The amount of energy needed to light, cool, heat and keep commercial buildings running is estimated at 18 quads annually, producing 1.05 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, according to the DOE. That means the estimated 75 billion square feet of commercial floor space is responsible for 18% of the entire nation's greenhouse gas emissions. Closer to home, analysis from New York City's 2007 carbon inventory showed that 58 million tons of carbon emissions were produced each year, with 79% of that coming from buildings.

Chamberlain and other executives extol the financial benefits of a clearly growing energy movement. They say the recessed economy is actually a reason to look forward, noting the increased dollar values of energy efficient buildings that in turn are higher producing.

"It creates more value back to the owners, it creates more value back to the tenants and it drives value across the economy and as this all happens, we're ultimately going to create some green jobs," Chamberlain tells GlobeSt.com. He adds that the combination of market innovation, incentives and blending of interests will create the change.

[IMGCAP(2)]For its part, the DOE will act as integrator by bringing the real estate players together, Drury B. Crawley, team leader of commercial buildings R&D at the department, tells GlobeSt.com. He says DOE will "open its ears and listen to find out exactly what works in the marketplace, what the needs are," and will then direct resources and technical experts at the national labs to help solve existing problems and forward effective innovation into fruition.

Crawley says the slow economy is a good time to be focused on adding the value of green to existing properties. "For so long, when the economy was booming, developers were putting up buildings as quickly as they could, since they were going to make money on them no matter what," he says. Now, with the slower economy, they're beginning to step back and look at greening, because energy is important, energy is dollars."

Noting that cap and trade is very high on President Barack Obama's agenda, Crawley says we're going to see something related to carbon and energy on Capitol Hill this year. With that said, participants at the 7 WTC meeting tell GlobeSt.com it's vital to not only identify what technology is working, but also what doesn't work.

Karen W. Panfield, BOMA's VP of advocacy, says the meeting's owner/landlord attendees observed that the biggest barrier was not technology, but how best to educate tenants about their role in energy efficiency and sustainability. "We have to connect them to this issue," she tells GlobeSt.com. "We can do that in a number of ways, with leases and incentives." However, she adds, a landlord can't force tenants to recycle or turn out the lights when they leave a room.

"One of the things we're working on is existing building stock and incentives to retrofit many of those buildings that aren't energy efficient now," Penafiel tells GlobeSt.com. Citing the $500 million in national stimulus funds that have been allocated for green jobs, Crawley says "we're trying to direct some of that money to training within the building industry, because that's where the greening is going to happen. We've talked to a lot of the players, and there's a lack of skilled technicians to service equipment or make sure it's built and running correctly."

Calling the meeting at 7 WTC "wonderful," Vrkic tells GlobeSt.com that "as people find out about these alliances, they will grow, and the commercial real estate community will begin to access the information that the Department of Energy has to share with them."