Energy efficiency: Real estate’s next granite counter top?

By Elisa Wood

Does anyone remember reading about the construction of the largest zero-energy office building in Golden, Colorado? Commissioned by the Department of Energy, this 222,000 square-foot research support facility is located on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory campus and is now complete!

This is the largest zero-energy office building in the United States, and it will hopefully serve as an example to other commercial developers. True to it's name, this building will create as much energy as it uses during the year. Estimates on energy efficiency peg it as consuming up to fifty percent less energy than buildings constructed to current commercial codes. How did they do it?

Browsing the web this morning brought two important news items to my attention. The first covers a recent news release by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning their Energy Star Leaders program. Last year the 'Leaders' prevented over 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions and saved over $48 million across their commercial building portfolios. According to the EPA these savings have quadrupled since 2008 and make this past year the most successful since the program's launch in 2004. This is wonderful news! 

According to the EPA, these emissions are equivalent to those from the electricity use of almost 39,000 homes annually. With success like that it will be exciting to see the numbers from 2010. It should be noted for those that don't know, that the EPA labels any organization an Energy Star Leader that cuts its energy use by 10 percent across its entire building portfolio. Those aspiring to become a "top performer" must perform on average in the top 25 percent of similar buildings nationwide.