Sustainable Real Estate - Multidisciplinary Approaches to an Evolving System

Acknowledgments

Contents

Notes on Contributors

List of Figures

List of Pictures

List of Tables

Chapter 1: Introduction

References

Chapter 2: The Relevance of Real Estate in Solving Climate Change

Chapter 3: Evolutions in Sustainability and Sustainable Real Estate

1 Introduction

2 The Rise of Sustainable Development

3 Sustainability and Real Estate

3.1 Real Estate and the Environment

3.2 Real Estate and the Economy

3.3 Real Estate and Society

4 Toward Sustainable Real Estate

4.1 Current Trends

4.2 Criticism of Current Trends

4.3 The Role of Tenants, Investors, Governments and Financial Institutions

4.4 Future Directions in Sustainable Real Estate

5 Conclusion: Mapping the Sustainable Real Estate System

References

Part I: Regulatory Approaches

Chapter 4: Public Regulatory Trends in Sustainable Real Estate

1 Introduction

2 Strategic Planning, Development Controls and Incentives

2.1 Forward Planning Strategies

2.1.1 Comprehensive Planning

2.2 Development Controls

2.2.1 Prescriptive Zoning

2.2.2 Performance-Based Zoning

2.2.3 Prescriptive Versus Performance-Based Building Codes

2.3 Development Incentives

3 Mandatory Disclosure and Integrated Reporting

4 Public Procurement Standards

5 Discussion and Recommendations

5.1 Application of the UN SDGs to Improve Sustainability Outcomes in Strategic Planning

5.2 Increasing the Impact of Mandatory Disclosure and Integrated Reporting Requirements

5.3 Incentives that More Accurately Reflect the Value-Add of Sustainable Development

References

Chapter 5: A Policy Framework for Sustainable Real Estate in the European Union

1 Introduction

2 The European Union Walks the Talk on Sustainable Real Estate

2.1 A Common Framework of Standards and Practices

2.1.1 Member States to Save 1.5% Primary Energy and Renovate 3% of Public Buildings

2.1.2 European Standards and Labels for Products

2.1.3 Set National Requirements that Respect the Principle of Cost Optimality in Construction and Renovation

2.1.4 Construct Only Nearly Zero-Energy Building by 2021

2.1.5 Deliver Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to Buildings

2.1.6 Ensure Improved Connectivity in New Constructions

2.2 The EU Budget to Reduce Market Barriers

2.2.1 De-Risking Private Investments in Renovation

Structural Funds

Juncker Plan

ELENA Fund, Technical Assistance for Municipalities

2.2.2 Financing Innovation to Tackle Market Barriers

Setting a European Exchange Platform to Share Best Practices

Support the Uptake of Promising Low-Cost Renovation Techniques

Provide European-Wide Information on Building Stocks, Renovation and Construction Rates and Policies

3 Diversity in National Approaches

3.1 Countries Mapping

3.2 Major Challenges to Sustainable Real Estate

3.2.1 Financing the Renovation

Energies POSIT’IF (Ile-de-France, France)

Picardie Pass Renovation (Picardie, France)

Saerbeck (Germany)

3.2.2 Energy Poverty

3.2.3 Smart Grid and Demand Response

3.3 Interesting National Initiatives

3.3.1 Brussels Region (Belgium) to Define Passive House as the Standard for Construction

3.3.2 France to Boost Renovation with a Focus on Larger Environmental Concerns

3.3.3 Germany, First on Battery Storage

3.3.4 The Netherlands, Leader in the Management of Energy Performance Certificates

3.3.5 Denmark and Finland, Leaders in Heat Recovery

4 Conclusion

References

Part II: Market-Driven Approaches

Chapter 6: Information or Marketing? Lessons from the History of Private-Sector Green Building Labelling

1 Introduction

2 Voluntary Environmental Building Codes

2.1 BREEAM, the Archetype

2.2 LEED

2.3 Green Star Australia and New Zealand

2.4 Voluntary Environmental Building Codes for the Residential Sector

3 Measured Building Performance Auditing

3.1 Energy Star

3.2 National Australian Built Environment Rating System

3.3 Display Energy Certificates

3.4 Multiple Attribute Rating Systems

4 WELL Building Rating

5 Critical Review on the Efficacy of Current Systems

5.1 Striving for the Minimum

5.2 Financial Returns to Labelling

5.3 Environmental Returns to Design- and  As-Built-Stage Labelling

5.4 Early Outcomes from Repetitive Measured Building Performance Auditing

6 Recommendations

6.1 Improving the Effectiveness of Green Labelling and Reporting Tools

6.2 Increasing Adoption and Use of Voluntary Ratings in Regulation

6.3 Harmonising Benchmarking

6.4 Integrating Design and Operation

7 Conclusion

Appendix: Summary of Rating Schemes Reviewed

References

Chapter 7: Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmarking: An Essential Tool for Real Estate Management

1 Sustainable Real Estate

1.1 Introduction: Historically Based Benchmarking and Future Focused Scenarios

1.2 Sustainable Real Estate Investing: A Need When ‘Going Concern’

1.3 Background of GRESB: Stimulating Responsible Real Estate Investing

2 Benchmarking

2.1 History and Background of Benchmarking

2.2 Future Focused Use of Benchmarking

2.3 Criteria for Benchmarking

2.4 Indicators for Benchmarking

2.5 Benchmark Types

2.5.1 Considering the Competitive Benchmarking

2.5.2 Considering the Functional Benchmarking

2.5.3 Considering the Best-Use Benchmarking

2.5.4 Considering the (International) Standards Benchmarking

2.6 The Multiple Kinds of Information from Benchmarking

2.6.1 Considering the Market Information

2.6.2 Considering the Entrepreneurial Information

2.6.3 Considering the Competitive Information

2.6.4 Considering the Context Information

2.6.5 Considering the Information’s Representativeness

2.6.6 Considering the Information’s Transparency

2.7 Benchmarking and Real Estate Investment

3 GRESB as an International Standards Benchmark

3.1 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark: A New Type of Benchmarking

3.2 GRESB’s Benchmarking Characteristic

4 Productivity Improvement and GRESB

4.1 A Sketch of How It Is Today

4.2 How to React on the Placed Dot on the Horizon

5 GRESB Remarks

6 Why GRESB Should Be Further Developed

7 To Conclude

References

Chapter 8: Business Case for Green Buildings for Owner-Operators

1 Introduction

2 Understanding the Lifecycle Cost of Ownership

2.1 Lifecycle Cost Defined

2.2 Impact of Sustainability on the Lifecycle Cost

2.3 Financial Tools to Accurately Assess Return on Investment

3 Challenges Posed by Regional Economics

3.1 Low Energy-Cost Regions

3.2 Low Water-Cost Regions

4 Sustainability for New Versus Existing Building Stock

4.1 Implications of Improving Sustainability of Existing Buildings

4.2 Commissioning

4.3 Deep Retrofits

4.4 Retrofits and Green Certification Rating Systems

5 Conclusion

References

Chapter 9: Sustainability as an Organizational Effectiveness Tool

1 Features That Make Sustainability a Strong Organizational Effectiveness Tool

1.1 Long-Term Orientation

1.2 Change Agency

1.3 Presence on the Dance Floor and the Balcony

1.4 Need for Data

1.5 Cross-Functional Nature

1.6 Insider-Outsider Perspective

1.7 Inclusion of Personnel Issues

2 Opportunities for Sustainability to Improve Organizational Effectiveness

2.1 Process Improvement

2.2 Productivity Impediment Removal

2.3 Tenant Service

2.4 Occupant Satisfaction

2.5 Policy Usability and Compliance

2.6 Dumb Money to Smart Money

2.7 Leadership and Compensation Issue Identification

2.8 Interdepartmental Teamwork

2.9 Agility

2.10 Lifetime Cost Over Low-Bid Procurement

2.11 Talent Attraction and Retention

3 Integrating Sustainability and Organizational Effectiveness

References

Part III: Delivering Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable Energy

Chapter 10: Building Energy Simulation and the Design of Sustainable and Resilient Buildings

1 Building Energy Simulation and Its Application

2 A Typical Building Energy Simulation Process

3 Objectively Achieving Sustainable Building Design Goals in Energy

4 Resilient Buildings in a World of Uncertainty

5 Evaluating Design Risk to Achieve Resilient Building Design: An Economics-Based Example

6 Evaluating Design Risk to Achieve Resilient Building Design: A Weather-Based Example

7 Resilient and Sustainable Building Design: An Attainable Goal

References

Chapter 11: Driving Investment in High-Performance Commercial Buildings

1 Driving Investment

1.1 Value Analysis

2 Challenges

2.1 Short-Term Focus and Unaligned Solutions

2.2 Stakeholder Diversity and Market Fragmentation

3 Building the Tools and Measures

3.1 Market Linkage

3.2 Validating Energy Efficiency

3.3 Tools

3.3.1 Industry Consensus Metrics, Third-Party Standards, and Reporting

3.3.2 Access to Real-Time Numbers

3.3.3 Robust Operations and Maintenance

3.3.4 Monetizing Energy Efficiency

3.3.5 Tenant Engagement

3.3.6 Public/Private Partnerships

3.4 Communication Strategies, Messaging, and Transparency

3.4.1 Messaging

3.4.2 Communication Strategies and Transparency

4 Financial and Policy Mechanisms

4.1 Financing Mechanisms

4.2 Barriers

5 The Path Forward

6 Conclusion

References

Chapter 12: Financing Rooftop Solar for Single-Family Rental Properties

1 Background

2 The Problem for Renters

3 The Current “Solution”

4 A Superior Solution

5 Addressable Market: Single-Family Rentals

6 Why the Renter’s PPA Could Work: The Economics of Rooftop Solar

7 Hypothetical Target Company

8 Asset-Backed Securities

9 An Alternative RPPA

10 A Risk to Consider Regarding the Renter’s PPA and Rooftop Solar

11 Where This Might Work: California

12 Where This Might Work: Connecticut

13 Potential Social Impacts

14 Concluding Thoughts

References

Part IV: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Chapter 13: A Case for Sustainable Affordable Housing in the United States

1 Challenges in the Current Housing Market

1.1 Urban Sprawl

1.2 Housing Affordability and Accessibility

2 The Path Forward

2.1 Sustainable Affordable Housing

2.2 Sustainable Community Development

2.3 Public Policy Initiatives

2.4 Non-profit and Public Organization Support

2.5 Multi-disciplinary Collaboration and Innovation

3 Conclusion

Chapter 14: Passive House Standard: A Strategic Mean for Building Affordable Sustainable Housing in Nova Scotia

1 Housing Nova Scotia

2 Affordable Public Housing Challenges

3 HNS Sustainability Initiatives

4 The Passive House Standard

5 Passive House Case Studies: Passive House Pilot #1: 74 Alice Street, Truro

5.1 Project Context

5.2 Project Design

5.3 Project Construction

5.4 Communication, Education, and Marketing

6 Passive House Pilot #2: 831 Highway 1, Hebron Heights

6.1 Project Context

6.2 Project Design

6.3 Project Construction

7 Passive House Pilot #3: 7–9 Brownell Avenue, Amherst

7.1 Project Context

7.2 Project Design

7.3 Project Construction

8 HNS PH Pilot Projects: Lessons Learnt

8.1 Commissioning and Post-Occupancy

9 Concluding Remarks

References

Chapter 15: Sustainable Investing in Community Sporting Facilities

1 Introduction

2 Brief History of Sport

2.1 Dominance of Professional Sport

3 Community Sporting Facility Funding and Financing Models

3.1 US Municipal Bond Market

3.2 European Lottery Funding

4 Australia’s Community Infrastructure

4.1 Ad hoc Funding Creates Inequitable Distribution

4.2 Elite Athlete Focused Sports Policy

5 Community Asset Financing Challenges

5.1 Lack of Collateral

5.2 Lack of Reliable Revenue

5.3 Small Investments, Large Transaction Costs

5.4 Lack of Business Development Expertise

5.5 Lack of Suitable Organizational Structure for Raising Capital

6 Community Futures Investment Model

7 Community Bonds

7.1 Debentures and the Funding of Community Assets

7.2 How Would Community Bonds Work?

7.3 Setting Standards

8 Community Partnership Agreements

9 Conclusion

References

Chapter 16: Sustainable Real Estate in the Middle East: Challenges and Future Trends

1 Introduction

2 Sustainable Real Estate in the Middle East: The Current Status

2.1 Evaluation, Rating and Green Building Codes

2.2 Design, Construction and Post-Occupancy Evaluation

2.3 Urbanization and the Role of Resilience

3 Future of the Sustainable Real Estate Industry in the Middle East

3.1 Macro Trends: Climate, Population and Global Warming

3.1.1 Climate Change

3.1.2 Urban Population Growth

3.1.3 Global Warming

3.2 Macro-Level Responses to Macro-Level Trends: Rating Systems

3.3 Meso-Level Responses to Macro-Level Trends: Resilience

3.4 Micro-Level Responses to Macro-Level Trends: Materials Revolution

4 Concluding Remarks

References

Chapter 17: Sustainable Community Development in Nigeria: The Role of Real Estate Development

1 Introduction

2 Sustainability in Community and Real Estate Development

3 Community and Real Estate Development in Nigeria

4 Achieving Sustainable Community Development through Sustainable Real Estate

4.1 Technological Factor

4.2 Managerial Factor

4.3 Cultural Factor

5 Conclusion

References

Index