This morning I was talking with our newest Consilience blogger, Eric A. Woodroof, Ph.D., about the Institute of Green Professionals and the work of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).  You can read more about Eric via the "Our bloggers" section.

We so often read about the the benefits of buildings with "green" or sustainability characteristics.  The list is long but popularly includes: increased rents, decreased vacancy, increased building adaptability, lower management and operating costs, slower depreciation, less employee turnover, less employee sickness, increased occupant productivity, etc.

As a real property appraiser, I quantify the dollar value of each "green" characteristic.  The easiest to quantify is the projected utility expense.  Eric and colleagues did a good job in their paper entitled The "Secret Benefits" from Energy Conservation.   Their paper is the focus of this blog - there is a link to it at the end of my comments.                                                                                                             

The "secret" benefits are not so secret to me, they are all line item projections in a pro forma, but some can be illusive and a few are often overlooked.

I am bringing this paper to your attention today because:

1.  It makes a powerful case for improving your bottom line via conserving energy.

2.  Additional savings of 18% to 50% of the energy savings will get the attention of your organization.

3.  It is presented in a non-jargon, non-academic, and easily understood manner.

4.  The savings examples can be easily adapted to your business.

We are interested in hearing if/how you and your organization consider these "secret" benefits from energy conservation. 

Specifically, how is Benefit #6 of their paper considered by you, or is it?

The "Secret Benefits" paper can be viewed by following this LINK.