Why Build Green? Case Studies

The document highlights several green building projects that achieved significant energy savings and financial gains. Examples include the Sydney 2000 Olympic Village with its large-scale integrated photovoltaics, Village Homes in California which reduced household bills by one-half to one-third, and the Condé-Nast Building in New York, the first large-scale speculative green office building in the US. These projects demonstrate that sustainable design—such as passive heating/cooling, ground-source heat pumps, and efficient land use—can lead to higher property values, lower operating costs, and increased market demand.

• The Sydney 2000 Olympic Village in New South Wales featured one of the world's largest building-integrated photovoltaic systems, with many homes generating 1 kW of electricity each to study the effects of distributed electrical generation on the grid.
• Village Homes in Davis, California, achieved lower annual household bills (one-half to one-third lower than neighbors) through solar-oriented design and reduced infrastructure costs, such as saving $800 per lot via natural drainage systems.
• The Condé-Nast Building at Four Times Square in New York City is the first large-scale speculative green office building in the US, utilizing fuel cells, gas absorption chillers, and spandrel glass photovoltaics to generate power during peak demand.
• Mixed-use urban redevelopment projects in Vancouver and Denver demonstrated that green design can reduce marketing costs and operating expenses; the Vancouver project saw 85% of spaces pre-leased or pre-sold, while the Denver Dry Goods Building saves $75,000 annually in operating expenses.
• A residential project completed in 1992 used whole-system design to cut energy use by over 75% by eliminating major mechanical equipment like furnaces and air conditioning through passive heating and cooling.

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} }