5 Proven Policies to Bail Out Mother Nature and Boost Green Building

 

Even as the Federal government invests in energy efficiency and conservation, by announcing the award of $3.2 billion in block grants (including $1.9 billion to cities and counties) last Friday, environmental leaders are looking ahead and pushing for more sweeping action — calling on a “climate bailout” in today’s NYTimes Op-Ed.

You heard it — a climate bailout.

Friedman’s op-ed shares the perspective of Hal Harvey, head of ClimateWorks, about his five top policy picks that would help the US to decisively address the energy-climate challenge that we’re only just starting to collectively understand.

The main point about all of these suggestions is that they already are in place somewhere, so they’re proven. No need to reinvent the wheel.

We like thinking about how commercial real estate capital markets would view real estate risk and returns of green buildings if these policy recommendations actually became national laws.

But first, here they are:

1. Building codes: California’s Title 24 saves Californians $6 billion per year via higher standards for building energy efficiency.
2. Vehicle fuel efficiency: The European Union’s fuel efficiency standard averages 41  miles per gallon.
3. Nationwide renewable portfolio standard: He favors a mandate that utilities be required to buy 15 to 20 percent of their energy from renewables by 2020.
4. Decoupling: Already working in California, power utilities make money by helping people to save energy rather than by encouraging them to consume it.
5. Charge for carbon: People should not be allowed to pollute for free.

Of course, the article enjoys the luxury of an op-ed; it does not map out how anyone will pay for any of these policies’ upfront costs. Or how long it would really take for any of these ideas to be adopted nationally.

Nonetheless, for the commercial real estate community, the fact that most of these policies are already being implemented in some form already, should mean that they can spread a bit easier than many might think.

And if a real estate investor has not prepared by adjusting their overall strategy and retrofitting their existing buildings to as good a standard as possible, more forces are very hard at work to eventually make their existing property business obsolete.

Photo credit: Flickr/Lolliepop