch a fish.  As a result, there has been some ambiguity in the green building movement, and assessing whether a building is truly GREEN or not has posed some challenges.  You might sum this idea up by saying that GREEN is in the eye of the beholder.  The solution: United States Green Building Council and the LEED designation system.  LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was started by the US Green Building Council in 2000.  The US Green Building Council, a non-profit organization, was started in 1993 with the goal of making green buildings available to everyone within a generation.  The LEED system is pretty straightforward and has distinctive categories.

Total # of LEED Certified Projects - 5/18/2011

• LEED Certified
• LEED Silver
• LEED Gold
• LEED Platinum

Buildings are awarded different LEED designations based on how many points they receive on a 100 point scale.  Points are awarded based on the efficient use of water and energy, the preservation of the atmosphere, the consideration and implementation of green materials and resources, the ability to improve indoor air quality, the environmental impact of the overall design, and the willingness to make decisions about the site's development that will protect the natural environment.  The LEED's Platinum designation is the highest rating and the applicant must receive 80 or more points to obtain a platinum level designation.  Buildings that receive a silver, gold, or platinum rating are very interesting to look at.  One building we learned about in class is the Patagonia Service Center building in Nevada.  Patagonia is a company that has made sustainability a major part of its culture from buying locally to building green.        



Patagonia's Reno Service Center - LEED Gold

Patagonia received the LEED Gold rating for their new building in Reno, Nevada.  Given its proximity to the Truckee River, managing storm-water runoff was of major importance. The excerpt below from Patagonia's website describes how Patagonia effectively dealt with this important environmental concern:

When snow or rainfall hits impermeable surfaces – such as parking lots, roofs and walkways – it runs off, carrying with it oil, gasoline, detergents, pesticides, garbage and other pollutants. These could flow into the nearby Truckee River, which supplies the city of Reno with some 85% of its municipal water. To ensure that the rate and quantity of storm-water runoff from our facility does not exceed pre-development levels, our civil engineers designed a management system that exceeds those found on most commercial sites. In our parking lot, we installed pervious pavers that allow water to percolate back into the ground. We integrated detention ponds into the landscape to capture runoff from the roof before it passes into the soil – a natural filter. In the paved area of the receiving dock, we installed two sand/oil separation units to aggressively filter out contaminants before runoff heads into city storm drains and ultimately the Truckee River.

As you can see, many factors go into achieving a LEED designation.  Based on all that Patagonia did, I was surprised that it only received a gold rating.  It would be interesting to learn why and what kept Patgonia from earning the platinum rating.  Watch the video below and see for yourself just how much Patagonia did to earn the LEED Gold rating.  It might really surprise you!

The Green Coronation



Everyone knows there are many different slang terms for money:  dinero, scratch, greenbacks, dough, sawbucks, c-notes, bones, smackers, and beans to name just a few.  There are also many phrases that we commonly use that incorporate the idea of money such as 'Don't nickel and dime me!' or 'Just give me cold hard cash!.  However, there is a new economy with its own vocabulary that is emerging in developed nations that has very little to do with fiat money.  It is the green economy and the lexicon of this economy deals not in greenbacks or dinero, but instead it deals in words such as sustainability, green jobs, net-zero buildings, hybrids, carbon footprints, and acronyms such as GHG's.  And for the record, green building is not just a concept which is embraced by tree huggers anymore.  All types of participants in the free-enterprise system as well as all levels of government are embracing green building and sustainable development. 

What does all this talk about GREEN really mean though?  The term GREEN is really somewhat subjective and difficult to pin down.  A more easily defined term is sustainable development.  Sustainable development is using resources in such a way that the needs of humans today are met without jeopardizing the needs of future generations.  It is a lofty but important goal to strive for, but it's also important to keep in mind that conservationism and sustainable development are not new phenomena.  The Native Americans practiced conservation and sustainable development long before the Europeans arrived.  Early American settlers and pioneers also embraced many green building and sustainable development concepts as well.  Although it might be true today that many places around the world have at one time or another lost sight of the need to protect and preserve the natural world, the conservation movement is alive and strong and has adherents spread across the continuum and around the globe.  In fact, the US government is currently mandating that all government buildings have at least a silver LEED rating which will have a profound impact on the real estate industry, but just how mainstream GREEN becomes is hard to say.  Much will depend upon the cost to benefit ratio and how well green building advocates can quantify the savings commonly associated with green building features.

More importantly, perhaps, is that private businesses are starting to embrace GREEN concepts, realizing there are real savings that come as a result of making the choice to construct sustainable buildings or do green retrofits.  In fact, even the Empire State Building, an American icon of capitalism, has undergone a green retrofit.  The truth is that buildings in cities across the US are the second largest energy user and producer of CO2 and green-house gases, second only to manufacturing.  They are the silent polluters that have flown under the radar for a long time.  Now, however, there is an effort underway to change this as many people are beginning to realize the value of sustainable development and  the long-term positive impact it can have on the bottom line. 

After the second day of class, it is clear to me that green building is here to stay and not merely a passing fad.  Also, I now understand that green building and sustainable development must permeate every facet of the construction process from the early stages of planning and development to contending with waste materials once the building project has been completed.  And although I don't believe the green economy will ever supplant the real economy, I do think the two can live in harmony, even in highly advanced post-industrial economies such as the US economy.  In our rush to coronate the new green economy, I can only hope the government does not impede real estate growth and development by implementing measures, restrictions, and regulations that are so restrictive and costly that they undermine the profit-structure inherent in the real estate industry.  Green aficionados must keep in mind that profit is not a bad thing and free-market capitalists must remember that unbridled greed is!  Remembering this will help us strike a healthy balance between the green economy and the real economy.  Furthermore, day two of class reminded me that I love the idea of building a net-zero energy use home and hope to do so one day. 

What is Green?

RE 5318 Sustainability Textbook

The following blog posts outline my voyage through the Sustainable Development 5318 course at UTA.  This course meets for two weeks at UTA's downtown Ft. Worth campus and is taught by Dr. Peterson.  The primary topic of our first meeting revolved around the question 'What does GREEN really mean?'  Interestingly, I discovered that it means very different things to different people but there seems to be a consensus that building GREEN is important for our future.

Green building and sustainable development are relatively new concepts in the US, and we talked about whether it is here to stay or simply a passing fad.  From our discussion, I got the impression that the US is a little behind the curve when it comes to green building, but currently the US is making strides through programs such as USGBC's LEED designation system.  The general consensus was that green building concepts are here to stay and I agree.  If for no other reason than there is a pressing need to embrace green concepts and smart growth to preserve our environment over the long-run. 

Overall, it's clear that green building and sustainability are having a major impact on the real estate industry, and those who embrace green building concepts now will emerge as the leaders within their segment of the industry.