Sustainability:
Dollars and Sense
Understanding the Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings

Archived Wecast

Format: CD
Original Broadcast:
May 26, 2004
Running Time: 120 minutes

Program Overview

New research and practical experience about the overall costs and financial benefits of "green" or "sustainable" buildings is changing the perception that building green is considerably more expensive and perhaps not worth the extra cost.

Now, introducing green building practice into the planning, design, construction, and operation of higher education facilities not only demonstrates stewardship of the environment and promotion of a healthier indoor environment—it's becoming good business sense and a financial investment.

Research consistently shows the correlation between the benefits of a comfortable environment and worker productivity and health. Many additional benefits are easy to measure, such as energy and water savings, recycled content, and improvements in the quality of the indoor environment. But until recently, there has not been a comprehensive analysis of the financial ramifications and benefits of sustainable design in facilities. The recent report, The Costs and Benefits of Green Buildings, found that the upfront investment of about two percent of construction typically yielded life cycle savings of over 10 times the original investment.

This informative and topical webcast will go beyond building "green," to planning and building an environmentally responsible and high performance building—not just a better building today.

You will become more knowledgeable on how sustainability initiatives are judged, and will better understand the financial ramifications of the decision to build environmentally sensitive buildings. These discussions should be part of your good, integrated planning process.

This is intended to be an interactive discussion dealing with topical and relevant issues, and participant interaction is encouraged. During the webcast, there will be several audience polls, and questions will be accepted live and online.

Learning Objectives

• How green is green?—Develop an understanding of the relationship between the capital and life-cycle costs, and the environment responsiveness.
• Gain a basic understanding of the relationship between "green" and cost, i.e., the difference between a more sustainable building project and an industry standard building project.
• Learn about life-cycle cost analysis. —How do you evaluate a project's life cycle costs and why is it important to consider this?
• Learn what questions should you ask yourself and your team before starting a green project, —or any project
• Sustainable projects require an integrated team capable of design integration. Learn how to assemble the appropriate team to achieve this goal.

Who Should Listen?

This webcast is aimed at: campus planners, campus architects, higher education administrators and those responsible for campus procurement, consultants, program planners, and others who are responsible for facilities, building, and sustainability and campus planning.

Why I Listened to this Webcast:
"Within the next 10 years there will be a significant number of large building construction projects on campus. Even though all of the buildings will incorporate several elements of green building construction and LEEDS, there continue to be opportunities to increase understanding and appreciation of the full potential that could be realized by pushing the design envelope. I'm trying to provide resources and education to shift the existing paradigm away from focusing on initial costs, but life-cycle costs because the most prevalent argument for not building green is the higher initial cost."

Director of Materials & Resources Management

• Good overview and analysis of subject matter
• High-quality program!
• I particularly appreciated discussion about value of early integration of owner, design team, and cost estimator in producing a green building
• I liked the format & content. It allowed me to bring in clients to my office and discuss topics of interest with them. When it was over, half of them said, "so when is the next webcast?"

Purchase the CD Archive

SCUP produces a variety of audioconferences and webcasts on topical issues of interest to professionals in higher education who are responsible for a wide range of planning on campus, including academic, financial resources, facilities, master/campus, strategic and sustainability.

CDs of previous broadcasts are available for purchase through the SCUP Bookstore.

Members: Before you buy, please login in as a member to get the member discount!

Please go to the online bookstore and scroll down to "CDs—Audioconferences and Webcasts" to order or visit
ams.scup.org/i4a/ams/amsstore/category.cfm?category_id=19.

Find out about SCUP membership!

Panelists

Anthony Bernheim, FAIA, is Principal, Green Design, for SMWM, a San Francisco architecture, interior design, planning and graphic design firm, which has brought "green" leadership to numerous large projects including the Alliant International University Scripps Ranch Campus Master Plan, the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, the San Francisco Main Library, and the Capitol Area East End Complex Block 225, a benchmark "Gold" LEED^TM building and the "greenest" public office building in California. Bernheim has developed a collaborative sustainable building process and unique "green" building specifications for high performance buildings incorporating innovative indoor air quality and resource efficiency strategies. He is leading practitioner, researcher, and teacher, and has presented numerous published papers, seminars and workshops. Bernheim is an active member of the American Institute of Architects, and was elevated to Fellow in 1999 in recognition of his environmental work. The impact of his dedication to sustainability is also evident beyond the scope of the firm; he participates in the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) and is a LEED^TM Accredited Professional, and in Society for College and University Planning’s (SCUP) Sustainability Task Force. He is also a member of the International Society of Indoor Air Quality. Bernheim is a recipient of The 2002 Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award "in recognition of meritorious contributions to environmental protection and resource conservation in the State of California".

Greg Kats is a Principal at Capital E, and a leading expert on clean energy technologies and high performance buildings.?or four years (1997-2001), Kats served as the Director of Financing for the $1.1 billion dollar Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the US Department of Energy—the largest clean technology R&D and deployment program in the US. He initiated and managed the development of innovative financing initiatives to support clean energy projects, including a national green power insurance/financing initiative that the Financial Times?escribed as "remarkably high leverage". He co-founded and, from 1995 to 2001, managed and served as Chairman of the International Performance Measurement & Verification Protocol (www.ipmvp.org), which has involved hundreds of corporations, financial and energy-related institutions. He served on the Energy Secretary's Privatization Task Force and is Co-Chair of the Finance Committee of the American Council for Renewable Energy (www.americanrenewables.org). He serves as Chair of the Energy and Atmosphere part of LEED, the national standard for green building design and certification. Kats is a Certified Energy Manager (Association of Energy Engineers) and serves as Technical Advisor to SRP, a large utility, on their $30 million investment in renewable energy technologies. Kats earned an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at?tanford?niversity?nd concurrently, an MPA from?rinceton?niversity?n a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. He has published 25 articles and book chapters on energy, resource and finance issues, including the recent report, The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings, the most comprehensive analysis of the financial costs and benefits of green buildings conducted to date.

Scott B. Lewis is the President of Oppenheim Lewis, Inc., a full service project management and cost consulting firm providing a variety of construction consulting services. His primary roles involve the development of preliminary budgeting and scope definition for the projects with which the firm is involved, and work with clients to develop delivery systems and the resolution of coordination issues. Lewis is a frequent speaker on the issues of sustainable design and cost and on life cycle analysis. His current projects include the University of California, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine in San Francisco; the Carnegie Institute of Washington, in Stanford; and the San Mateo Public Library in California. Lewis has been involved in the development of budget and scope for sustainable design and environmentally responsible construction projects such as the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies and the David & Lucile Packard Foundation Headquarters in Los Altos, California.

AIA Members and Continuing Education Opportunity:

SCUP is a registered provider of continuing education units for the American Institute of Architects. If you are eligible to earn continuing education units from AIA, sign the AIA report form that will be sent to each listening site in advance of the program, and fax it back to the SCUP office. SCUP will submit completed session forms to AIA for you. This webcast offers 2 hours of continuing education units. Anyone attending the broadcast may request a certificate as a record of his or her attendance.

Questions? Please contact Kathy Benton at kathy.benton@scup.org or call 734.998.6966.