What are the benefits of green building?

GE Appliances & Lighting recently opened a new data center at its Kentucky headquarters, equipped with innovative, high-efficiency cooling systems. It also uses high-density servers that contain more computing power per square foot, reducing the amount of power the center needs for cooling. The company has even installed water-saving devices to reduce water consumption in the building by 42%.

Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, announced last year its intention to meet most of its water heating needs with the help of 378 solar panels, which will heat 140,000 liters of water a day. According to his management, the sustainable investment is expected to save 3,200 kWh of energy per day, accumulating 690MWh of energy savings annually.

Hervey Bay’s Riviera Resort broke a Queensland solar panel record this month by installing more solar panels on its six-story building than any other development in the Australian state. The owner of the complex claims that he has enjoyed $16,000 in energy savings, a reasonable return on his sustainable investments.

Businesses aren’t the only ones taking advantage of green adjustments and innovations. ZeroCottage in San Francisco, a net-zero energy project under construction by David Baker and Partners Architecture, is harnessing the benefits of high-performance windows, airtight bi-fold doors and wall assemblies, rainwater recovery, and efficient water heating. Kelly and Matt Grocoff, a couple from Michigan, redeveloped their 1,901 2,200-sq. foot Victorian style house and turn it into a net zero sustainable investment. It cost the family a total of $47,130, with an expected return of $104,000 over 20 years.

According to calculations by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), buildings in most countries absorb at least 40 percent of national energy use. In the European Union, the construction industry consumes 42 percent of the EU’s final energy consumption and accounts for around 35 percent of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, estimates the European Commission. In an economy where businesses and households are cutting costs across the board, energy is one of the first areas to feel the drop. Governments are taking this trend into account and are encouraging sustainable, energy-saving investments through incentive tools such as tax breaks and feed-in tariffs.

Figures for 2010 from Deutsche Bank Research indicate that green buildings enjoy energy savings of approximately 30% more than conventional buildings. Green buildings generally tend to use less water and are cheaper to maintain. McGraw-Hill Construction’s 2011 Green Outlook report estimates the growth of green building construction in the US at 50% between 2008 and 2010. Green buildings accounted for 25% of all new construction in 2010 and, according to According to McGraw-Hill projections, the size of the market will likely increase to around $135 billion by 2015. The UK is likely to see increases in the sector and the government has set a target of increasing power reductions in the country and achieve carbon neutrality in all new English homes by 2016, according to WBCSD.

Before embarking on greening the office or home space and reaping the benefits of reduced energy costs, government incentives, and more affordable building maintenance, investors should fully educate themselves on industry standards and regulations. of his country. As the green building investment market accelerates, it brings with it a persistent need for quality assurance.

There are several third-party entities that set standards and certify buildings built under sustainable investment initiatives. In the US, the main certification system for green buildings is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The US Green Building Council (USGBC) developed LEED in 2000, to provide home and commercial building owners and operators with a set of measurable criteria that assess building practicality, design, effectiveness, and management effectiveness. The widely used regulatory system is the BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). Established in 1990 by the UK’s Building Research Establishment (BRE), BREEAM was intended to assess the sustainability of new commercial buildings. Since then, it has expanded to also include residential buildings under its umbrella. In 2003, the Green Building Council of Australia launched Green Star, a rating system to quantify the environmental effects of buildings, as well as the improvements brought by innovations in the construction sector.