Green buildings offer great potential to help communities move towards sustainability. New technologies, materials, knowledge, and ratings systems, such as the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s LEED™ Green Building Rating System and BREEAM™ (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), are helping to support the development of green buildings in the Canada and around the World. However, relative to the entire building market in Canada, there are a small number of green buildings and the adoption of green building practices by the industry is slow.

The assumption that the first price premium for green buildings is too high is likely one reason for this slow progress. Current literature provides good information on the performance of green buildings but only provides minimal data on the economic aspects. The State of California commissioned a report in 2003, The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings, in which the authors conclude that a small upfront premium (over the first price of conventional construction) can result in ten-fold savings of over the life of the building. Additional literature (Romm and Browning (1994); Cole (2000)) indicates that integrating the design process is key to bringing down the price of green buildings.

Although there is now credible information from the United States on the economic benefits of green buildings, similar data is not as readily available or accessible in Canada.

The purpose of this research to examine the economics of green buildings in Canada, and to confirm or confute the general assumption that green buildings are too expensive.

The three objectives of this research are:

1. To develop criteria for green buildings based on existing tools, and create an
   inventory of Canadian green buildings (based on the criteria);
2. To develop a framework for the economic evaluation of green buildings in Canada; and
3. To determine the economic benefits of green buildings in Canada, from a sample of
   case study buildings.

The scope of this research encompasses new commercial and institutional (C&I) buildings, or C&I buildings that undergo extensive renovation involving modifications to the building structure or envelope.

For a preliminary list of green buildings in Canada, please click here.

Royal Roads University
Science, Technology & Environment Division
edialogues@royalroads.ca