Changing The Industry, Transforming The World

By Rick Fedrizzi

Today’s market in green building products and services exceeds $5.76 billion annually. It’s a long way from where we started four years ago when the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System” was first introduced, but it doesn’t begin to describe the next wave.

In late-2004, two new LEED rating systems will be released that dramatically expand its relevance to the commercial buildings industry.

LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) applies to 26 billion square feet of previously unaddressed commercial space, delivering a framework for reducing operating costs and improving occupant satisfaction through green process improvements and maintenance strategies. More than 90 building owners enrolled in the pilot, and their early results underscore the business value of going green. For instance, Thomas Properties Group, developers and managers of the 950,000-square-foot Joe Serna Jr. CAL/EPA Headquarters Building in Sacramento estimate an annual savings of $1 per square foot in operating expenses related to green building features and operations.

LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) was created especially for tenant improvements and interior renovation projects, and will work hand-in-glove with LEED for Core & Shell. Focused on improving occupant health, comfort, and productivity, as well as helping to drive down operating costs, its benefits to pilot participants – the first of which will be certified this summer – is just beginning to be quantified. Of note, one pilot participant, the Harvard School of Public Health’s Landmark Building office renovation, reports a 10-month payback on green features through energy savings and productivity gains.

But simply making these new rating systems available won’t drive greater adoption of green building and the scale of market transformation that U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) holds as its mission. At the end of the day, USGBC doesn’t build green buildings – its members do; you do. And it’s our commitment to provide tools – like LEED Rating Systems, educational, and broad market outreach about the benefits of building green – to support your work.

Changing the way we build and operate buildings requires a huge commitment to professional learning. And for green buildings, that means practice-oriented courses that share effective green building strategies as well as business-focused programs that outline quantitative benefits to the bottom line. Meeting both of these needs, a broad range of new educational programs – including workshops and presentations through local USGBC Chapters as well as distance learning opportunities – will be available beginning this September.

Reaching beyond the green building community, USGBC has also launched a major outreach effort to encourage owners to “Build Green. Everyone Profits.” We’ve all heard it before – owners balking at building green out of concern that it will cost more with no payback. We’re demonstrating that doing the right thing, period, and doing the right thing for the bottom line are one and the same.

It’s hard to envision the scale of impact that these two new rating systems combined with showing building owners and occupants that greening their space will also green their bottom line. But about this there’s no doubt: as we change our industry – because it comprises 20 percent of the U.S. economy and consumes 35 percent of its energy – we will change our country and our world. It’s just a matter of time.

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Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council, is a principal with the Global Environment and Technology Foundation, the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions and President of Green-Think, an environmentally focused marketing and communications consulting firm. Rick is also President of the World Green Building Council.

FROM Environmental Design + Construction, a SustainableBusiness.com Content Partner