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Large Commercial Companies Are Building Green: Whats the Energy Providers Role?
E SOURCE, May 2004, Pages: 27
Green building design—sometimes also called 'sustainable' or 'high-performance' design—is about designing and constructing buildings that have less of an environmental impact than traditional buildings. Green building design looks to improve on standard building design in terms of resource efficiency, waste reduction, and indoor and outdoor environmental quality. Utilities should not let this emerging trend pass them by, because even though its not just about energy-efficient buildings, this approach to commercial construction is gaining momentum in some regions and market segments.
The fact that energy efficiency is not the primary motivation of sustainable construction has both positive and negative implications for energy service providers (ESPs). On the downside, it can mean that opportunities can be lost if energy efficiency is underemphasized or not optimized in a green building project. But on the plus side, anecdotal evidence shows that green building programs also carry broader appeal to the commercial building market than straight energy-efficiency programs ever have. Green building certification programs can be a vehicle for generating action on energy efficiency in commercial buildings.
Some ESPs are exploring whether and how they should promote sustainable building principles. A few offer design and planning assistance, and some ESPs even operate their own green certification programs for commercial buildings. One national program—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council—is gaining national prominence. Utility green building programs can be designed to complement, not compete with, national and international programs like LEED. This report examines how some utilities are getting involved in green building programs for the commercial sector and how they can be a beneficial addition to an ESPs customer-facing activities.
This report shows how utilities are getting involved in green building programs for the commercial sector and explains why those programs can be a beneficial addition to a utilitys customer-facing activities.
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