Green offices: More developers see the financial benefits of eco-friendly building

As downtown Salt Lake City undergoes a major commercial building boom, local business leaders are being asked to consider the potential long-term impacts of green development on the community and their bottom lines.

More than 800 people attended the 2008 Utah Commercial Real Estate Symposium on Thursday at the Salt Palace. Similar events were also held Thursday in Provo and Ogden.

"Green fuels the new economy of real estate" was the theme of this year's event, sponsored by the Utah chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Partners.

Symposium moderator Michael Jeppeson said Utah companies are starting to recognize the substantial financial benefits of sustainable design.

"We need to educate CEO's, COO's, brokers and investors about why they should be thinking about green," said Jeppeson, who is president of Salt Lake City-based Green Earth Development. "It's not just about being good for the environment."

The biggest benefits for businesses to consider environmental standards in their developments are economic, because they can pocket the savings from lower operating costs from energy efficiency and reduced maintenance.

"We can save 25 percent of operating costs, and that goes immediately to the bottom line of a developer," he said. "The value of the real estate increases tremendously."

Keynote speaker and architect James Brew said commercial developers should follow the example set by the federal government regarding energy efficiency and green building.

"The government of the United States has long been on-board with the LEED rating system," said Brew, who is a principal with the Rocky Mountain Institute, an entrepreneurial think tank focusing on sustainability. "About 48 percent of the LEED projects are government, state or locally-owned."

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to promote environmentally sustainable building design and development. The standards consider sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Ratings range from basic, silver, gold, up to platinum.

Brew said the commercial real-estate market is now beginning to see the value of green and sustainability.

A number of prominent buildings in Utah have been built to LEED certifications standards, including the Utah Olympic Speedskating Oval in Kearns, the corporate offices of Big-D Construction in Salt Lake City and the Escalante Science Center in Escalante.