GlobeSt.com: What are some of the key strategies to promote sustainability?

Hassani: Occupant health as well as energy savings and longevity. A healthy employee uses less sick days. Americans on average spend 90% of their time indoors, where often pollutant levels are two to five times higher than the outdoors. It is the materials we place into our environments that have the greatest impact on our health and one of the first places we should look to improve.

Most people are aware of the dangers of off-gassing, as such more manufacturers are providing products with low volatile organic compounds (VOCs). High concentrations of VOCs are known to cause a number of health problems, over the long term.

When judging the impact of a material, it's important to look not just at its use within the space, but the health impacts of a material throughout the lifecycle of the product, from cradle to grave. PVC is a prime example. It's a material used in every area of a project. While it poses no health concern within a building, its life after waste is what is of concern. PVC never fully breaks down, but gets ground over time into smaller and smaller particles where it works its way into the ecosystem: plankton ingest the particles, fish eat the plankton, and we eat the fish. This is a simplified description, but at each stage the buildup of the chemicals increases exponentially, permeating the food that we ingest. To combat the pollutants in our indoor environment, it is important to ensure a high quality air system and return is installed that can take advantage of high levels of natural air intake to maintain a healthy work space.

Implementing large amounts of daylight and using efficient fixtures and systems can lead to less total costs and lower operational running costs for the life of a space. Greater savings in the long run can be achieved in sustainable design at often no more cost than traditional materials and fixtures. Most of the savings and efficiency can be achieved by selecting alternatives early in a project that provide the benefits desired, with the only real investment being the research into proper equipment. Through the use of occupant/daylight sensors and task lighting, a comfortable space can also be an efficient space.

GlobeSt.com: What is the Living Building Challenge?

Hassani: The Living Building Challenge is a green building certification program that defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today, and acts to diminish the gap between current limits and ideal solutions. It is the next step in sustainable measurement, leveraging many of the principals in LEED to go above and beyond those requirements. The goal is to push sustainability to the highest levels, with the end goal of a true net zero building. A building that not only balances out its energy consumption with renewable energy, but the total material and energy that was input into the building. Our team recently implemented this program for a major technology user that is focused on taking this standard across its entire portfolio.

Projects that achieve this level of performance can claim to be the 'greenest' anywhere, and will serve as role models for others that follow. Since the start of the Living Building Challenge in 2006, over 70 projects have registered for Living Building Certification. To achieve this rating, a Living Building must generate all of its own energy through clean, renewable resources; capture and treat its own water through ecologically sound techniques; incorporate only nontoxic, appropriately sourced materials; and operate efficiently and for maximum beauty.

GlobeSt.com: How does this support the CRE's commitment to sustainability?

Hassani: While some projects represent a greater challenge to fully incorporate all the requirements that fall within the Living Building Challenge, it provides goals that today's corporate real estate executive should strive to achieve in their projects. It also provides important long-term benchmarks we can use to create design solutions that continue to push us and the industry as to what we can do to further sustainability in the built environment.