Dr. Forgey told us a few quotes from Peter Drucker. "Doing the right thing" and "doing things right." Each of these represent different things. The first one represents effectiveness and leadership. The second one represents efficiency and management. Both are needed to have sustainability. These were just some examples on how to describe the different words that make up sustainability.
Our next discussion of the night was about office buildings. The first part of the conversation talked about what helps worker satisfaction and productivity when laying out a building. Many things were brought up such as lots of windows, good building amenities, good ventilation, or even giving employees comfortable chairs to sit in while working. Next we talked about flexibility in office space. To me this is very important because you are looking toward the future and what can be used in that space. A way this is happening now is that buildings are having less 4 walled rooms and having a lot more cubicles. Also buildings are being formatted so the tiles on the ground can be lifted up and wiring can be changed or plug ins can be put in different spots. Another thing about flexible space that is not thought about as much is financing maybe easier to come by and you might get better lease rates.
A long and very interesting trend we talked about was what is happening with regional malls. A lot of them have been shutting down. The question was asked why? A trend that has been seen in this real estate market is eye catching. While regional malls are trying to stay afloat a new type of shopping experience has popped up. It is called the town center. It has all the same stores as a mall, but has a little different atmosphere. At the town center you walk outside to get to each store unlike the the regional mall which is all air conditioned. The town center in a way is taking shopping back to the beginning where all shopping was downtown and you had to walk to every store. There are many views on why things are changing but one good answer was that the demographics are changing and are making shopping centers keep up with what the customers want.
A big development in real estate in just the past few years is LEED certification. It is changing the way things are constructed and remodeled. The different articles talked about during class touched on how big corporations are wanting these LEED certified buildings. Corporations want these buildings for two main reasons. A big one is the marketing aspect. It shows that the company cares about the environment and wants to do something to change the way business has been done. The other big reason for the demand of these buildings is it saves a lot of energy costs for the companies. Many energy companies in Houston are at the fore front of wanting these buildings. Many other companies are coming together in groups to have buildings that are LEED certified.
LEED certification is in such popular demand. LEED has come very far from where it started. A few years ago if you were LEED accredited, it was a luxury. These days to many people being LEED certified is a necessity. LEED increases its standards every year because the association looks at new technologies that come out. LEED is a big deal, even the Chinese have LEED and standards that they follow. That is just the tip of the iceberg of where LEED is going. The Chinese really had to do something because their air quality was so poor. Since they have realized that there are ways to be greener, they have been leaders in producing solar panels and windmills. A big road block for LEED certification is lenders. What needs to be done is that lenders need to be educated about why LEED is important.
The last conversation we talked about was about what extent should the United States government play in making the U.S. green. Much legislation has already been produced which are making people become greener. This is a very touchy subject because the government could get too big and not know where to stop. Many good things came out of our conversations that would be good for green such as having all business locations and their electric bills posted for people to see. Also, if you had something in your house that showed how much you were spending that minute, hour, day, etc. on electricity it would help people to probably conserve more.
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