Green Buildings Could Mean Healthier Employees
The mainstream attention to green business practices may be a new phenomenon, but the reason for it is as old as time – increased evidence that green business practices mean a net benefit to the bottom line. That evidence can come from surprising places. The Portland Office of Sustainable Development (OSD) has relocated their offices from the Portland Building, often criticized as dark and moldy, to the LEED gold-certified Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center (also known as the Ecotrust Building). Since the move, sick days among OSD employees have dropped 30%.
This anecdotal evidence of an unexpected economic benefit of green building is worth a more systematic study. If the OSD's results hold true, companies located in healthy buildings will see increased productivity and, eventually, lower health insurance costs as insurance companies begin to take notice. Also, to the extent those healthy buildings are also energy efficient, that means less money sent out of the region for energy costs and instead available to boost the local economy, all to the benefit of those same local businesses.
Posted by David J. Petersen, partner practicing in the Sustainability and Real Estate & Land Use Practice Groups.
