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Green Living, LLC brings a cost efficient approach to the LEED Certification process. We do this by tailoring the approach for the client, by the project type, scope, and phase. The approach is the defining strategy when creating energy-efficient, environmentally responsible development, sensitive to the first costs, cost of ownership and finding that correct mix. Additionally we identify for our clients Federal, State and Local incentives. We bring value to our clients’ projects due to our project management experience.
For a business case, Green Building Certifications increase building value by 5-7%; quicken lease out; increase rent premiums; decrease energy costs by 50%; increase employee productivity by 5%; and reduce litigious risk based upon documented indoor air quality.
"Green" building will continue to increase 30% per year during the next five years, making this market one of the major development trends. Green Living, LLC was established to enter this market as a business with substantiated, quantifiable information to be a major player in the cottage industry.
Green Living, LLC is a Texas-based, woman-owned and managed, HUB certified green building project administration consulting firm dedicated to supporting building owners, architects, interior designers, developers, and general contractors in the achievement of all LEED certification proiducts. Our LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED AP) also support the Green Building Initiative's,"Green Globes" Certification rating system.
The many reasons the country is embracing "green" and sustainable building options extend from ecological to financial and market expectations. We hope our addition of pages "Fundamental Commissioning" and "Tax Credits" are helpful.
Where green goes, so goes the bottom line?
"Company generated waste adds up to unnecessarily wasted company cash. Goosed by the color of money, companies from global empire to mom-and-pop, from high tech to local government are embracing environmentally friendlier architecture, supplies, and attitudes. Several recent surveys show that one-third of workers would be more inclined to work for a green company", says staffing firm Adecco USA.
You'll know if you work in a LEED certified building, because your employer will have shared the news discreetly on billboards and in full-page newspaper ads. What's more, most of this type of office space is already leased.
Employers' growing demand for green office space is beginning to change the landscape. In the past, commercial builders were not motivated to, say, install solar panels because paying for electricity is the tenant's problem. But Karl Stumpf, leader of office projects for architects RTKL in Miami, says that has changed over the past two years as renters have begun choosing sites specifically for their green features. "Builders are realizing that if they build green, they can lease faster--and that's cash," he says. "Builders are realizing that if they build green, they can lease faster--and that's cash," he says.
Owners of existing building can receive a LEED commercial interior certification, by making certain modifications. These include installing automatic shutoffs for lighting (which scarfs up 44% of the electricity used in office buildings) and setting computers to power down automatically after 15 minutes of idle time, cutting the machine's energy use 70%. More ambitious retrofits include switching from old toilets that use up to 8 gal. per flush to new ones that use a maximum of 1.6 gal. Don't laugh; toilet flushing is the single biggest water hog in office buildings nationwide, using up to 4.8 billion gal. per day.
In fiscal 2006, Nike workers saved 719,343 vehicle miles by biking or taking mass transit, thereby not using 35,907 gal. of gasoline. Google provides free buses for commuters, and Sun Microsystems lets workers skip the commute altogether sometimes by clocking in from home.
Excerpt from TIME 06/07/2007
There are countless reasons and success stories that reflect the benefits of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified structures, including the following:
* A high performance green building is an efficient building. Savings in energy costs of 20 to 50% are common through integrated planning, site orientation, energy-saving technologies, on-site renewable energy-producing
technologies, light-reflective materials, natural daylight and ventilation, and downsized
HVAC and other equipment.
* Recently, USAA Realty Company?s La Paz Office Plaza in Orange County, CA, experienced a $0.80-per-square-foot increase in market value?a $1.5 million increase stemming from its investments in energy efficiency measures and lower-priced power procurements.
* S.C. Johnson's Worldwide Headquarters in Racine, WI, incorporates green features, such as personal environmental systems, a restored natural site, and extensive day lighting at a cost10 to 15% below the US average for comparable office and laboratory space.
* Even for projects fully loaded with high value features, higher first costs are often recovered within the first 3-5 years, through lower operating expenses and utility rebates for energy saving equipment.
*According to a 2002 EPA report, ENERGY STAR?labeled office buildings generate utility bills 40% less than the average office building. For international developer and investor Hines, efficiencies gained from its ENERGY STAR buildings are generating $13 million in annual savings, based on a recent evaluation.
* Nationwide, the value of improved productivity of office workers from indoor environmental improvements is estimated to be $20 to $160 billion.
*Using green building strategies can result in increased occupant performance measures by 6 to 26 percent.
* A recent Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study reported that feasible
and commonly recommended improvements to indoor environments could reduce health care costs and work losses from communicable respiratory diseases by 9 to 20%; from reduced allergies and asthma by 18 to 25% and from other nonspecific health and discomfort effects by 20 to 50%.The researchers also found that this would generate estimated savings of $17 to $48 billion annually in lost work and health care costs.
* High performance features translate into high value for tenants. For example, the annual rate of employee relocation within a building, or churn, averages 25% for most commercial spaces. At an average cost of $2,500, this quickly becomes costly and disruptive. Flexible design features common to integrated green buildings can cut churn costs by 90%.
* According to the EPA, a tenant can save approximately $0.50 per square foot per year through no-cost management and operations strategies that cut energy use by 30 %. The tenant?s accumulated savings can represent $50,000 or more in a five-year lease of 20,000 square feet of office space. Savings can be even higher when incorporating a variety of high performance and flexible building design components.
"Green" is a concept that is shaping the 21st Century. An innovation in thinking with a two-fold goal: Lowering energy costs and improving the quality of life.
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