These opportunities do exist: when we take over management of a property, we can usually lower energy costs by 5 to 15 percent over a few years without capital spending.
of these clean technologies installed at buildings. W e ’ r e anticipating that some alternative technologies that might have a payback period of 7-10 years now will see a payback of 3-5 years within the next five years.
There will be continue to be a lot more financial rigor around the results than just hand-waving, saying “Hey, wouldn’t this be a great thing to do?”
If you had to choose, what has been the most disappointing aspect of the green economy? The most encouraging?
W
hat you’re hearing as disappointment are some of the same drivers that we’re seeing in the rest of the real estate sector.
Engagement
A lot of these programs require the ability for a prospective client to finance these types of energy retrofits, to finance these solar installations. The financing industry around this is still very tight. Underwriting is still very difficult. There’s not the free flow of capital that you would expect to see in a normal real estate economy.
s we start to free up capital and see the economy right itself, corporations will start getting back into programs that are really about engaging customers and their employee base in sustainable activities. You’re going to see that come back in as well.
So people that have money are hoarding it, and people that need to borrow are having a hard time finding financing programs that will allow them to do these projects. Those are two really big drivers that are throwing a wet blanket on the green building movement.
Employee
A
Financial rigor
T
his shift that we’ve seen over the last 2 years to a much more dollars-and-cents focus around sustainability. We needed a dose of pragmatism for how the space is viewed. I think initially it came out of the gate as, “Hey, It’s the right thing to do from the socially conscious perspective, we want to reduce greenhouse gases, we want to save a lot of our natural resources.” And that’s good, but what better way to lead with these results than to lead with initiatives that make business sense?
Do you think dubious green marketing has tarnished the glimmer of green?
W
e’ve seen a lot of greenwashing and a lot of negative connotations—more on the consumer product side than the real estate side. I do think people are a bit over stimulated— they feel that it is difficult as a buyer of real estate products or services to discern who is doing something impactful and who is not.
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