Today’s Herald article on the Green Building Movement strikes me as an interesting coincidence. This weekend I had a meeting with a well-informed development analyst. One of the topics of our discussion was the Green Building Movement and Miami’s lackluster role in it. Although I am not skeptical of the movement’s long-term benefits for unit owners, I am regarding the receptibility of it for local builders and large corporations. Going Green involves relatively higher building and engineering costs for the developer. In addition, most buyers are not fully aware as to the benefits of a Green or LEED certified building. The overall goal of going green is to build self-sustainable, environmentally-sound, and less costly to maintain buildings: all of the aforementioned being longterm benefits. Given the track record of hasty developer pullouts, assuming that they will be moved by these long term benefits is, well, hard for me to do. Still, after this weekend’s discussion and an exchange of valuable information, I’ve determined to look into the matter deeper. (to be continued…)
Good luck. You might find insipration on my blog Greenbricks
Indian and South African cities are setting the pace as well
http://greenbricks.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/green-office-building-movement-is-global/