Page 156 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

132 COSTS OF GREEN BUILDINGS

Figure 7.2 Integrated design approaches allow
this “cost transfer” to occur from HVAC, plumbing,
and electrical systems to other more visible benefits,
while still providing for all of the service needs of a
building. Redrawn with permission from Interface Engineering.

as illustrated in Fig. 7.2. Here’s a good example, the OHSU project employs shading
devices over the south-facing windows on the fourth through the fourteenth floors of
the 16-story high rise. The east and west facades contain few windows, only stairways,
and are naturally ventilated using a “stack effect” approach. As a result, there is much
less solar heat gain in the summer months, with an attendant cost reduction in the
required tonnage of air-conditioning. The cost savings from the reduced air-conditioning
system size more than pay for the south-facing overhangs and produce a cost transfer
to other aspects of the building, such as a large green roof and 60-kW of building-
integrated photovoltaics, with panels integrated onto the south-facing sun shades.
The more developers engage experienced green design and construction firms, the
more they require their consultants to produce high-performance results (without
excuses), the more likely it is that overall project costs will not exceed costs for a con-
ventional project that does not provide the benefits of a high-level green building.
Many of the green building measures that give a building its greatest long-term
value—for example, onsite energy production, onsite stormwater management and
water recycling, green roofs, daylighting, and natural ventilation—often require a
higher capital cost. However, many project teams are finding that these costs can be
paid for by avoiding other costs, such as stormwater and sewer connection fees, or by