Important lessons in sustainable "green" building are being taught all day Thursday at the Buffalo Niagara Marriott in Amherst, NY.
Builders, architects, engineers and others are gathering for the latest "Business of Energy" conference sponsored by the University at Buffalo. The conference is helping businesses compete by sharing the best practices in sustainable "green" building.
Martin Casstevens is Manager of UB's Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach and its Directed Energy Program, the organizer of the conference. He says buildings consume 40% of all energy used in the United States and 72% of all electricity generated.
They also account for 38% of all CO2 emissions. No wonder the demand for sustainable "green" LEED-certified buildings is growing.
"The LEED process is pretty thorough. It's not like you just build the building, call in some guy who kicks the tires and gives you a certification. It's more than energy efficiency. It's really a whole philosophy of building design," said Casstevens.
Unfortunately, LEED buildings are also more expensive.
One of the problems with that system is it adds cost, some would claim as high as 20% more than the cost of the building. Who does LEED buildings? People like Bank of America, leading institutions in our culture. But the guy who's in the trenches, he's looking at that 20% and thinking 'Boy, for that extra 20% I could build another wing of warehouse space or something else," said Casstevens.
Experts are sharing lessons learned from the latest research, technical advancements and regulatory developments that allow businesses to overcome such challenges.