Where Building Owners, End Users and AEC Professionals Stand on Building Green Does Green Pay Off? LEED Certification and the Affordability Factor

Green Globes Interactive Platform Gets a Facelift Greenprint Denver Achieves Another Milestone Sustainability Going Mainstream in Corporate Real Estate

Summary of LEED® Incentives for Counties, Cities & Towns NAIOP Sustainable Development Policy

Sustainable Development National Forum Forming DevelopGREEN: Sustainable Solutions for Commercial Real Estate Featured Publication - Case Studies for Implementing Successful Green Development Webinar CD

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Where Building Owners, End Users and AEC Professionals Stand on Building Green Fifth in a series of annual reports on the green building movement, Building Design + Construction's latest whitepaper reports the results of 12 exclusive research studies of building owners, end users, facility directors and AEC professionals in key sectors of the U.S. construction industry; corporate offices; healthcare; higher education; hospitality; and residential.

Does Green Pay Off? Norm Miller, Ph.D., director of academic programs at the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, University of San Diego, presents the first national, systematic look at the benefits of building green. The preliminary research, presented by Miller, uses CoStar data to assess the rent differentials of office buildings that are LEED-certified or Energy Star-labeled vs. those that do not carry these designations. This is the first study to evaluate the rent and value differentials of energy-efficient buildings at the national level.

LEED Certification and the Affordability Factor This report by MSRE student Trevor Jensen at the University of San Diego presents a framework to help new construction projects meet LEED certification with minimal or no additional cost. A reference guide to the six categories of Sustainable Sites; Water Efficiency; Energy & Atmosphere; Materials & Resources; Indoor Environment Quality; and Innovation & Design are discussed in terms of the practical information toward achieving points in a given category.

Green Globes Interactive Platform Gets a Facelift The Green Building Initiative (GBI) has released a new and improved revision of the Green Globes™ environmental assessment and rating system. New features include a "project dashboard" that shows users exactly where they are in a project and what remains to be done; a "running total" stage status box indicating the score that users have achieved as they move through the questionnaire; and a new navigation aid on project pages for easier navigation between projects and reports.

Greenprint Denver Achieves Another Milestone Mayor John W. Hickenlooper signed Executive Order 123 on October 24, 2007, to officially establish the city's sustainability policy. The order also includes approval of the Climate Action Plan to guide Denver's greenhouse gas reduction efforts. Two of the plan's ten recommendations refer to commercial buildings: Energy Efficiency Standards for New Buildings and Remodels referring to adoption of mandatory building standards for commercial buildings that incorporate energy efficiency standards and renewable energy requirements; and Communitywide High-performing Green Concrete Policy requiring the use of "green" concrete, consisting of at least 20 percent fly ash, in all public and private construction projects.

Sustainability Going Mainstream in Corporate Real Estate According to a joint survey by CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle, 79 percent of respondents believe that sustainability is a near-term business issue important today or in the next one-to-two years. The survey also indicated that the majority of companies around the world view sustainability as critical to their business and are willing to pay a premium to help their companies become more sustainable. Another finding revealed a gap between actual and perceived costs with 52 percent of respondents saying premiums will be five percent or more to build sustainability.

Summary of LEED® Incentives for Counties, Cities & Towns This document by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) summarizes efforts on the state and local level to build incentive-based programs for the development of green buildings, with a focus on the USGBC LEED Rating System. Government incentives are categorized as either emanating from the state or local level.

NAIOP Sustainable Development Policy Are you familiar with NAIOP's official policy endorsing sustainable practices for commercial real estate? The policy is the result of a Green Task Force established in March 2007 comprised of 13 NAIOP members from across the country and varying professions that contribute to the development industry.

Sustainable Development National Forum Forming Are you actively involved in developing green buildings? Consider joining the recently created General Forum on this topic. NAIOP National Forums, chaired by a prestigious group of industry leaders, are special interest groups for NAIOP members that provide exclusive networking and experience exchange with peers. For more information, visit the National Forums Web site.

DevelopGREEN: Sustainable Solutions for Commercial Real Estate What are the latest trends, topics and research in sustainable development? DevelopGREEN: Sustainable Solutions for Commercial Real Estate is specifically designed for the development industry and presents a program of information and education on the advantages of building sustainable projects, their public policy and environmental implications, the driving factors surrounding green projects and the latest "how-to" strategies needed to develop financially successful green projects as the trend of sustainable development becomes the industry standard. Join us at NAIOP's inaugural conference in Phoenix on March 12-13, 2008, to network with experts and learn how to green your companies, redevelopments and new projects. Register today!

Featured Publication - Case Studies for Implementing Successful Green Development Webinar CD This CD highlights case studies by leaders from successful development projects as well as strategies that can be transferred to any project. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) provides updates on current LEED® programs including the Portfolio Program and answers "green" questions. The CD contains the audio and PowerPoint presentation from the May 2007 Webinar. Presented by: Doug Gatlin, director, LEED® for Existing Buildings/Portfolio Initiatives, U.S. Green Building Council To order Case Studies for Implementing Successful Green Development Webinar CD (Member price: $149), visit the NAIOP bookstore. Questions? Contact NAIOP's Publications Department at (800) 445-0443 or naiop@brightkey.net.