Green ROI: Making the Business Case for Green Building With Affordable Housing
According to an article in the Baltimore Sun the outlook for green buildings in our current economy is perhaps not as dreary as many fear. Enterprise a Columbia, Maryland based affordable-housing financier has revealed they intend to spend more than $4 Billion on the green construction and renovation of affordable homes. The article had several interesting quotes:
The utility savings alone -- an average of about $4,850 over the lifetime of a residence -- are more than the about $4,500 it takes to comply with Enterprise's green-building criteria, the group said. Enterprise leaders launched a green-building initiative five years ago to encourage such work and has been studying the results.
"This is the right direction," said Dana Bourland, vice president of Enterprise's green initiative. "Not only are there financial savings, but there are health benefits and lower carbon emissions. ... We just can't afford not to make sure everything we do its green."
What is particularly interesting about these quotes is the fact that Enterprise has been studying the results of their green building initiative for five years and believes that the results merit a truly impressive investment. What is equally interesting is that there is no mention of a green certification but rather what appears to be a homegrown green-building criteria. Is green building stripped of its fancy labels and certification the wave of the future? Will it be affordable housing which provides the data to demonstrate that green building makes financial sense?
