The Gap Between Green Building Intentions and Performance

The building sector is responsible for over 40% of global energy use and almost a third of greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, many commercial buildings fall short of their environmentally friendly promises, with green building certifications often failing to deliver. Dr. Jeremy Gabe's research has uncovered a significant disconnect between design intentions and in-use performance, with the environment on the losing end. Gabe's study found that building occupants prioritize the marketing value of a green label over actual performance, leading to "trophy value" rather than true sustainability.

Key Takeaways:

• The gap between design intentions and in-use performance is a significant issue in the green building sector, with many commercial buildings failing to deliver on their environmentally friendly promises.
• Building occupants prioritize the marketing value of a green label over actual performance, leading to "trophy value" rather than true sustainability.
• Green certifications, such as LEED, can motivate building stakeholders to be "just green enough" by taking a low-bar approach to certification and achieving the minimum number of points to get a green label.
• Lack of measurement during the building's in-use phase, lack of communication between building owner/managers and tenants, and reluctance among certifying organizations to antagonize clients with negative feedback contribute to underperformance.
• The lack of coordinated regulation among federal, state, and local authorities also hinders the effectiveness of green building codes.
• Measured building performance audits have the potential to improve in-use performance and realize the promise of voluntary environmental building codes.
• Australia's coordinated federal regulations, which require disclosure of energy performance for commercial office buildings, have led to a statistically significant reduction in average site energy use intensity.
• Notable exceptions to the lack of coordinated regulation in the United States include New York, Minneapolis, and California, which require advertising Energy Star scores.

Statistics:

• 40% of global energy use comes from buildings (_Earth Institute at Columbia University_).
• Almost a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings (_Earth Institute at Columbia University_).
• 25 years of green building labeling has shown a systematic disconnect between design intentions and operational performance outcomes (_Dr. Jeremy Gabe_).
• Over 85% of energy used in commercial buildings in Australia is sourced from electricity (_Dr. Jeremy Gabe_).
• Greenhouse gas emissions in Australia can be as low as a third of that in the United States (_Dr. Jeremy Gabe_).
• A statistically significant reduction in average site energy use intensity has been observed in Australia due to coordinated federal regulations (_Dr. Jeremy Gabe_).
• More than 85% of commercial buildings in Australia source over 85% of their energy from electricity (_Dr. Jeremy Gabe_).

Sources:

• _Earth Institute at Columbia University_
• _Dr. Jeremy Gabe's research paper: "Information or Marketing? Lessons from the History of Private Sector Green Building Labelling."_
• _Peter Drucker's quote: "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it."_