Value Beyond Cost Savings - Green Building Finance Consortium

Value Beyond Cost Savings: How to Underwrite Sustainable Properties• Energy: All of the buildings performed better than the Commercial BuildingsEnergy Consumption Survey (CBECS) averages and most performed better thanthe GSA goal. On average the office buildings in this study performed 29% betterthan the CBECS national average for office buildings. There was wide variabilityamong the 12 buildings studied.• Maintenance and operations: Average maintenance costs (general maintenance,ground maintenance and janitorial costs) for the sustainable buildings were 13%less than the average baseline cost.• Waste generation and recycling: All of the buildings were below the baselinefor waste costs per occupant per year.• Occupant satisfaction: All of the GSA buildings in this study scored above the50 th percentile for general building satisfaction based on the Center for the BuiltEnvironment (CBE) survey (reformatted by GSA for this study as the SustainablePlaces and Organizational Trends (SPOT) survey.) On average, these buildingsscored 22% better than the CBE 50 th percentile.• Transportation: The commute distance traveled and emissions from theidentified transportation modes result in lower emissions than the average officeworker commute.c. “The Economics of LEED for Existing Buildings,” Leonardo Academy Inc., April21, 2008The survey data presented in this report was gathered in 2006-2007. The survey was sent tothe owners or managers of 53 LEED-EB certified buildings and 23 of them returned thesurvey. This represented a response rate of 43 percent.The following key conclusions were extracted directly from the report: 43• The costs for LEED-EB implementation and certification varied significantly frombuilding to building. The total costs were a mean of $2.71 per square foot, with amedian of $2.31 per square foot. The results did not follow expectations of highercosts for higher certification levels, but this may be due to the very small samplesize available.• In all the categories of operating costs, more than 50% of the LEED-EB buildingshad expenses less than the BOMA average for the region. Total expenses per squarefoot of the LEED-EB buildings were less than the BOMA average for seven of theeleven buildings (64%).• Total operating expenses in LEED-EB certified buildings had a median of $6.07 persquare foot, 13% less than the $6.97 average for BOMA buildings.43 While not reported in this report, the study does provide an assessment of the cost to achieve specific LEED-EBpoints.65