Renae Hesselink: Green building construction and management
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Renae Hesselink, LEED AP
Chair, US Green Building Council
West Michigan Chapter
From our perspective, 2012 holds the opportunity to convince more West Michigan businesses of the savings and efficiencies they can achieve by embracing LEED principles for their existing buildings.
The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED EB: O&M) certification system identifies and rewards current best practices and provides an outline for buildings to use less energy, water and natural resources; improve the indoor environment; and uncover operating inefficiencies.
LEED EB: O&M has been slow to take off, chiefly, I believe, because of the misperceptions that it’s difficult to achieve and that businesses cannot allocate the resources to this kind of commitment. I don’t think people understand that the costs associated with LEED EB: O&M depend on potential building upgrades and how much of the related work must be outsourced. Most, if not all, of the budget that supports this effort can come from building operations, not capital. It’s the USGBC’s job to educate stakeholders about the “pay from savings” model, that LEED EB: O&M is affordable and that it has a tremendous payoff. All of this can be analyzed and confirmed before spending much money.
Recently, I’ve been reviewing a 2010 study prepared for the USGBC by Booz Allen Hamilton that describes the economic benefits of green and LEED-inspired construction. The data comes from a meta-analysis of 10 reports encompassing 69 LEED certified buildings. The study confirms that commercial buildings can achieve an annual cost savings per square foot of $0.52 for energy; $0.32 for O&M; $0.05 for waste; and $0.02 for water.
What does this mean for West Michigan? That tremendous savings and efficiencies are already underway. Our current stock of 159 LEED certified buildings adds up to approximately 47 million square feet. Using the Booz Allen Hamilton numbers as reference, we are already witnessing an annual savings of approximately $14 million in reduced energy use, $8.5 million in O&M, $1.3 million in waste reduction and $540,000 in water, for a total of $24 million.
A more thorough survey of our region’s LEED buildings is necessary for exact figures, but these averages make our original point: LEED drives energy and cost efficiencies.