The owners of the Sears Tower have announced plans to upgrade the building for sustainability, which will make it the tallest building in the western hemisphere to undergo such an overhaul to date. Of course, the Sears Tower is the tallest building in the western hemisphere and won't have any competition for this status. However, considering the size of the project alone, this cannot be done modestly. According to the building's website, the structure "is a 110-story trophy office tower containing a total enclosed area of approximately 4.56 million gross square feet (SF) and has a rentable area of 3.8 million SF. The Sears Tower's 4.56 million gross square feet would cover 105 acres if spread across one level. This is the equivalent of 16 city blocks in Chicago. Within the building, there are 25 miles of plumbing, 1,500 miles of electric wiring, 80 miles of elevator cable, and 145,000 light fixtures. The building weighs more than 222,500 tons..."
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Two reports conducted by four cooperating groups show that investing in sustainability (energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy retrofits) can create 1.7 million new jobs, which far outpaces the same investment in fossil-fuel industries. Released last week by Green for All, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), the two studies, entitled "Green Prosperity" and "The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy," highlight the positive effects of investing $150 billion per year in energy-efficient and clean-energy technologies. A portion of these dollars has already been earmarked by the federal stimulus package; also included is funding to come from the Waxman-Markey bill currently working its way through Congress.
The Small Business Admistration has amended its existing 504 loan program, which was originally created to encourage small- to medium-sized business owners to acquire commercial property by providing them with long-term, fixed-rate financing. One of the biggest accommodations is that these loans required a minimal equity requirement and the size of the loan correlates directly to the borrower's impact on the community, including revitalizing and stimulating local business, improving and diversifying the district, and expanding a minority-, woman-, or veteran-owned business.
There were two big stories in the automotive industry last week. The first, highly anticipated for months if not years, was the bankruptcy filing of General Motors. The second story, which is not getting nearly as much media attention, is that Toyota Industries announced the launch of the Geneo-Hybrid, the world's first internal combustion, hybrid lift truck.
A concept borrowed from developers in London and Amsterdam has made its way to Providence, RI with the announcement there of the "Box Office," an office building constructed from 32 used steel shipping containers. Due for completion in 2010 and designed by local architect Truth Box, the Box Office will have 3 stories and 12 separate office and studio units. With construction still to begin, it is nearly 40 percent leased, a huge statement in this economy.
Much has been made of how green and sustainable standards are being incorporated into all aspects of new real estate development--whether commercial, residential, or institutional. Yet, the biggest issue at hand is the existing building stock and how to bring it up to these standards. This dilemma has not gone unnoticed; the United States Green Buildings Council has established its own LEED standard for existing buildings to address this issue, and other organizations are doing the same.
The economy's woes are well documented at this point, and many are looking for solutions and a way out of this morass. There has been an overwhelming amount of news and media coverage of new "green jobs" being created for the new "green economy." President Obama has pledged many times that this is one way to grow out of the recession. Well, as the economy continues to teeter and the unemployment rate continues to rise, where will these employment opportunities come from? Some of the stimulus money is being directed toward green jobs creation, but not nearly enough to make a serious dent.
One of the biggest issues in the real estate community is how to develop green properties while making a profit. This alone has been a deterrent over the past decade for many developers. One of the common refrains has been that it's just "too expensive" to develop ecofriendly; home buyers simply won't pay for the added costs of a green home. Of course, the price differential between a green home and one that is not has narrowed substantially as more and more products and services have entered the marketplace. However, while many real estate companies are now adopting green principles to guide new developments, there remains a price differential, between those who can afford a green home and those who can't, that hasn't been addressed. That is, until now.
In considering our need for green energy, consider the energy it now takes just to have an online social life.
Social networking is far beyond a fad and definitely more than a cultural phenomenon. Hundreds of millions of people have joined Facebook and Twitter, among others, and users have never had so many choices that require nothing more than a computer and a few peripherals -- hardware they owned before signing up. There are many discussions about whether these networks have economically sustainable business models. Like other industries with exponential growth, some are going to fall by the wayside.
Now that Earth Day 2009 is over and we're almost finished with "Earth Month," it might be a good idea to take a breather from all the news and information that was thrown at us in the past few weeks. Beyond industry, the message is certainly saturating all aspects of our lives. From the message at the bottom of emails pleading us not to "print this out" to Oprah making sure we never use a plastic bag or bottle again to the roster of proposed bills related to the environment, there is no escaping the barrage of earth-friendly initiatives. How can we possibly digest such an overwhelming amount of information delivered in a day or even a month? Actually, it's not possible. It will take much time for all the announcements, initiatives, company formations, government programs, etc. to filter down to the field level where we all reside.
How does environmental protection rank in importance for Americans these days? If the results of two recent studies are to believed, our priorities have definitely shifted. First, a 2009 Pew Research Center for People & the Press study shows that only 41 percent of Americans cited protecting the environment as a top priority, down from 56 percent last year. Secondly, only 1 in 10 Americans would be willing today to pay more for an environmentally friendly vehicle, according to a study by the automotive research division of Strategic Vision, Inc. That study also revealed that out of 124 attributes desired by consumers for their next vehicle, overall environmental friendliness ranked 53rd, emissions controls ranked 87th, fuel economy/good mileage ranked 120th, and fuel efficiency ranked last at 124th.
The President has announced that the United States government is purchasing 17,600 fuel-efficient and hybrid vehicles to add to its fleet. The total amount of this purchase, approximately $285 million, will be drawn from stimulus funds; the cars will be operated in part by the General Services Administration. Although the expenditure barely scratches the surface of the $17.4 billion in loans to General Motors and Chrysler, it is still a rather healthy amount--most likely the largest single purchase of automobiles in the nation's history.
The mission of the Blue Green Alliance (BGA), formed by the United Steel Workers and the Sierra Club in 2006, is to create good jobs, a clean environment, and a green economy. Since its inception, three other unions have joined the alliance: the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), as well as the environmental group, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). All told, the BGA has over six million members.
Every day media coverage of the Obama administration's stimulus package(s) and efforts to revive the economy is primarily negative in regards to bonuses, bailouts to irresponsible financial institutions as well as the Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geitner. The feeding frenzy continues over and over again and unfortunately misses some of the plan's positive outcomes.
A Census data report released last week showed that migration rates across the United States plunged sharply in 2008 to levels that haven’t been seen since the Great Depression. For the period July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, the number of people migrating away from domestic metropolitan areas with populations of 1 million or more was 336,000, versus 688,000 people during the same period in 2005-2006, according to an expert’s analysis of the data. This represents a 50 percent decline in people moving out of urban areas, and that is significant.
Last week Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, and U.S. Representative Doris Matsui, Democrat of California, introduced "The Complete Streets Act of 2009" to their respective Houses of Congress. If passed, this bill promises to decrease both traffic congestion and transportation costs for commuters across the nation.
In the evolving journey towards widepread sustainability and green principles, you sometimes come across stories that seem innocuous, but actually bear closer attention. One of these happens to be an announcement by the Hunt Oil Company boasting the attainment of LEED Silver Certification for Commercial Interiors for its headquarters building in Dallas.
In Time Magazine's recent feature entitled, "25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis," all sorts of villains were listed, some very easy targets and some were at the levels of the sublime. It's easy to vilify George Bush and Bill Clinton, as for the past sixteen years, the two were in charge of overseeing the economy.
For the second year in a row, the descendants of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil (the company that became Exxon Mobil Corp.) have backed a resolution demanding the company loosen fossil fuel’s hold as its main source of revenue, as well as move more ambitiously into renewable energy technologies.
President Obama conducted his "Stimulus Package" tour last week, traveling across the country touting the need to act quickly and pass the bill through Congress. One of the stops along the way was Elkhart Indiana, a place where the recession has been felt as hard as anywhere in the nation.
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