Thurs. July 24, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC – The Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) has released a new leadership paper, “Greening Downtown DC: Strategies for Protecting the Planet, People and Profit,” which highlights the organization’s efforts to make Downtown DC more environmentally sustainable.
Downtown DC is poised to become one of the nation’s most environmentally sustainable places and the Downtown BID has launched the comprehensive “Greening Downtown DC” initiative ( www.downtowndc.org/green) to make the Downtown BID area more competitive and attractive to a host of stakeholders, including investors, businesses and employees. This effort consists of programs and services where the Downtown BID serves as a facilitator and a catalyst by forming partnerships to undertake research, establish benchmarks, communicate information and convene training sessions.
The Downtown BID’s greening initiative targets four interrelated areas: 1) greening new and existing buildings, 2) educating tenants on green best practices, 3) improving public spaces and 4) enhancing transportation options.
“Focusing on the triple bottom line of environmental protection, social responsibility and economic viability makes perfect sense,” says Richard Bradley, executive director of the Downtown BID. “It’s not only the right thing to do, but it pays dividends—from healthy work places that foster employee productivity to green collar jobs that create new employment opportunities, to green buildings that achieve above-market rents. Everyone benefits, and the implications for our cities are dynamic.”
The Leadership Paper, the third in the Downtown BID’s occasional series of working papers to foster dialogue about critical issues relating to Downtown Washington’s economic, social and physical environment, lists several factors behind Downtown’s move toward greater sustainability. They include rising energy costs creating immediate demand for greater energy efficiency and new technologies to control costs, DC government concerns about global warming and pollution proliferation, and demands by tenants to have sustainable office buildings and, thus, healthy work places.
“Our goal is to encourage green buildings—buildings designed, built, renovated and operated in an ecological and resource-efficient way,” says Matt Klein, chairman of the Downtown BID Board of Directors and president of Akridge, a full-service commercial real estate firm.
Among some of the paper’s highlights:
- The Downtown BID recognizes that office buildings are the city’s greatest carbon emitters and has pledged to help reduce carbon emissions by 71 million pounds in the Downtown BID area by 2009, which also will lead to annual energy cost savings of about $4 million.
- The Downtown BID tracks all 2,500 trees within the Downtown BID area using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to monitor their condition because the daily urban stress of construction, small growing spaces, elevated temperatures, pedestrians and vehicles challenge trees’ ability to thrive. Healthy trees can have far-reaching effects on air quality.
- The Downtown BID works to increase public transportation options and reduce congestion on Downtown streets which forces vehicles to idle for long periods, adding to carbon emissions and delaying goods and passenger delivery.
- The Downtown BID partners with the DC Department of Public Works (DPW) and the American Beverage Association to create a six-month pilot program that places 25 blue recycling cans throughout the BID area.
- The Downtown BID area had 173 Energy Star-rated buildings in the 1st Quarter (1Q) 2008, versus 136 for all of 2007 and 97 for 2006. A rated property is one that has been benchmarked using the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star Portfolio Manager, the industry standard for measuring and tracking energy use and carbon emissions.
- The Downtown BID area had 17 Energy Star-labeled buildings in the 1st Quarter (1Q) 2008, versus 16 in all of 2007 and 12 in 2006. A labeled property is one that receives the highest Energy Star rating if it obtains a 75 or higher rating, completes reporting requirements and has a certified engineer conduct an audit.
- The Downtown BID-area has several property owners and management firms, including Hines, Akridge and the Willard InterContinental Hotel, that already use best practices to help reduce energy costs by 10% to 30%.
Says Bradley: “The Downtown BID will continue to do what it does best on behalf of stakeholders: convene roundtables, disseminate best practices, expand partnerships with various government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private companies to promote the Downtown BID area as a green leader.”
For copies of the leadership paper, please contact Scott Pomeroy at 202.661.7580 or greening@downtowndc.org. The report is also available on the Downtown BID’s website at www.downtowndc.org/leadership.