Retail Finally Buying into Green Building
Posted: July 28, 2010 by Kaye, Category:Sustainability
(image: es74273 under Creative Commons)
When you think of green building in the last ten years, you think primarily of two verticals - housing and office space. So there is one massive vertical missing in the equation - retail.
Retail development has traditionally been the slowest to warm up to the whole concept of green building, but according to a recent article in Retail Traffic Magazine, retail developers are finally turning the corner.
In fact, green retail construction has moved ahead at an increasing pace, even despite the sour effects of the economy. Retail developers have recognized that not only is it the right thing to do, it can also help their bottom line, and that of their customers, in the long run.
LEED has gotten a boost in the retail market as well. According to the article, the USGBC reports that there are more than 2,600 projects registered for LEED in the retail sector. This is quite remarkable, especially when you consider that developers don’t even have a true LEED standard specifically for retail. After more than a half-decade of waiting, though, those standards should be released sometime this year.
The truth is, retail developers have always been looking to save money on water and power – after all, making money is what retail is all about. So they’ve been further ahead of the curve than even the USGBC.
There is still much work to be done, but another good thing is that the developers are not the only ones who see the value of LEED certification – so do the marketing guys, who now have a huge selling point for their customers. The savings get passed on to them, and thus, to the rest of us.
Now if we can only get them to ditch those darn plastic bags…
