Benefits of Going Green: Return on Investment (ROI)

As development continues to take its toll on the environment, there is a growing impetus to further the importance of green building and sustainability. While governments are implementing regulations and incentives to drive building owners to consider sustainability strategies, it is equally important to understand its financial benefits before investing in these methods.

In our previous issue, we discussed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), its categories, certification program and how this rating system drives energy efficiency and cost savings. In this second-part eNewsletter on green buildings, we shall focus on applied technologies in existing facilities and its associated return on investment (ROI).

LEED provides the much-needed holistic approach to the reduction in the environmental footprint of a development. It promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability through the principles of green building and integrated building design. There is a conscious effort to systematically integrate the design of building systems, such as HVAC, refrigeration, lighting, water management, and other mechanical systems with the building design itself, so as to achieve higher levels of performance.

Despite these strong points, a lot of building owners are still apprehensive to invest in a LEED certification program because of its perceived added cost.

The complexity and individual design selections made for buildings under a LEED program make it virtually impossible to define a single ROI. However, different building systems that are part of LEED carry substantial value to the building owner.

The figures below are approximations for LEED components in a standard 46,000 square foot supermarket.

Daylight Harvesting – Daylight, when properly integrated with the building’s electric lighting system has great potential for energy saving. In the particular setting, annual savings of up to $20,000 can be achieved when combined with an energy management system to control store lights when natural lighting is sufficient.

Energy Management Systems - Use of optimized HVAC, refrigeration and store lighting systems for the supermarket yielded yearly savings of $48,000 to $72,000, while savings of up to $5,000 or 8% of energy savings can be achieved when stores are commissioned after opening. Existing deficiencies or systems can be enhanced to produce better operational savings.

Facility Monitoring also reduced the store’s operating costs by as much as $35,000 per year, as well as $8,000 savings in energy costs through usage of Efficient System Components. Energy costs were also reduced by $8,000 per year by operating other HVAC System Components, like fans, at less than full capacity.