Costs and Benefits of Green

People ask how much more it costs to build green and healthy. Often they don’t realize what the value is of living and working in a green, healthy building until they have experienced it. We find that many green design features don’t cost more. An elegantly simple finish or a smart solar design or daylight element may even cost less than a more conventional one.

 

Green features that do cost more are typically items like better insulation and windows, more durable finishes, advanced heating, cooling and ventilation equipment, water recycling systems and renewable energy systems. But the initial cost of these must be seen as part of a whole life-cycle. If you are going to own the building for the long term, or sell it as a quality, future ready building, these investments have a measurable payback. There is little doubt that the cost of owning and operating a building will rise rapidly in the next decade. Paybacks that can be projected today in terms of energy, water and materials saved, maintenance avoided and future value, are likely to occur much faster than we think.

 

The payback in satisfaction, comfort and security that comes with investment in a green, healthy project is immeasurable.

 

When planners and municipal governments plan for sustainable land use and green infrastructure, they are acting responsibly towards future generations who will have to support the cost of urban development. Our present patterns of unsustainable land use and utilities are certain to produce excessive transportation, energy, waste, administration and social costs as the world changes.