Posted: January 23rd, 2008 | Author: mfguide | Filed under: Finance | No Comments »
Greener Buildings has a good interview with Leanne Tobias at Malachite about the financing of sustainable projects. Tobias shares some useful information about the state of the commercial real estate market (CRE) in the fall/winter of 2007 and highlights some useful, if known, ways to improve energy efficiency. The nut graf, however is this section:
GreenBiz: OK. So after I’ve checked for incentives and when I go to my bank, what am I going to have to have on hand to show them?
Leanne Tobias: What you are going to probably have to have on hand is, first of all, a fairly detailed plan for what improvements you hope to undertake, the cost of the improvements, an energy audit which shows your existing energy use and your likely decrease in energy use after the installation of the improvements.
And then, most important, on the financial side, the lender is going to want to see that the cash flow from the building or some other form of cash flow is sufficient to repay the loan. So that part of it is analogous to what is asked for, for any commercial refinancing.
But in regard to some of the newer technologies that a developer might want to utilize, such as solar technologies or geothermal technologies, I think that the banking institution should be made comfortable with the improvements, the ease of installation and the likely effectiveness of the improvements after installation.
This is the challenge: no one really knows how much these initiatives can save. Municipalities and states are increasingly favoring projects with some sustainable effort, whether through faster plan review, extra points in the Qualified Application Process (QAP) for tax credit housing, or by mandating some type of LEED certification for buildings over ‘X’ square feet. The lenders I know still haven’t figured out exactly how to underwrite the benefits of operational savings, use of sustainable materials, or improved energy efficiency. To put it another way, Energy Star appliances cost more. On a 30 year, fixed rate mortgage, you have to offset that increased cost with savings on your utility bills.
Because these benefits are hard to quantify, there’s plenty of greenwashing in the financial industry. I’m looking at you Bank of America, and you, Enterprise. Which isn’t to disparage the efforts of these lending institutions, merely to point out that much of their contributions come in the form of investments previously committed or in the form of grants, which don’t directly help projects achieve financial sustainability. In the financial world, we know how to underwrite rents, we don’t know how to underwrite low-e windows.
More info to come as we explore the financing of sustainable projects.
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 | Author: mfguide | Filed under: Conferences | No Comments »
What we hope will be a regular feature, conferences of some interest to housing and/or sustainability.
Mostly commercial structures:
Cost Efficient Sustainable Buildings
14-15 April 2008 — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Agenda
Renewable Energy:
Financing Renewable Energy Conference, Sponsored by Novogradac
1-2 May 2008 — San Francisco, California
13-14 November 2008 — Washington, DC
Affordable Housing
ACI Home Performance Conference 2008, Sponsored by Enterprise Community Partners
7-11 April 2008 — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Agenda
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 | Author: mfguide | Filed under: Resources, Sustainability | No Comments »
Long past timely, the Eastern Village Cohousing Condominium won the EDC 2005 Excellence in Design for Multi-family, LEED Silver, and the NAHB Green Project of the Year: Luxury Multi-family. Previously a mid-century office building, the developers retained nearly 75 percent of the shell and reduced impervious materials by 30 percent.
This is an impresive project deserving of its notice. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that the EDC honorable mentions were mostly abroad.
“Notable sustainable materials, products and systems include:
- All appliances throughout the building were ENERGY STAR qualified including clothes washers and dishwashers
- All exterior wood is treated with non-CCA preservatives
- All native and/or adaptive plants
- American Hydrotech Extensive Garden Roof
- Cardinal Low-E coated glass provides added insulation and reduces solar heat gain, and energy-efficient interior fluorescent lighting with electronic ballasts
- Cyclone XHE Water Heaters (98 percent thermal efficiency) manufactured by A.O. Smith Water Products Co. Each unit has its own FHP Manufacturing Simple Comfort Model #3801 programmable thermostat
- Duron Genesis Oder-free latex paints (local source and zero-VOC paint used on all interiors)
- Existing concrete ceiling was painted
- Flooring includes Hawa bamboo flooring, Patcraft Net Lingo carpet, Mohawk Alladin Westin Hill carpet, Forbo Linoleum, Armstrong linoleum
- Geothermal Heat Pumps from Florida Heat Pumps that utilize a ground source heat exchanger to reject the heat from the heat pumps ion cooling mode
- Green Lee Lighting VBS Bollard exterior lighting
- Homecrest cabinets and all interior doors were from local sources
- Niagara Earth Massage Shower Head (1.75 GPM), bathroom lavatory features 1.5 GPM aerators
- U.S. Gypsum drywall contains 5 percent post-consumer recycled content and 14 percent post-industrial recycled content, Dietrich metal studs contain 64 percent post-industrial recycled content
- Walls feature Fiberglass R11 5-inch batt insulation manufactured by Knauf and the roof has 3-inch thick extruded polystyrene manufactured by Dow.”
Eastern Village Cohousing Condominium
Posted: January 23rd, 2008 | Author: mfguide | Filed under: Finance, Resources | No Comments »
New green construction is not a typical focus here because its use for affordable housing is rarely feasible. Nevertheless, you may find yourself working on a greenfield construction project. In that case, take a look at the Eco-Calculator from the Athena Institute.
Eco-calculator
http://www.athenasmi.ca/tools/ecoCalculator/
Posted: January 15th, 2008 | Author: mfguide | Filed under: Resources | No Comments »
“After more than eight months of intense deliberations between Congress and bulb manufacturers, environmental groups and other parties, a law that requires light bulbs to become more energy efficient became part of the energy bill that President Bush signed into law on Dec. 19.
Over a three-year period beginning in 2012, all new bulbs will have to use 25 percent to 30 percent less energy for the same light output as today’s typical incandescent bulbs. Given that the vast majority of bulbs now on the market that meet those standards are compact fluorescents, which use 70 percent less energy and last 6 to 10 times longer than incandescents, Americans may have little choice but to accept them as part of the future.”
Any Other Bright Ideas? (NYT 10 Jan 2008)
I’m using CFL at all of my properties for a variety of reasons. The lower energy cost is obviously attractive and I can provide more light with less energy. On interior hallways I’m replacing 60w sconces with two 15w CFL and adding motion detectors for those wee hours of the night when not a creature is stirring. The most important benefit is that service teams do not spend one afternoon per week replacing light bulbs. A full afternoon for ‘make work’ more than offsets the expense of the initial light purchase.
Posted: January 15th, 2008 | Author: mfguide | Filed under: Foolishness | No Comments »
Why are there so few multi-family green projects? These projects are harder to build, more expensive to construct, and when units are offered for sale, generally target higher-income buyers than single-family homes. There is also the matter of general unease about multi-family projects attracting the ‘wrong element’ and reducing property values. Others can fight those myths.
This article in the Columbus Dispatch discusses not only the replacement of a 161-unit multi-family property with 30 single family homes, but also outlines the subsidies in place to reduce the density:
1. $260,000 land donation from Columbus to non-profit developer.
2. $390,000 donation from Columbus for roadway and sidewalk improvements.
3. $850,000 donation from Columbus for detention pond and drainage improvements.
4. 15-year 100% tax abatement for homeowners.
So there you have it — 30 single family green homes replacing 161 apartments for a $1.5 million subsidy.
City sprouting green homes
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