Page 189 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

INTEGRATED VALUE ASSESSMENT 165

to a similar, conventional office building. A rooftop photovoltaic system com-
prises 152 panels that provide approximately 10 percent of the building’s elec-
tricity requirements. Two cisterns, each with a 9000-gallon capacity, collect
rainwater for landscaping use. Nearly 18 miles of underground geothermal
well piping and 120 wells in the parking lot will support the groundwater-based
cooling system.*

We asked, “What if we estimated that productivity for the occupants in this building
would increase by one-half of a percent because of the focus we gave on building
occupant health?” We were able to model what the economic value might be for the
client. That’s been extremely valuable for us. We collectively look at the cost impacts
of sustainable solutions and their benefit to the environment. We have printouts that
show the expected reductions in carbon dioxide, for example, because of the solutions
we’re considering.
The tool is used for a number of different things. It helps clients understand the
technologies. For developer-led projects, it helps them market the building. Our
results showed that productivity far outweighs a lot of the benefits from even the
energy side. You can show a client that a building might operate 40 percent more
efficient in terms of energy, but if you can make building occupants one percent
more productive, or if you can help with retention and recruitment, those benefits
far outweigh the other benefits.

You can see that leading companies are all coming to the same conclusions. High-
performance projects must include a strong analytical component that can be used not
only to guide project decisions, but to convince skeptical owners that these measures
have value in strictly economic terms. Part of the skill set of the integrated designer
will have to include strong economic (as well as technical) analysis, as high-performance
buildings move into the mainstream.

*HDR [online], http://www.hdrinc.com/13/38/1/default.aspx?projectID=300, accessed April 2006. Katie
Sosnowchik, “McKinney Green Building Earns LEED Platinum Rating,” iGreenBuild, June 5, 2007 [online],
http://www.igreenbuild.com/cd_2876.aspx, accessed April 2008. Curt Parde, “What Makes the Building Green?,”
Environmental Design & Construction, November 1, 2006 [online], http://www.edcmag.com/CDA/Archives/
506dd8b741fde010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____, accessed April 2008.