Environmental Building News Points to “Green Lining” in the Economic Downturn

According to Environmental Building News (EBN), a publication of BuildingGreen, LLC, there is a “green lining” for the design and construction industry in the current economic crisis. In the January 2009 issue of EBN, Managing Editor Tristan Roberts analyzes the current outlook for green building and shows how architecture, engineering, and construction firms can succeed financially while maintaining or increasing the environmental benefits of their work.

“Green building has been one of the darlings of the construction industry in recent years,” notes Roberts, “and this aspect of building is now seen as a knight in shining armor for an otherwise gloomy industry.” Sources interviewed for the article confirm that while all sectors of the construction industry have taken a hit, environmental priorities have not. “We have not seen a diminished interest or commitment to sustainable design and construction from our clients,” according to Clark Davis, FAIA, vice chairman of the international architecture firm HOK.

Jonathan Rose, head of the development group Jonathan Rose Companies, said, “This is a risk-averse environment,” noting that lenders are looking for well-conceived projects with strong partners and developers who are experienced and have good credit. “Green building has become synonymous with thoughtfully designed building,” he noted.

To guide the industry on how to survive and thrive in the downturn, the Environmental Building News article offers 17 recommendations organized into five major groups. The measures range from those focusing on offering the best value on construction projects to recommendations for increasing a firm’s capabilities over the long run. All recommendations combine economic and environmental benefits. They include:

• Provide a more energy-efficient building envelope for equal or lower cost
• Design space-efficient, adaptable buildings
• Don’t just do integrated design—do it well
• Master LEED—including the difficult LEED credits
• As new construction slows, focus on greening existing buildings

“With the economy in such turmoil, we wanted to realistically assess the impact on green building,” said Roberts. “It’s a tough climate for anyone in the design and construction industry, but we found that by focusing on certain areas in green building, the industry can not only find economic resilience, but it can also continue to respond to our urgent environmental needs.”

Some observers have worried that the collapse in oil prices, along with a recession, will mean turning back the clock on energy efficiency progress made during the last decade. According to EBN, that isn’t happening. Many building owners got a wake-up call during the recent spike in energy prices, and they perceive the current prices to be a temporary reprieve. “I think our clients are as eager to consider innovative approaches to energy efficiency in buildings and alternative energy sources as we’ve ever seen,” Davis says in the article.

“Finding the Green Lining: Surviving and Thriving in an Economic Downturn” is available to subscribers to EBN’s print edition, as well as to members of BuildingGreen Suite, BuildingGreen’s Web-based resource, which also includes the GreenSpec Directory of green building products, available at www.BuildingGreen.com.

BuildingGreen, LLC has been providing the building industry with quality information on sustainable design and construction since its founding in 1985. The company’s publication Environmental Building News, launched in 1992, was the first North American publication to focus on green building, and it remains a highly trusted source of information for the building industry. For information, visit www.BuildingGreen.com or call 802-257-7300.

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