Measuring Sustainable Development: An Initial Investigation

John Goering, Ph.D.CUNY: Baruch College and the Graduate Centerand

Alice CookDirector of SustainabilityTime Equities Inc

Presented at the APPAM - KDI Conference “Environmental Policy & Teaching”Seoul, South KoreaJune 13, 2009

Outline of Presentation

Brief case studies of new and existing buildings: differing goals for `Green’ development

Assess current research evidence on costs & outcomes

Outline constraints on further green building

Alternative US `Green’ Rating Formats

Energy Star: US Department of the Environment (1992)

LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Certification: US Green Building Council (1998 -)

NAHB: Green Home Bldg. Guidelines (single family; 2005)

Ad Hoc: case specific- no rating

Case Study 1: The Durst Organization’s Bank of America Building

Durst Organization began:1915 4 green buildings; “The most environmentally

responsible building ever.” 2.1 million square feet co-built with BofA Class A office LEED Platinum; almost fully

built & occupied: $175 sq ft rents Goal: Reduce water & energy consumption:

50%

Case 2: Time Equities: Existing Buildings

Focus on global warming and long-term plan for converting stock

Created Director of Sustainability office: 2007 Initial energy audits – building mod plans Capital commitment + incentives Register LEED Portfolio Require 2-year payback

223 W. 10th NY audit: not funded

Energy Retrofit Results

___________________

4200 Boulevard Saint-Laurent

Montreal, QC Canada

Time Equities’ 4200 St. Laurent

Electricity Consumption

320,000

370,000

420,000

470,000

520,000

570,000

620,000

670,000

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

month in year

mon

thly

ele

ctric

ity u

se (k

wh)

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

4200 St Laurent

Case 3: Building Affordably & Sustainably

Affordable housing developers &

multiple layers of uncertain financing Focus on green building before LEED Use of low-cost brownfield sites Focus on energy savings for tenants/owners South Bronx cases: Non-profit: WHEDCo; For-profit:

Jonathan Rose

SHADES OF GREEN

Urban Horizons II• 128 units• One-, two- and three-bedrooms• Affordable to families making 60% of area median income• 30% of units for formerly homeless families• Commercial storefronts along first floor• 37 underground parking spaces

“Foyer” Building• 46 units• Studios for young adults aging out of foster care.• On-site vocational, educational, and training programs• On-site case management and 24/7 security

Source: Edelman Sultan Knox & Wood Architects

WHEDCo’s “Saving Urban Horizons”Goal: Well maintained and affordable

Energy Upgrades (opened 1997)

•Low-flow shower heads & faucet

•Motion-sensitive lighting

•LED exit signs

•Weather-stripped entrances

Planned (unfunded):

Energy Star refrigerators •CFL bulbs

•Photovoltaic roof panels •Green roof

NY Urban Horizons Utility CostsActual Costs with Energy Savings

$180,242 $189,254 $198,717

$244,481 $258,699

$311,653

$171,659

$373,088

$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$250,000

$300,000

$350,000

$400,000

2003 2004 2005 2006

Actual Costs

Projected

Evaluation Measurement Issues

No independent evaluations of full set of costs and benefits

Limited cost & return data; small sample sizes

Difficult to obtain data on effective rents & concessions

Hard to get long-term data on productivity & health impacts of ratings

2008-2009 research results disagree on core findings

LEED Bldg Rental Rate Differentials

LEED Sales Price Differentials

Research on Economic Impacts of LEED and Energy Star Rated US Office Buildings

Miller, Spivey, Florance (2008) Eichholitz, Kok and Quigley (2009)

Ratings/Measure Descriptive - Regression Hedonic regression

LEED

Rent gain 36% ($11.33) NS

Sales Price gain 64% ($171) - 9.94% NS

Energy Star

Rent gain 9% 3.3%

Sales price gain 27% - 5.3% 19%

Related Research Evidence

Marginal cost to develop - except Platinum

20-35% reductions in energy costs; long-term uncertain

Higher occupancy possible (McCormick 2008)

Productivity improvements of 18%; reductions of absenteeism up to 71% but unlinked to rating systems (Loftness)

Constraints on the Evolution of Green Building

Limited research evidence & data Unclear how to go to scale (building codes/House

Energy Bill 2009) Uncertain popular support for sustainability How fast will prices drop & evolving green technology? Flawed ratings systems Weak links to smart growth planning Weak link of social equity

LEED: Flawed tool or necessary harbinger?

Is LEED capturing essential elements of sustainability – can it do better?

Will standards to change to enable inclusiveness? Will it become less time consuming and costly?

“More Daunting than a Private School Application” Will there be funding & TA to assist developers? How & when will it grow to full scale?

Small Universe of Green

“An infinitesimal percentage of US Buildings

are Green”

CoStar 2008

What Green Building is not, yet

Not in all building codes Not yet large scale urban development planning

But Shanghai’s Dongtan Island; SWECo; LEED ND; Clinton Climate Change demos

Large scale tax policy and agency funded Inclusive: with planned provisions for affordability Not yet measured internationally

but recent MOU LEED; BREEAM; Green Star Not yet sociologically and economically feasible

But, it’s begun well

Despite disconnect between research and developers, the latter will proceed to adapt their buildings as markets permit

There may be important legislative changes Researchers have begun to measure important

outcomes There is evidence that it saves money & energy Affordable housing developers will continue to fight for

a piece of this action

Questions?

THANKS –

Comments & Questions?