What's Old is New Again

Real estate investors and managers green existing buildings rather than build new

by Diana Mirel

The following is an excerpt from the Jul/Aug 2007 issue (Volume 72, Number 4) of JPM^®, Journal of Property Management.

Energy conservation was the National Geographic Society’s goal when the organization opted to renovate its headquarters in Washington, D.C., to make it green. Energy-cost savings and increased property values—along with minimum impact on the environment—were the organization’s rewards.

Retrofitting or renovating buildings to include sustainable features can drastically reduce utility bills, improve tenants’ health and happiness, and cause property values to soar. All these potential benefits come without the negative environmental impact new construction often creates.

 “[Retrofitting] makes better use of a resource,” said Robert Cline, director of general services at the National Geographic Society. “Even if you totally gut an old building to its shell and go back in with a new mechanical structure, there is a value in making these existing buildings more sustainable.”

That value—typically in the form of energy savings—is driving interest in green retrofits and sustainable design among real estate owners and managers.

MOTIVATED BY MONEY

Retrofitting buildings to make them green can lead to 30 percent energy-cost savings; gut-rehab retrofits to green a building can result in close to 50 percent energy-cost savings, said Dru Crawley, program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

“For most building owners and managers, the biggest reason to [go green] is financial,” he said. “A lot of [owners and managers] are watching their energy bills go through the roof. In a couple of cases, their energy bills are higher than their margins...For them, [doing] anything that affects energy just makes sense.”

Basic retrofits to green a building can involve anything from investing in an energy efficient chiller system to installing low-flow plumbing fixtures like toilets and sinks that use less water. Sustainable gut rehabs are more invasive and involve reusing the shell of a building while extensive work is done on the interior to make it greener. Everything from the mechanical systems to the windows, walls, roofing, fixtures and finishes is revamped.

To give owners and managers direction on how to go green and how green to go, the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable building design and construction, developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) certification.

 “LEED for Existing Buildings is based on the recognition that the environmental goals and financial opportunities that are achievable through green building should not be limited to just the new construction market,” said Doug Gatlin, director of LEED-EB at the U.S. Green Building Council.

The certification is an offshoot of the original LEED rating system, which sets uniform standards for building sustainable buildings. Both certification programs are entirely voluntary but require those enlisted to demonstrate their buildings are environmentally friendly through a point system.

By greening certain aspects of a building or its management within the categories of site management, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor air quality, development and management teams earn points toward the LEED-EB certification.

Currently, more than 200 projects are registered to obtain LEED-EB status, and 50 buildings are already certified under the guidelines. The National Geographic Society complex was the first to achieve LEED-EB Silver certification in November 2003.

“The LEED-EB certification provided a measurable means by which the society’s facility operations and services could reflect the underlying principles and values of the organization,” Cline said.

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

A wide range of engineering strategies can be used to green an existing building and qualify for LEED-EB status.

The National Geographic Society facilities team worked with Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee company specializing in building efficiency solutions, to upgrade chillers, boilers and air-handling systems; install window film and energy-efficient lighting; and upgrade motors and direct digital controls.

Richard Neal, chief engineer for the National Geographic Society, said replacing the building’s 40-year-old chillers had the biggest impact on energy savings. The society met its 11 percent energy-use reduction goal and is now using approximately 2.5 million less kilowatt hours of energy per year when compared to the year 2000. Furthermore, the new chillers use 134A refrigerant, which does not have ozone depletion potential.

The society’s 18 percent reduction in water consumption—or 4.5 million gallon reduction per year—was a result of water conservation efforts including installing hands-free faucets, low-flush toilets and irrigation system gauge controls that can sense recent rainfall so the irrigation system won’t activate unless necessary.

Several lighting initiatives have also played a major role in the property’s operational energy efficiency. The National Geographic Society now exclusively uses energy- efficient tubular lamps known as T-8 and T-5 fluorescent lamps. The society also installed occupancy sensors in most of its offices and corridors, which are controlled via an automated building system.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology, a Chicago organization devoted to building more livable and sustainable communities, took its existing offices green by overhauling everything from the building’s appliances to its energy sources. The organization reduced its annual energy usage by more than 50 percent and its water consumption by 30 percent.

Some of the center’s energy-saving solutions were simple, like integrating Energy Star appliances exclusively throughout the property. Energy Star-qualified appliances, like refrigerators and ceiling fans, use 10 to 50 percent less energy and water than standard models and must meet strict energy-efficiency criteria set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy.

The center also integrated low-flow equipment into the property. Its low-flow toilets use an estimated 30 to 40 percent less water during flushing than standard toilets, and the low-flow showerheads reduce the amount of water flow from 5 to 6 gallons of water per minute to 3 gallons of water per minute.

The building’s new landscaping includes plants that survive on rainwater alone and do not need any extra mowing, watering or fertilizing. The center also composts about seven pounds of lunch scraps a week, which is used to feed the garden and reduce waste.

Some of the center’s more drastic renovations included putting solar panels on the roof, which now supply 5 percent of the building’s energy. Renovations also included integrating day-lighting techniques and skylights into the property. And to cool the building more efficiently, an ice storage tank that supplies cold water to the building’s pipes and cools the building was buried on the side of the building.

The full article is available as an online exclusive in the Jul/Aug 2007 JPM® issue. 

IREM Members have free access to the JPM® online archives and the “Online Exclusives,” articles that are only available on the IREM Web site. Non-members can subscribe to JPM® at www.irem.org/jpm.