NATURAL CAPITALISM

The text presents 'green development' as a superior paradigm for real estate, demonstrating through case studies that integrating passive design, high-efficiency technology, and human-centric planning reduces costs and increases financial returns. It highlights the economic benefits of improved labor productivity due to better indoor environments and argues that current market incentives for architects and developers are 'perverse' because they reward inefficiency. The document details specific technical innovations in lighting, insulation, and appliances, while advocating for 'New Urbanism' to reduce infrastructure costs and restore community vitality.

• Green buildings can significantly reduce energy consumption and capital costs; efficient new structures typically save between 70% and 90% of traditional energy use and often several percent in capital costs.
• Improved indoor environments in green buildings lead to measurable gains in labor productivity, typically ranging from 6% to 16%, which can provide a greater bottom-line benefit than direct energy savings.
• Conventional architectural and engineering compensation structures create 'perverse incentives' by rewarding designers based on the cost of the building or equipment specified, which discourages the elimination of costly, inefficient hardware.
• Passive design strategies, such as optimizing a building's physical shape and orientation to leverage solar gain and deflect unwanted heat, can save approximately one-third of a building's energy use at no additional cost.
• The use of 'superwindows'—which employ thin coatings and gas fillings like krypton—can insulate four and a half to twelve times better than standard double-glazed windows, enabling some buildings to maintain comfort without active heating or cooling in temperatures from -47 to 115°F.
• Recycling existing buildings and materials is more energy-efficient than using new sustainable materials because it preserves the 'embodied energy' required for original production.
• Urban forestry and the use of light-colored surfaces to mitigate 'urban heat islands' could potentially reduce Los Angeles's cooling loads by 20% and smog by 12%, saving over $500 million annually.
• Adopting 'New Urbanism' and neotraditional layouts—such as narrower streets and natural drainage swales—reduces infrastructure costs and increases property values compared to traditional suburban sprawl.
• Advanced appliance technologies, including Energy Star labels and 'fuzzy-logic' sensors, can save U.S. households approximately 30% of their energy bills.

APA

RMI (n.d.). NATURAL CAPITALISM. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter5.pdf

Chicago

RMI. NATURAL CAPITALISM. n.d. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter5.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=NATURAL CAPITALISM |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter5.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmindnatural, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{NATURAL CAPITALISM}}, institution = {RMI}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter5.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }