"A Planted 'Yard' Up Above It All"
"Costco Installs Solar Power on Roof of California Warehouse"
"Builder Unveils Green Tower Plans"
"Efficiency Concept Not Just for Houses Anymore"
"JV Seeks Distressed Buildings to Renovate Green"
"Blue Sky Program Shines on Five Utah Projects"
"Shining a Light on Solar-Power Costs"
"Students Put Ecomagination to Work"
"The Green House Effect"
"Up on This Roof"
"Pantheon Goes Green With Industrial Portfolio"
"Solar Integrated Shares Hit Record"
"Working-Class Housing Complex Will Rise as Part of the Greenery"
"Green Roofs Save Energy"
"As Green as the Grass Outside"

European-style green roofs are becoming popular in the United States. In fact, there are now about 1,600 nationwide, encompassing 5 million square feet. Green roofs are situated on top of schools, hospitals, office complexes, government buildings and even some private houses. They are made of plants and other natural materials and can absorb as much as 70 percent of rainwater, significantly lessening the runoff that inundates streams and sewer systems. Because it does not expand and shrink with temperature changes, a green roof has a longer life. In addition, because its temperatures remain at about 75 F to 80 F during the summer, green roofs can reduce air-conditioning bills by 10 percent or higher, notes Pennsylvania State University Center for Green Roof Research Director Robert Berghage.
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Costco Wholesale Corp. has installed its second solar-powered energy system on the roof of its Lake Elsinore, Calif., warehouse. Baltimore-based SunEdison provided the solar system, which is designed to supply more than 725,000 kilowatts per year over a projected life span of 25 years. In doing so, it could save upwards of $3.8 million in energy bills. Craig Peal, Costco's assistant vice president for energy/building controls, comments, "This solar roof gives us an important addition to the list of technologies available to us to reduce our purchases of electricity and reduce our impact on the environment."
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Developer Foram Group has announced plans to erect Florida's largest green office building in Miami. Company officials expect to demolish the current office building at the site and build the 40-story Brickell Financial Centre in its place. Groundbreaking on this new structure is scheduled for April with a 2009 completion targeted. The locally based developer will be seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, a status that not a single structure in South Florida currently boasts. Throughout the entire state, only 10 buildings have been certified as "green" versus more than 70 in California. By setting an official timeline for the Brickell Financial Centre, Foram has effectively raised the stakes in the drive to erect new office structures in downtown Miami.
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In Minnesota, environmentally friendly construction projects are branching out from single-family homes and involving more multifamily buildings and general construction projects. This summer, Horning Companies will begin construction on a 30-unit condo building in Minneapolis that may be one of the city's first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified multifamily buildings. The building will feature a heat-reducing white roof and two rooftop terraces with planters to catch water runoff. Another project that will seek LEED certification is Reflections at Bloomington Central Station, which will feature an underground parking garage with a green roof.
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JDM Reef Capital Management LLC has announced plans to purchase and assess environmentally distressed structures and make "green" renovations that will boost the value of the buildings. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification will be sought for some properties. According to JDM President Joseph DeMatteo, "The bottom line is to create profitability while leaving the assets and our environment in a better place than we found it." The company has not announced target locations or property types as of yet. JDM Reef Capital Management LLC is a joint venture of JDM Capital Corp. and Red Reef Laboratories International Inc.
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Entheos Academy in Kearns, Utah, recently became the first school in the state to get a solar photovoltaic array placed on its roof. The array collects power from the sun and transfers it to Rocky Mountain Power's electricity grid. The project was funded by the utility's Blue Sky renewable energy initiative. Customers of Blue Sky have also helped purchase more than 100 solar panels for the roof of the Salt Palace Convention Center. Those panels were installed atop the downtown Salt Lake City facility this past September as part of an undertaking that involved city officials, Salt Lake County and the Salt Lake Million Solar Roofs Partnership.
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HelioVolt has partnered with Exeltech to develop modular solar panels and other products in an effort to slash the costs involved in installing solar energy systems. A number of the products will be solar panels that can be integrated into conventional solar panel frames. Others, such as roof tiles with integrated solar cells, will be construction materials that have energy-generating technology already built in. Installation costs have been one of the major drawbacks in getting solar energy into the mainstream, but some companies are getting proactive. In the fourth quarter of 2006, SunPower acquired PowerLight, which manufactures a roof tile with embedded solar cells. Currently, the PowerLight solar roof tiles cost more than regular solar power systems. However, the installation is not as expensive and the cost gets absorbed into the price of a new home.
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A proposal for a green roof from a group of University of Michigan students is one of 10 finalists in the Ecomagination Challenge by mtvU and GE. The winning entry receives a $25,000 grant to bring the idea to life on their campus. The Michigan green roof was first proposed by an energy management liaison for the university. Should the proposal win, the first step towards constructing the green roof would be to ensure the existing building could support the weight. Several other green roofs have been planned around the community, including one atop the Stephen M. Ross Business School. The Ecomagination Challenge contest drew about 125 proposals from student groups across the country, all of whom are competing for the chance to be on mtvU, MTV's 24-hour network geared toward college students.
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A 2006 report from the National Association of Home Builders and McGraw-Hill Construction predicts that 5 percent to 10 percent of housing starts by the end of the decade will involve green construction versus 2 percent in 2005. Homes certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program consume less energy and water, make less waste and emit lower levels of greenhouse gases. Green features are emerging in mainstream construction as the price of solar photovoltaic systems and other components fall, but buyers can still expect to pay 3 percent to 5 percent more for environmentally friendly dwellings. Although they can recoup some of the money through government programs, experts note it could take upwards of 10 years to see any real energy savings. Home buyers also may encounter difficulty obtaining fixtures made from recycled materials and alternative products in suitable colors. Native Forest Council Executive Director Tim Hermach finds the idea of a "green" home that encompasses 4,000 square feet contradictory, but research reveals that many consumers are refusing to compromise when it comes to size.
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Old Country Roofing of Ceres, Calif., has inked a deal with BP Solar to use new EnergyTiles to replace and replicate traditional roof tiles as part of California's drive to install 1 million solar roofs over the next decade, a goal that will force all home builders to offer solar power options by 2011. Each EnergyTile is 18 inches by 60 inches, big enough to replace five traditional concrete tiles. The solar tiles generate 65 watts of power each. A typical new tract home requires about 2,500 watts; older homes need between 4,000 watts and 5,000 watts. Aaron Nitzkin, Old Country Roofing's vice president of solar operations, advises homeowners to consider EnergyTiles when they need a new roof as installation from the start is less expensive than retrofitting. Although EnergyTile roofs are more expensive than traditional roofs, added costs can be offset by federal tax credits, utility rebates and energy savings.
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Pantheon Properties has decided to renovate its entire portfolio to green buildings during the next couple of years. On the acquisition side, it has also vowed to evaluate future building purchases in terms of their ability to be transformed into energy-efficient properties. Pantheon presently owns nine industrial buildings in Florida and New York. Senior Vice President David Maltby states, "It is something we have been working on internally over the last 18 months. It is the movement of the future, and we wanted to be ahead of the curve as much as possible." In 2005, Pantheon used an industrial property it owned in Doral, Fla., as a test site of sorts for its green ambitions. It coated the 850,000-square-foot building with Intellicoat Technologies' roof coating, which is designed to increase a facility's energy efficiency. Pantheon President Ken Cohen remarks, "The initial greening project Intellicoat managed for us at the Miami Free Zone delivered outstanding energy savings results, so the choice to give them the rest of our portfolio was an easy one."
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Solar Integrated Technologies Inc.'s stock continues to rise, especially after recently winning a contract with Tesco PLC to build the world's biggest solar roof system. The solar panels will cover more than 500,000 square feet of roof at the retailer's new California depot, generating about 20 percent of the building's total power supply. Analyst John-Marc Bunce of Ambrian Partners Ltd. comments, "The solar market will be strong in the years to come. [Solar Integrated] will need more capital to grow faster, [as] the roofing projects they undertake require significant working capital."
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In New York City, a team comprised of Grimshaw Architects, Dattner Architects, the Jonathan Rose Companies and the Phipps Houses Group was selected from five finalists by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the state chapter of The American Institute of Architects to redevelop a condemned parcel in the South Bronx. The team will pay only $1 for the 60,000-square-foot lot at Brook Avenue and East 156th Street near the borough's third-biggest shopping district. Their winning design calls for 202 apartments for low- and moderate-income residents plus an outdoor amphitheater, energy-efficient mechanical systems, a fitness center and green roofs to control stormwater runoff. "What's unique is we genuinely sought to make a connection to nature accessible, to bring that level of community into the overall design," explained Vincent Chang of U.K.-based Grimshaw Architects. A mid-2008 groundbreaking has been scheduled.
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Green roofs are gaining momentum in Asia and Europe because of their energy efficiency features. For instance, one-tenth of roof space in Germany is green. The approach is also gaining popularity in the U.S. The Penn State University Center for Green Roof Research has concluded that green roofs can reduce a structure's air-conditioning expense by up to 10 percent. The ideal roof type for placing soil and plants are large roofs that have a square shape; steep-slope roofs offer more challenges. Sedums are the best plants for placement on green roofs with soil levels between 3.5 inches and 4 inches.
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The article's author, an environmental and real-estate consultant, warns that trillions of dollars worth of commercial real estate owned by major investors worldwide is in danger of soon becoming obsolete. This is because green buildings are becoming increasingly mainstream, offering tenants lower annual operating costs and healthier indoor environments than "standard" buildings. The greener facilities use less energy and less water, and the healthier workplaces result in fewer employee illnesses and a lower rate of absenteeism. Substantial sales premiums are also likely. In Chicago, for example, the John Buck Co. spent $270 million building a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified office tower in the Loop district, completing it in the fourth quarter of 2005. It was sold to a German investment fund in 2006 for $386 million, delivering a profit of $116 million. As of December 2006, the U.S. Green Building Council has certified 669 buildings as "green," or meeting its strict LEED standards. Meanwhile, the council estimates that 5 percent of all new U.S. commercial development was to have been LEED-certified by the end of 2006 and that thousands more new buildings will be erected according to LEED's principles. Another study, the McGraw-Hill SmartMarket Report, forecasts that green U.S. nonresidential construction alone will make up as much as one-tenth of all such construction starts by the end of the current decade.
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