Why Build Green? Case Studies

This RMI fact sheet presents several case studies of green building projects across residential, commercial, and urban redevelopment sectors, highlighting the economic and environmental benefits of sustainable design, such as energy savings, increased property value, and reduced marketing costs.

• The Newington Sydney 2000 Olympic Village in New South Wales utilized an abandoned munitions depot restored to native savanna to house 15,000 athletes and coaches. The project featured one of the world's largest building-integrated photovoltaic systems, with many homes generating 1 kW of electricity via roof-integrated PV systems financed by the NSW Sustainable Energy Development Authority. Market demand has been high, with houses originally priced at U.S.$180,000 later selling for $223,000.
• Village Homes in Davis, California, a 70-acre planned community built in 1981, achieved annual household bills one-half to one-third lower than surrounding neighborhoods through solar-optimized design. The project implemented narrow streets that lowered ambient air temperature by 15˚ and natural drainage systems that saved $800 per lot. Original investors saw a 30 percent annual profit, and by 1995, homes sold for $10–$25 per square foot above market rate.
• Urban redevelopment projects in Vancouver and Denver demonstrated that green design can reduce marketing costs and increase asset value. A mixed-use project at 2211 West 4th Street in Vancouver achieved 40-percent energy savings and saw 85 percent of spaces pre-leased or pre-sold due to positive press, saving several hundred thousand dollars in marketing. The Denver Dry Goods Building in Colorado saved $75,000 annually in operating expenses and increased its capitalized value by $750,000.
• The Condé-Nast Building at Four Times Square in New York City is the first large-scale speculative green office building in the United States. It incorporates fuel cells, gas absorption chillers, and photovoltaics integrated into spandrel glass to generate power during peak electrical demand. The project utilized an energy-related performance-based compensation experiment where the design team shares in energy savings.
• A residential project completed in 1992 used whole-system design to cut energy use by more than 75 percent, eliminating the need for a furnace and air conditioning by remaining entirely passively heated and cooled.

APA

RMI (2005). Why Build Green? Case Studies. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_D02-14_WhyBuildGreen.pdf

Chicago

RMI. Why Build Green? Case Studies. 2005. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_D02-14_WhyBuildGreen.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Why Build Green? Case Studies |date=17 October 2005 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_D02-14_WhyBuildGreen.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2005why, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Why Build Green? Case Studies}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2005}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_D02-14_WhyBuildGreen.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }