Overview

I often state the business case for commercial green buildings in 2008 in this way: if your next project is not a green building, one that s certified by an accepted national third-party rating system, it will be functionally outdated the day it opens for business and very likely to underperform in the market as time passes. ^[*] One expert claims that trillions of dollars of commercial property around the world will drop in value because green buildings are becoming mainstream and will soon render those properties obsolete. ^{[ ]} This is a remarkable change in the environment for commercial green buildings in just a short period of time, beginning about 2006. The question for commercial developers is no longer whether they re going to build a certified green building, but when and where will they do their next projects, what level of certification will they seek, and how much they re prepared to invest in their green building program.

A recent study of commercial projects from the largest commercial property database proves this contention. Completed in March 2008 by the CoStar Group, which analyzed more than 1300 LEED-certified and ENERGY STAR buildings (of which 355 were LEED-certified) representing roughly 351 million square feet in its database, the study showed that not only are rents and occupancy rates higher in green buildings, but sales prices are substantially higher.

In the analysis, LEED buildings achieved rent premiums of $11.33 per square foot over traditional office buildings and exhibited 4.1 percent higher occupancy...