Owners Skeptical of Long-Term Return on Green Building

A June 2010 study, “Opening the Door to Green Building,” revealed a major discrepancy between the actual cost of building green and the perceived cost of building green among commercial property owners and developers.

Researchers who conducted the study, compiled by the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the United States Green Building Council and Sustainable Rhythm, found that 70 percent of the respondents in the owners/facility managers/corporate real estate category believes that there's a significant cost difference between building green and building with standard building products and practices, while 85 percent of the real estate developers/tenant leasing/financing category believes the same.

The majority of respondents believed the cost premium for a green building is 10 percent to 25 percent more than using standard building materials. But the Urban Green Council's 2009 study, “The Cost of Green,” showed that the cost premium to design and build green is negligible—as low as 1 percent to 2 percent, depending on the level of green building design solutions and the LEED certification level pursued.