Earth Day 2012: Doo Consulting’s Spring Update

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Peter Doo

I hope you enjoyed our two-part blog series detailing new research on the profits in sustainability.

Meanwhile, over at Doo Consulting…

Business is budding for Doo Consulting this spring. Here are some of the details of of our recent wins:

AWARDS

Peter Doo Elevated To The AIA College Of Fellows

Peter-Doo-HeadshotPeter Doo, president of Doo Consulting LLC, green building consultants, recently became one of 11 architects regionally to be elevated to the College of Fellows – the highest achievement level of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

“The Fellows program recognizes not just the achievements of architects as individuals, but also their significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level,” said Scott Frank, Director of Media Relations at the AIA.

Click here to read the complete Peter Doo FAIA press release.

Net Zero Home Wins USGBC WinterGreen Awards “Home” Category

net-zero-houseWhat are the challenges of building a building that generates all of its own energy onsite?

“When a sustainability-minded client asked me to design his second home,” explains Peter Doo, “I saw an opportunity to put net-zero theory into practice.  I knew that what we learned through this project would benefit our architect and developer clients who wanted to push the low energy envelope.”

Doo’s design for the home won the USGBC Maryland Wintergreen 2012 Award in the “Home” category.

Get the full story in this case study on the Net Zero Home.

CERTIFICATION

Midd-West High School Earns LEED For Schools Gold Certification

midd-west-high-schoolMidd-West High School in Middlesburg, PA,  a 185,000 SF replacement high schoolwas recently awarded LEED Gold certification under LEED for Schools by the US Green Building Council and the Green Building Certification Institute.

Doo Consulting LLC worked closely with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh + Associates architects to achieve the certification. It will be used as a teaching tool and will be available to the community for use after hours.

Cambridge Springs Security Housing Achieves LEED NC Certification

LEED-seal-certifiedDoo Consulting was asked to join the design/build team for the L3 Housing Addition at the State Correctional Institution at Cambridge Springs in Cambridge Springs PA.

LEED certifying The Cambridge Springs Security Facility presented a unique challenge. At present, LEED rating systems do not make allowances for the special security requirements inherent in the construction and operation of a detention facility.

The team used low-emitting construction materials, thermal comfort design, recycled content, construction waste management, water-efficient landscaping, optimized energy performance, storm water design and other approaches to fulfill the requirements of LEED.

Children’s National Medical Center Imaging Center Achieves LEED certification.

The Children’s Radiology Engineering Architecture Technology Expansion (CREATE) project has earned Certification under the LEED Rating System.

CREATE included the renovation and expansion of the Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology Departments at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. This radiology and diagnostics suite is now a 20,000 square foot space with four new MRI suites and a new PET CT imaging room.

Doo Consulting LLC worked directly with the contractor for the project, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, to ensure that all LEED construction credits were properly executed and documented.

New Projects

Waverly Public School, Baltimore, MD – LEED Schools

WaverlyPK-8thThe Waverly PK-8 School is designed to achieve LEED Silver Certification. Doo Consulting LLC will work with client Cam Construction to administrate and coordinate the LEED Construction Credits for this project.

Grimm & Parker are the architects for this project, which will consolidate the Elementary and Middle Schools into a single building with diversified uses.

Anne Arundel Medical Center, Annapolis, MD – LEED CI

The Anne Arundel Medical Center is the first LEED certified hospital tower in Maryland. Doo Consulting is working with a design-build team to achieve a LEED Gold Certification under the Commercial Interiors rating system for one of the floors of the new building.

Whiting-Turner is the contractor for the project, and have asked Doo Consulting to manage both the design and construction credits for this LEED project.

Capital One Bank, Bethesda, MD – LEED EBOM

The Capital One Bank building, at 4825 Cordell Avenue, will be certified under the LEED for Existing Buildings rating system.”

Doo will help to implement green retrofits, green leases, and green policies, earning Capital One and their tenant, Bethesda Green, a credential that demonstrates their commitment to sustainable business practices and creating a best-in-class office building in the heart of Bethesda.”Read more in Bethesda Green’s Incubator profile of Doo Consulting.

US Attorney’s Office, Greenbelt, MD – LEED CI

Doo Consulting will work with Mack-Cali Realty Corporation and the GSA to LEED certify the Commercial Interior for the US Attorney’s Office at the Capitol Office Park in Greenbelt, MD.

Siegel, Rutherford, Bradstock & Ridgway, Inc. will provide the MEP work, energy modeling, and commissioning services for this project.

What are your recent successes and green business challenges? Please share in the comments below.

 

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Earth Day 2012: Green Businesses, Green Buildings, And Greenbacks – Part 2 of 2

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Peter Doo

Does a LEED building make financial sense?

In the current market, this question is discussed actively between development, property management and building professionals.

Of course, energy efficiency upgrades and water-saving measures do lower utility costs. And less construction waste can save money during construction. So, these savings help in making the case for LEED.

But, apart from bottom-line savings, can a LEED building actually boost top line revenue? Can it increase sales and market demand?

University of Notre Dame management professors Edward Conlon and Ante Glavas set out to answer that question by making an apples-to-apples comparison of LEED buildings and non-certified buildings.

How can certified and non-certified buildings be compared side-by-side? The researchers started by selecting a single company with the largest portfolio of LEED-certified facilities in the world – PNC Bank.

This provided a statistically signicant sample of third-party-validated green buildings at a single company. Further, the products and services at each branch are the same, and not “environmental” in their nature. And PNC enacted green certification proactively, not in reaction to industry or regulatory demands.

The researchers went further and matched PNC LEED-certified facilities with other facilities based on revenue and market demographics. They controlled for a full range of data that the bank tracks for the branches annually – number of employees per branch, employee demographics (gender, age and tenure), age of facility, advertising budget per facility, number of households within a two-mile radius of the branch, and the net worth of consumers within that two-mile radius.

And, significantly, they eliminated a bias for the “newness” of facilities; they included only branches three years and older.

The data showed, as expected, bottom-line savings in the form of lower utilities costs – $675.26 per employee per year.

Beyond that, the research revealed that top-line performance improved. Compared to non-certified facilities, LEED-certified PNC branches, per facility, per year:

  • Opened 458 more consumer deposit accounts
  • Maintained $3,032,000 more in consumer deposit balances
  • Opened 25.5 more consumer loan accounts
  • Maintained $994,900 more in loan balance
pnc-branch-trends-graph

Trends in PNC Branch LEED Study

Significantly, these numbers are improving as time goes on. In the authors’ words: “As can be seen in the data, the slope and the effect of LEED certification on financial outcomes is increasing each year.”

The findings of this study reveal that LEED can drive top-line results in the form of more sales and repeat customers. Why? Perhaps the effect is caused by increased employee satisfaction and health. Perhaps it’s consumer preference for a socially and environmentally responsible corporation.

The reason “why” is the occasion for further research by academics, and for future blog articles.

For now, as a business person, you need only to act on this knowledge: there are increased sales and revenue to be found in certifying your new and existing buildings.

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Earth Day 2012: Green Businesses, Green Buildings, And Greenbacks – Part 1 of 2

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Peter Doo

How is business for you in 2012?

For companies with a congruent commitment to sustainability, and with LEED-certified buildings (see Part 2 of this series), it seems business is very good.

Empirical studies reveal that companies that have chosen to put sustainability high on their priority list outperform their competitors. Those for whom the bottom line is the only concern do well – but not as well.

That’s what research done by Harvard (and London) Business School professors, Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou, and George Serafeim, has shown. Their working paper, called  ”The Impact of a Corporate Culture of Sustainability on Corporate Behaviour and Performance” studied the two samples of two sets of firms of the same size, financial performance and growth prospects, from the period from 1993 to 2010.

Ninety of the firms were identified as having made commitments to enhance their environmental and social performance, where the other sample of ninety took a more traditional approach, regarding these factors as externalities, and financial performance as primary.

An example of their findings is illustrated in the relative stock performance of each set of companies. One dollar invested in the a value-weighted portfolio of sustainability-minded companies would have grown to $22.60 during the period of the study. The same dollar invested in a value-weighted portfolio of the traditionally-run companies would have grown to $15.40.

The authors suggest that, since much of the low-hanging fruit of sustainability has already been plucked by watching the bottom line, those companies who make a special commitment to social and environmental performance are forced to innovate to make good on their promises. And, in fact, in innovation is where new opportunities for profits are found.

Doing good can lead to doing well – so start with making a commitment to a triple bottom line – people, the planet, AND profit. If you are looking for guidance on where to start, contact Doo Consulting to facilitate your next planning session.

And please read part 2 in this series for a revealing study about the impact of green buildings on corporate performance.

 

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