Energy Efficiency
Green Building
Consequently, many architects and project developers have discovered a clearly sustainable marketing argument for themselves – “green building”. Among other things, the rapidly ascending career of the “Green Building Conference” in the US bears witness to this boom. This specialist conference, which was organized for the first time a good ten years ago, attracted at the time a small group of just 70 architects. At the most recent conference 35,000 visitors crowded in to discuss energy efficiency, K values and alternative energy strategies. And in Germany the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen” (German Association for Sustainable Building, DGNB) established itself two years ago, and has since then been awarding its DGNB certificate to the first particularly sustainable buildings.
The “Barron’s” investor magazine is certain that “green is worth its weight in gold”, because “green” buildings are unmatchable in terms of competition over the years. In Chicago for example, the 111 South Wacker Drive office tower – with its “green building” rating – could be sold on after a few months with a full complement of tenants, and this in a neighbourhood where 18 per cent of office space remains unoccupied. A few blocks further away, the One South Dearborn Street complex – also distinguished with a “sustainable” rating – was sold on to its new owners at a profit of 144 million dollars. “Anyone who can post a green certificate on their doors has no problems finding tenants and is promoted to the Champions League of the property scene,” confirms the “Expo Real” property magazine. Primarily, however, it is not the property owners who are concerned about energy efficiency. “The biggest drivers are the users,” confirms Ingo Beenen, Head of Strategic Consulting at the property service provider Jones Lang LaSalle. “Many of the largest and commercially most powerful companies will in future only be renting space that can show it has good sustainability qualities and the appropriate certification.”
This enthusiasm still has to be awakened among private property owners. For a dozen years now, the architect Daniel Sauter has, for example, been designing private houses and residential estates that appear to be pure, compact and ultra-modern, but have very little to do with traditional “ecological architecture”, yet they have been sustainably conceived down to the very last detail. Working from his office with five employees in the area near Lake Constance in southern Germany, this 46-year-old architect – who has already realized over 100 projects – has built a single family house that even sets an example in terms of building materials and recycling capability. The design of this 270-square-metre house consists of wood from silver first hat have been grown and felled within a five-kilometre radius. Thanks to its triple glazing, north-south alignment, solar equipment and high-performance wood-burning stove, the residents of the house can manage with 70% less fossil fuels than their neighbours with more conventional lifestyles. Mr Sauter remembers that the property owner fraternity “can also be won over by the sustainable arguments of energy efficient building. We have absolutely no missionary ambitions, but both the economical and environmental advantages are, quite simply, impressive.”
Just how impressive the consumption values are can be checked on the spot by Mr Sauter’s property owner whenever they want. The new home is equipped with switches from the Berker K. 1 series as well as a building operations system that can be accessed via the Internet from any location. “This way,” says Mr Sauter, “property owners truly discover the benefits of energy efficiency sustainably for themselves.”