Does the word "Green" mean anything to you other than the color??

Well, I found this great article by a person I admire very much for his work in the Real Estate industry. Norm Miller is a Professor at the University of San Diego as well as a renoun opinion in Real Estate. Check it out and let me know what your thoughts are of going "Green."

Spotlight: Norm Miller: Does Green Pay Off?

As USD’s new LEED-certified Student Life Pavilion takes shape, many people on campus may wonder whether the potentially higher costs of building “green” are worth it.  USD professor Norm Miller of the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate had the same question. Through collaboration with Jay Spivey and Andrew Florance of Costar, the #1 provider of commercial real estate information in the U.S., Professor Miller began a systematic nation-wide study to address the benefits of investments in energy savings and environmental design. The results of their research, entitled “Does Green Pay Off?” were published in the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management in 2008, and quickly became one of the most-cited works in the field.
The data was based on comparison of Energy Star and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings versus non-Energy Star or non-LEED-certified office property in the U.S. Miller and his co-authors concluded that green office space had higher occupancy rates, higher rents, and significantly lower operating expenses. Data also indicated that while LEED-certified construction added to building costs, they were balanced or outweighed by even higher sales prices per square foot.

“This data offers a clearer and more objective picture of the costs and benefits of green construction in terms of commercial real estate, and is a significant step toward proving that sustainability equals profits,” Professor Miller noted.

His seminal research has resulted in a flood of invitations to influential national conferences including the USGB’s Greenbuild Conference and Expo, the world’s largest forum on green building, and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties sustainability forum.

Interest in the 2008 study also has led to opportunities for follow-up research. Professor Miller is currently conducting a nationwide commercial tenant survey for users of green space to determine how much overhead is saved through LEED and Energy Star buildings, if they have a positive impact on company perception by clients, shareholders and the public, and whether they provide a better work environment that affects productivity and turnover.

“The new research is ambitious,” Professor Miller conceded, “but I think it will help us better understand the real economics and profit linked with sustainability. There continues to be pervasive ignorance in business about these issues even though dozens of individual case studies have demonstrated clear benefits and unexpected opportunities. On top of that, many sectors linked to improved efficiency such as solar power, rainwater capture systems, advanced insulation and operable windows and many more are growing even during times of economic downturn.”

To provide a forum for these complex issues, USD’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate is launching the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate set to launch in late 2009. The new journal will feature global perspectives on regulations, best practices, LEED, Energy Star and other high-performance building measurement systems, case studies and other relevant topics. It will be the first publication in North America to focus on sustainable real estate.

Miller also serves on USD’s Sustainability Working Group, an ad hoc body of faculty that includes Prof. Simon Croom as CoChair, initiated by Dean David Pyke of the School of Business Administration. The group is looking at the academic and research side of socially responsible business and what USD can do to develop a legitimate program that excels in responding to a rapidly evolving sector.

“In terms of sustainable real estate and green buildings, San Diego is well behind many cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle, but we can catch up,” Miller observed. “If we do, it will not be based simply on a tree-hugging mentality, but because of real business benefits.”

Full Article here.

So, Green or not, it is a facinating concept and will become our future.