How Green Buildings Benefit Businesses and Investors

What are Green Buildings?

Also known as high-performance or sustainable buildings, green buildings aim to reduce negative impacts of human use and leave a positive impact on the environment. Addressed early in the design stage and followed through construction and the use of the building, green buildings focus on using energy and materials efficiently and on reducing waste. For example, green buildings may include low-flow plumbing fixtures; recycling and compost bins; or windows carefully designed to respond to the sun, providing ample daylight while also controlling heat-gain and reducing electricity consumption during the day. 

Why Should Businesses Invest?

As a business owner or a landlord, opting to design a green building may seem like an additional cost, but taking the long view, one sees that these buildings can provide lasting social and financial benefits.

Social Benefits

Green buildings can positively impact occupants. By investing in green buildings, businesses enhance outward consumer-facing interactions as well as support internal employee hiring, retainment and performance.  Over the last decade, more of the workforce want their employers to support worthwhile causes and are more likely to stay at the companies that do so. The World Green Building Trend Report found that 40% of companies opted to create green buildings due to high demand from their consumers and employees.

Also, in the last decade, the US Green Building Council has added health into the overall aim of green buildings. A survey from the US Green Building Council (USGBC) found that employees who worked in green buildings were happier and healthier than those in conventional buildings.  By supporting cognitive work and enhancing sleep quality, factors such as better air quality and abundant natural light can enhance mood, drive productivity and maintain a positive work environment.  As more established green building standards such as LEED have expanded to address human health, more recent building standards such as WELL and Fitwel have focused more exclusively on promoting building occupant and community well-being.

Economic Benefits

Green buildings also have economic benefits, including lowered operating and maintenance costs. Compared to conventional buildings, green buildings report 20 percent lower maintenance costs and 10 percent lower operating costs annually (USGBC). Ultimately, these operational savings can offset and surpass the initial investment, particularly when human-resource benefits are considered.

The outward corporate image that comes with green buildings can also help businesses, creating a positive image, increasing shareholder investment, generating media coverage and attracting job applicants.  Green building owners can also profit from increase market demand for their properties, as buyers are willing to pay higher rates to obtain green buildings.  While investing in green buildings might, at first, seem purely altruistic, the resulting benefits can directly the different parties involved.