The Business Case for Greening Commercial Properties
by Shannon Sentman, Holland and Knight, LLP
A group of local green leaders gathered at the Meridian International Center yesterday for a half-day discussion focusing on the business case for greening existing buildings.
The event, organized by The Energy Efficiency Partnership of Greater Washington (EEPGW), Chesapeake Crescent and the Meridian International Center, included an announcement that the governors of Maryland and Virginia, the Mayor of D.C., the Director of GSA and local business leaders have committed more than 400 buildings (74 million square feet of space) for energy efficiency retrofitting. Under the commitment, the participants pledged to reduce the energy consumption of the buildings by 20 percent, which will represent an approximate $36.5 million in savings annually. In discussing his efforts to recruit private-sector building owners to join the commitment, Nick Katz of GVA Advantis, a founding member of EEPGW, said “Building owners are still hesitant, but the green wave is about to break. CoStar’s research conveys the economic case to building owners. It’s no longer a philosophical issue; it’s a matter of maximizing the return on your assets, and going green is the responsible and relatively quick way to improve the bottom line.” The CoStar report that he is referring to can be found at http://www.costar.com/partners/costar-green-study.pdf. More information on yesterday’s event can be found at http://www.eep.ncr.vt.edu/docs/20now_press_release.pdf