Smart Green Buildings

Commercial development

By Yardi Blog Staff on Sep 24, 2014 in News

Going green has become a way of life for many of us. Mostly thanks to the efforts of environmental groups who advocate for a greener future, we can now easily incorporate sustainable practices into our daily lives. We carpool to work, buy hybrid cars, use reusable shopping bags, compost, reduce energy consumption and save water any way we can. Whereas these individual undertakings are indeed effective and help stretch our planet’s resources on a daily basis, achieving sustainability on a larger scale wouldn’t be possible without serious input from our nations’ development leaders and influencers, including architects, urban planners, property owners, managers and landlords.

Many developers have already adhered to the green building movement and started delivering high-performance structures that prioritize livability and occupant well-being. Aside from the obvious environmental benefits, building green typically translates into happier employees, improved productivity, lower operating costs and implicitly higher returns for owners.

Moreover, by designing and constructing ecologically-intelligent buildings, developers may obtain financial and regulatory incentives to further support their practices. According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), New York, Maryland, Massachusetts and Oregon are on the leading edge of states offering tax credits for LEED Certified buildings; Portland (OR) and Seattle (WA) offer grants for energy modeling, commissioning and related costs; the private Green Building Loan Fund in Pittsburgh does much the same on a loan basis; and Arlington County (VA) links preferred zoning considerations for LEED projects.

From highly-efficient windows, formaldehyde-free furniture, live walls and green roofs, water-saving equipment, solar panels and personal comfort controls, there’s a plethora of new technologies available to help investors add function, cost-efficiency and value to commercial buildings. The importance of delivering healthy spaces derives precisely from the huge impact that the built environment has on human health, especially considering that Americans spend about 90 percent or more of their time indoors. EPA studies show that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times higher, and occasionally more than 100 times higher, than outdoor levels.

Transwestern, one of the nation’s leading real estate companies and a firm promoter of green design, has been successfully implementing sustainable strategies throughout its portfolio for many years. 1800 K St., a 224,000-square-foot office building in Washington, D.C. owned by Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and managed by Transwestern has been the first building in the world to earn certification through the new, more stringent LEED v4 Operations and Maintenance: Existing Building rating system. Transwestern’s sustainability services team oversaw the certification process of the building, directing the on-site property management team and setting operating and maintenance procedures.

More recently, Transwestern has been granted the 2014 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in recognition of its continued leadership in sustainability practices and reducing overall energy consumption at its managed properties.

“We are both appreciative and honored to have been recognized by the EPA for 11 consecutive years of excellence in this regard,” stated Larry P. Heard, Transwestern president and CEO. “Lowering energy consumption has resulted in cost savings that translate to superior financial results for owners and users alike in the commercial real estate space.”

Transwestern’s dedicated team of sustainability experts performs services including ENERGY STAR benchmarking, energy audits, building commissioning, LEED® certification and more.

Having benchmarked more than 340 buildings, Transwestern has an ENERGY STAR average portfolio rating of 74 and has reduced total site energy consumption across its managed portfolio by 37.6 million kBtu, a 1.2 percent reduction, according to official statements. Additionally, the company’s sustainability efforts have helped save more than 44 million gallons of water and reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 303,000 tons.

Among a series of green initiatives aimed at enhancing the built environment, Transwestern launched the “Green Team” program to inform and directly involve tenants in conserving energy in their own buildings.

Transwestern also curates a publication entitled “Building Efficiencies” which brings forth real-world case studies to show how sustainable improvements have a positive impact on the bottom line. The 11-story office building that houses the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) headquarters is one of such examples that clearly illustrate the cost-effectiveness of integrating efficient equipment and sustainable materials in real estate development. CTA decided to pursue LEED certification as a direct result of Transwestern’s practice of benchmarking each of its managed properties in ENERGY STAR. After gathering utility data for the first 12 months of operations, it became obvious that the building’s energy efficiency level was close to certification requirements. CTA was first in the state of Illinois to achieve LEED certification as an existing building. Check out the video below to see how the green roof that sits atop the CTA facilities in Chicago helps conserve energy and reduce stormwater runoff.

According to the Building Efficiencies report, the improvements made to achieve LEED Platinum re-certification for the CTA headquarters have resulted into improved building performance and significant reductions in energy costs. The property’s annual electricity costs dropped from $447,030 in 2011 to $273,428 in 2012, equating to a savings of $173,602, or nearly 39 percent. The annual cost of natural gas also decreased nearly 39 percent, from $41,158 in 2011 to $25,184 in 2012, for a savings of $15,974. Additionally, the ownership pursued retro-commissioning which also contributed a great deal to achieving energy savings. The owner spent $17,770 to upgrade the building automation system in January 2013 with a potential of $16,197 in additional annual savings. The building had an ENERGY STAR rating of 87 in December 2012, up three points from the previous December.

Internally, Transwestern launched an educational video series for team members to learn why sustainability and energy conservation is critical to the firm’s business. The firm gained extra points by employing social media tools to spread the word about energy efficiency and ENERGY STAR, as well as by maintaining building profiles, and speaking about the benefits of building green at conferences nationwide.

The 2014 Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Awards are given to a variety of organizations to recognize their contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through superior energy efficiency. Through 2013, with help from ENERGY STAR, American families and businesses have saved $297 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.