Green Building

Do Green Buildings Cost More?

While green buildings can cost more, studies have shown that in many cases green buildings actually don't cost more. Cost premiums can be minimized and even eliminated through integrated planning and design. If you're planning a green building project, involve the entire project team early in the process, and be sure that green goals are established from the start.

Several cost-benefit analyses show that green buildings can save money compared to traditional buildings over the life of the building, due to increased occupant productivity and reduced resource costs.

What are the Costs and Benefits of Green Building?

"The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A Report to California's Sustainable Building Task Force," finds that an upfront investment of less than two percent of construction costs yields building life-cycle savings of over ten times the initial investment.

• Full Report (Adobe PDF, 3.1 MB)
• Executive Summary (Adobe PDF, 174 KB)

"Costing Green: A Comprehensive Cost Database and Budgeting Methodology," shows that costs of both green and conventional building projects vary widely, and many green building projects achieve improved environmental performance within the project budget. The report concludes that there is no significant difference in cost between LEED and non-LEED projects that can be attributed solely to achieving LEED certification: many other factors contribute to projects being over budget.

• Costing Green (Adobe PDF, 3.1 MB)

The U.S. General Services Adminstration (GSA) recently published a cost study which shows that LEED certification can be achieved for very small cost premiums for large office building construction projects.

• GSA LEED Cost Study (Adobe PDF, 3.79 MB)