Green is Growing

The green building initiative is growing and as a result green support businesses are sprouting up everywhere.  Here is a look at a few:

Green Commissioning: Commissioning is the process by which someone makes sure the end product of a project (in this case a building) performs the way it was intended it to.  It comes from the historical process of commissioning a ship and allows someone to take their project from idea to reality.  This is not just for new construction, but it is also a growing trend with retrofits.

Green Project Profitability:  One of the challenges with selling green buildings and retrofits is monetizing the potential profit or gain.  While most people agree that the intangible benefits of sustainability are important, there need to be economic incentives for the initial investment.  While initial payback in the form of reduced energy bills is one way to determine profitability, the challenge is gathering enough data to support the long term gains.

Green Lending:  Lending institutions, such as E3 Bank,  that focus on green or sustainable projects are faced with the challenges of monetizing profitability if they choose to qualify projects in a traditional manner.  Currently public funding in the form of grants and refunds is a primary financial source.  Hopefully, as we gather more information about the long term benefits of sustainable construction, there will be increased benefits to property owners, companies, and builders seeking loans for sustainable construction

Interior of a green office building

in Cambridge, MA.

(image: greenbuildingelements.com)


Green Insurance:  There is no question that green buildings are unique and, as a result, they present a unique insurance challenge.  A few insurance companies, such as Fireman's and Traveler's, offer green insurance.  These policies take into account the added expense of green buildings as well as the need to replace them up to current sustainability in the event of a disaster, even offering LEED certified claims adjusters.

 

Green Leasing:  Once the property owner has invested in constructing or retrofitting a green building, policies need to be in place to help insure the building operation supports and maintains its green status.  Enter the green lease.  This lease addresses everything from specific finish out materials to mandating recycling.  As the number of green buildings increase, so will the need to allow property owners to have leases in place that support this initiative.

LEED standards provide guidelines for construction and consistent and credible benchmarks for other support industries and businesses.  Sustainability is here to stay in the building industry.  As the inventory of green buildings increases, companies that have positioned themselves to meet these changing needs will thrive.