Tools and Resources

This study, co-authored by Co-Star and Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, provides some comparison data on ENERGY STAR and LEED certified buildings versus non-ENERGY STAR or Non-LEED certified office property from the entire United States using the CoStar data base. The results show the financial benefits of investing in sustainable real estate.

This paper from Maastricht University compares certified green buildings with nearby buildings and determines that buildings with green ratings command substantially higher rents and selling prices than otherwise comparable buildings. According to researchers, ENERGY STAR certified buildings command a rental premium of about 3%, have higher occupancy, and bring in a 16% premium on selling prices.

This report from the Green Building Finance Consortium demonstrates that investing in energy efficiency enhances value in your real estate portfolios. This report takes a look at the growing demand for more efficient buildings, sales prices, lease rates and occupancy rates. It also provides real estate investors with academic and industry research, key steps, and best practices for integrating energy efficiency across your portfolios.

This report defines responsible property investing (RPI) as including facets such as investing in ENERGY STAR certified properties, transit-oriented development, and redevelopment areas. It shows that investors could have purchased a portfolio consisting solely of RPI office properties over the past 10 years and had performance that was better, at less risk, than a portfolio of properties without RPI features. The paper then breaks down the ways that various RPI features impact income, property values, capitalization rates, price appreciation and total returns.

This report from the U.S. Green Building Council explains how high performing buildings show proven cost-effectiveness, boost employee productivity, enhance tenant health, reduce liability for owners, and increase a building's property value. Certification programs like LEED and ENERGY STAR are creating common benchmarks, support tools and opportunities for the public which offer market differentiation and create higher value for buildings.

This report from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) documents commercial building retrofit, renovation, and upgrade projects that have demonstrated or predicted performance of 30% or better than the average for comparable buildings. These profiles explore successful approaches to deep savings and energy performance, owner motivation and areas of innovation in order to accelerate market adoption of energy efficient retrofits. This work is part one of a three-phase project to develop case studies that demonstrate deep energy savings.

This report from Maastricht University discusses the effects of the sustainability of commercial properties on their operating and stock performance. Investors considering incorporating the environmental performance of a building into investment decisions may benefit from this report. Using a sample of U.S. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), the report estimates that an REIT's sustainability is positively related to return on assets, return on equity, and the ration of funds from operations to total revenue.

This paper from the Institute of Business and Economic Research explores the effect that sustainability improvements in buildings have on the economy. The paper discusses the measurements and data sources documenting the energy efficiency of U.S. buildings, analyzes short-run price dynamics based on a panel of green commercial buildings, and presents new evidence on the economic returns to the investments in green buildings.

According to this landmark study by McKinsey & Company, energy efficiency is a huge untapped energy resource in the United States. How big? They estimate the country could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 23 percent through cost-effective investments in energy efficiency. This is like taking the entire U.S. fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads. The study also highlights the important role benchmarking plays in unlocking the barriers to efficiency.

This white paper from the Green Building Finance Consortium examines the untapped energy efficiency potential held by commercial buildings in the state of California. It analyzes obstacles to achieving widespread adoption of building efficiencies and explores approaches to removing these barriers.