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Building Services Engineering l March/April 2020
OPINION
Are building certifications ‘greenwashing’ the energyefficiency industry? With so many industry buzzwords and certifications, it’s increasingly hard to distinguish between what are, and are not, relevant environmental credentials. We are all aware of the buzzwords. There are green and healthy buildings, zerocarbon buildings and the Living Building Challenge, which are backed up by certifications such as LEED, BREEM, GRESB, ISO50001 and WELL. While these green strategies have their origin in well-meaning environmental causes, a certain “greenwashing” has muddied the waters, writes Gavin Doyle, Operations Manager, Acutrace, (gavin@acutrace.com)
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The term greenwashing was coined in the 1980s in response to companies making bold claims about their environmental credentials. Over 30 years later, the phrase is back, but this time greenwashing has become a lot more convincing due to the amount of green policies which a company can pretend to adopt. Also, people are more ready to spend a premium on green products in order to support mainstream concerns for the environment. Now, this false message of selling a green product or service has predominantly migrated into commercial buildings. These “attributes” range from the material ingredients and toxicity to identifying material extraction, damage to local ecostructures and the environment, and the actual performance of the building itself regarding energy and water consumption. With 600 rating tools available, it’s not only daunting to quantify what these mean, it’s also more possible than ever to be misled by ambiguity in the industry. Certainly, some companies are investing in energy monitoring solutions as a“tick-box” exercise to achieve an energy efficiency standard, primarilly at the construction stage of a building. Most certifications will have a minimum requirement of monitoring main energy and water meters, and additional points can be achieved from metering at sub-distribution boards and branch circuits. Yet, certain
developers found an easy way out by installing energy meters which are connected directly to terminals with no data being collected. However, the “box is ticked“. Why invest in building certification? There are many social and economic impacts of going green. Such buildings create a more productive workplace for occupants and therefore help with the mitigation of climate change. Green buildings also see benefits for corporate reputation while the building itself has lower volatility in the market, thus allowing for higher rent. How to identify greenwash Potential tenants of a green building should look at the building holistically. For example, does the property manager have direct employees responsible for reducing energy consumption? Do they hire a third-party consultant to advise them? If the answer is yes to either question, then that is a good sign. Landlords are not greenwashing if they have invested in the development and implementation of energy management procedures. Furthermore, if an organisation believes energy management is the responsibility of everyone in their building – and is guided and supported by the facility, property or energy manager – then that is another good sign. Also, companies that have bought into being green will assess their energy performance through energy monitoring software and share energy consumption data with all employees. From the data collected they will create and implement an energy plan to achieve their energy goals. Adopting a green strategy For any organisation adopting a green strategy, the logical step is investing in energy monitoring software that will measure all utilities from main meters
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