Third party certified buildings outperform their counterparts in a variety of areas, including energy savings, occupancy rates, sale price and rental rates, according to two new studies by the New Building Institute (NBI) and CoStar Group.
New buildings that are certified under the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED certification system, on average, perform 25-30 percent better than non-LEED certified buildings in terms of energy use, according to the NBI study.
The study also shows a correlation between increasing levels of LEED certification and increased energy savings. Gold and Platinum LEED certified buildings have average energy savings approaching 50 percent, according to the study.
"The NBI Study confirms that newly constructed LEED certified buildings use significantly less energy than their conventional counterparts, and that they perform better overall," says Brendan Owens, vice president, LEED Technical Development, U.S. Green Building Council.
"The report also underscores that monitoring a building's ongoing operations and maintenance, as required in LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance and ENERGY STAR, is equally important.
"Buildings are complicated systems and achieving and maintaining high performance is a process that requires the ongoing discipline and commitment to green practices.
"LEED and ENERGY STAR provide building owners and operators with valuable structure to maintain high performance and deliver savings over time."
Buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR use an average of almost 40 percent less energy than average buildings and emit 35 percent less carbon.
According to the CoStar study, LEED buildings command rent premiums of $11.24 per square foot over their non-LEED peers and have 3.8 percent higher occupancy. Rental rates in ENERGY STAR buildings represent a $2.38 per square foot premium over comparable non-ENERGY STAR buildings and have 3.6 percent higher occupancy.
ENERGY STAR buildings are selling for an average of $61 per square foot more than their peers, while LEED buildings command a remarkable $171 more per square foot, according to the CoStar study.
CoStar analyzed more than 1,300 LEED Certified and ENERGY STAR buildings representing about 351 million square feet in CoStar's property database of roughly 44 billion square feet, assessing those buildings against non-green properties with similar size, location, class, tenancy and year-built.
"ENERGY STAR is a prerequisite in LEED for Existing Buildings, signaling our strong commitment to the energy savings component of green buildings," says Owens.
"Add to that the additional performance enhancements in LEED around intelligent site selection, water conversation, improved indoor air quality, waste reduction and smarter materials selections, and it's easy to understand why owners and tenants are placing a premium on green buildings."