The Cost Benefits of Green Construction
This study will focus on green or sustainable construction and whether its initial extra cost has a long term benefit. Green construction is an alternative to traditional construction that uses environmentally friendly materials and methods to complete a building project. This is a relatively new trend that has recently entered the industry in the wake of a more environmentally conscious public. Green construction makes efforts to limit the negative impact of construction and also helps boost the image for the company. In order to see whether or not green construction has long term financial benefits, data from different buildings was collected in a case study. The data collected focused on energy efficiency of a green building compared to a traditional building. Calculations were made to determine the length of time needed for the initial investment put into a green building to be returned. The results suggested that green buildings were on average 30% more energy efficient with a cost premium of approximately 2%. The study found that return time for initial investment varied according to building but suggested an average of about 5-15 years. The risks that arose from green building came from uncertainty of building performance and technology reliability.
School:
Texas A & M University
Department:
Business & Management
Research Advisor:
Ruth Aguilera
Department of Research Advisor:
Business Administration
Year of Publication:
2008