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New Tool Helps CRE Owners Adopt Green Building Standards

A new set of tools intended to help owners measure how green their commercial buildings are and to advance their sustainability goals has been released by the Green Building Initiative (GBI).

The non-profit organization and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developer is focused on improving the built environment by reducing climate impacts. Its new Journey to Net Zero program helps owners of all types of CRE use a science-based approach to evaluate performance and adapt appropriately.

“The program is intended for owners or managers of any building – in any phase of lifecycle and regardless of progress made – to evaluate current site Energy Use Intensity (EUI) and/or carbon emissions (CO2e) on the pathway to net zero,” GBI stated. “This cost-effective and user-friendly program allows building owners to evaluate current performance, identify opportunities for improvement, and transparently demonstrate progress to stakeholders.”

The program helps owners and managers incorporate design, operations and renewable energy strategies to reach net zero. It claims owners benefit from documentation of renewable energy use; energy, emissions and cost savings; support toward regulatory compliance, and enhanced property value.

“The Green Globes Net Zero Calculator leverages rigorous accounting principles to identify site EUI and CO2e percent reductions against baseline. The user-friendly, proprietary software provides transparency and encourages collaboration among the project team and with the Green Globes Assessor,” GBI said.

A project is designated as Recognized when it shows at least a 50% reduction in its EUI or CO2e footprint. It achieves Certification with a 100% reduction. Among the buildings that have been officially certified is The Millennium Building in Washington, DC, a class A office tower owned by Tower Companies. According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, energy efficiency upgrades in 2009 on the 240,000 square feet building have saved the company 20% in energy savings and over $200,000 in cost savings.

Reprinted with permission from the Tuesday, 21 January 2025 06:15:52 EST online edition of GlobeSt © 2025 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-256-2472 or reprints@alm.com.