Saving greenbacks by going green - Business

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Aug. 02, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Saving greenbacks by going green

Energy-efficient buildings reduce waste, can boost profits

By TONY ILLIA
LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS

Renewable Energy

Green, more than a color, is a catchall term used to describe an ecoconscious lifestyle, including everything from hybrid-fuel-powered cars to recycled consumer goods to solar electricity. The big-minded concept is to preserve the Earth's natural resources by reducing waste and pollution through innovative design and improved efficiency. In development circles, green has gone from a boutique idea to a mandatory part of architecture and construction.

"It's not just about energy savings," said Craig Willcut, president of United Construction, which opened new sustainable offices in Reno this year. "It's about providing a healthy environment for employees, as well as being socially responsible for our part of the environment."

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Companies with green offices have an easier time recruiting and retaining employees, studies show. Healthy work settings, with plenty of daylight and fresh air, can reduce sick days. Today's Generation Y work force actively seeks social-minded employers that reduce their carbon footprints and improve the world around them.

"It's a popular thing with the younger generation," said Christopher Larson, spokesman for the Sustainable Development Committee of the Las Vegas chapter of NAIOP, a commercial real estate trade group. "They want to work for a company that is thinking sustainable because it's cool and the right thing to do."

Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of the Earth's global warming, observers say.

"Corporate responsibility is becoming unavoidable," said Rick Van Diepen, chairman of the Committee on the Environment for the Las Vegas chapter of the American Institute of Architects. "Employee productivity is being improved by 1 percent to 2 percent, conservatively, by working in a green building. That is a huge bottom-line savings."

Companies and municipalities, for example, are turning to four-day workweeks with 10-hour workdays. This schedule cuts driving, thereby cutting fossil fuel emissions, while decreasing consumption of water and electricity. Some businesses have started car pool and recycling programs for employees. Others use glues, carpets and paints free of volatile organic compounds.

"The utilization of green cleaning standards and green products are good for the environment, the tenants and often times, the bottom line," said Susan Wincn, president of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Nevada. "We work to provide education and best practices to reduce the use of natural resources, nonrenewable energy and waste production."

Some steps toward becoming green are as simple. Businesses can use drought-tolerant landscaping or low-flow plumbing fixtures to save water. Building with recycled wood, steel and glass is convenient, cheap and environmentally sound.

"Costs for building green are going down," said J.F. Finn III, a principal with Gensler of Nevada, executive architect for MGM Mirage's $8.5 billion CityCenter development. "Companies now have more experience building green, so there are greater efficiencies."

The country's hottest green building program today is called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. It's a rating system created by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000 that grades project sustainability based on points awarded for water conservation, energy efficiency and environmental quality, among other things. The more points, the higher the rating, which goes from basic certification up to Silver, Gold and Platinum.

Companies increasingly use LEED certification as branding; it's now a part of corporate marketing and identity. LEED-certified buildings command higher rents, observers say. Operating costs account for 35 percent to 50 percent of office rents, yet energy bills can vary up to $1 per square foot among similar buildings just a few feet apart.

"It's clear that the building with the lowest operating costs will have more options when negotiating with tenants," said B. Alan Whitson, a national authority on facility design and management and CEO of Newport Beach, Calif.-based B. Alan Whitson Co. "Turning green can cut energy costs by 40 percent or more, and upgrading a building's lighting can add $6 per square foot to its value."

Although Nevada only has about two dozen LEED-certified projects thus far, 166 more developments are preregistered for future certification. All new federal and state buildings are required to be designed to Silver LEED standards. Assembly Bill 3, signed into law in 2005, also gives tax breaks for LEED-certified projects.

It runs around $2,500 to file the paperwork. Building costs, meanwhile, can add up to 2 percent of the project's overall cost. It's a negligible amount since most building projects have a 5 percent contingency factored into their budgets.

"If a project is approached with the right mindset early on, green buildings should not cost extra," said Deepika Padam, president of the Las Vegas chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. "The LEED-certified level should become the future typical building."

Contact reporter Tony Illia at tonyillia@aol.com or 702-303-5699.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Mark wrote on August 09, 2009 09:07 AM: From NASA: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2008/ In our analysis, 2008 is the ninth warmest year in the period of instrumental measurements, which extends back to 1880 (left panel of Fig. 1). The ten warmest years all occur within the 12-year period 1997-2008. The two-standard-deviation (95% confidence) uncertainty in comparing recent years is estimated as 0.05°C [ref. 2], so we can only conclude with confidence that 2008 was somewhere within the range from 7th to 10th warmest year in the record. mwp wrote on August 02, 2009 06:51 PM: Don't you know that it's now called "Climate Change". Because global warming is causing the cooling of the earth. Duh. Both sides of the issue are now covered by those morons. Dan wrote on August 02, 2009 05:07 PM: What they aren't telling you is that LEED certification is a scam. Google LEED certification. You are required to buy into it, not just the General Contract, but the subcontractors and material suppliers. You pay through the nose, it adds tens of thousands of dollars to the price of the building and for what? A little plaque to hang on the wall. Forget the certification. Use LEED certified materials and build your building. You won't get your little plaque but you will be helping the earth without making this additional middle man rich. The governments mandates and regulations on this forces the construction costs to soar and all for a little plaque to hang on the wall. So, all state and federal buildings will be required to be LEED certified. Isn't that wonderful, more tax dollars that we get to pay for. RightWingExtremist wrote on August 02, 2009 01:28 PM: Now buildings are responsible for global warming? I've heard of reaching for straws but this has gone beyond the realm of reality. It's bad enough that these morons are blaming CO² when that gas only makes up 0.037% of our atmosphere. Hardly enough to keep plants alive let alone even be a minor contributor to global temperature change. The unfortunate thing about all these morons yelling and screaming is that they've got the fools in Congress and the Joke-in-Chief believing their stupid, moronic rants. jeff wrote on August 02, 2009 12:46 PM: first it was the dot-com bubble that burst then it was the housing market... next bubble building is the Global Warming bubble and all the environmental BS being shoved in our face. I have an Earth Science degree, man made climate change is a JOKE. Sorry Al Gore. Kid D wrote on August 02, 2009 12:23 PM: I have been in building construction over 30 years and have seen alot of low bid, bottom dollar construction techniques used to build a real crappy building, both architecturally and energy wise. If you people would look at the credit categories in LEED green rating, one would see an attempt at improving the construction process. The existing construction process is a joke. We can and should be constructing better and heathier buildings. This is nothing about climate change, it about doing what as humans we are capable of doing, and thats building better than crap. Audit wrote on August 02, 2009 09:20 AM: Build "green" and save dollars - B. Alan Whitson said, "Turning green can cut energy costs by 40 percent or more, and upgrading a building's lighting can add $6 per square foot to its value." LEED = project killer wrote on August 02, 2009 09:15 AM: "The LEED-certified level should become the future typical building." Hopefully not! This nonsense is nothing but extra wasted costs added onto projects, kind of like the pitiful environment "protection" paperwork. This is nothing but a con-job from the "consultants" that typicall don't have too much real engineering education, but want to tell you how to run your project. "Green" is a joke! wrote on August 02, 2009 09:12 AM: All this so-called "green" nonsense is costing me, average joe, a lot more than what little benefit is perceived. Someone is making a helluva lot of dough from selling this sht! Look at your ridiculously high NV Energy bills and tell me you're paying a lot less for "green" when you're being hit with extra costs for implementing "green" and the less energy you use, the more rate increases these greedy bastards want out of you, the sucker. John wrote on August 02, 2009 08:20 AM: Buildings make up 40% of the fictious "global whining"? Ahhhh, no, they don't. Does anyone here argue the FACT that the temp of the earth has decreased over the last 10 years? Going "green" is a scam to make more money from taxpayer dollars as credits and "incentives". Read All Comments