renovated to be able to com-
pete for high LEED ratings.
This change has been adopted
not only by developers and en-
gineers, but also tenants who
now demand greener office
space. Buildings that are LEED
certified provide a cleaner at-
mosphere for tenants to work
and live in, which is proven to
improve productivity.
Higher productivity and lower
energy and maintenance costs
are just some motivators to
reap the reward of building
green. The larger demand for
green buildings, long term
savings by using recyclable
materials, and production of
lower heating costs are at-
tracting more and more com-
panies to aim for LEED certifi-
cation. The CaGBC works hard
to promote and encourage the
adoption of LEED standards
not only in the private sector
but also the public sector, in-
cluding institutions and gov-
ernment owned properties.
Mueller identifies certain sec-
tors and organizations that
own a substantial amount of
real estate, which can benefit
from adopting green building
practices. Residential commu-
nities are witnessing positive
responses in living standards
and long term costs associ-
ated with operations, but this
is not to say that green build-
ing has been implemented in
every community. The com-
parison between such com-
munities and those built with
green building policies make
advocating for green build-
ing easier as the benefits of
implementing these programs
are clearly evident.
“[The] green construction in-
FEBRUARY 2014
H
business elite canada
35
