The Effectiveness and Equitable Distribution of Eco-certified Buildings in Georgia

Ansel Ahabue-Itua

August 2, 2024

Motivation: Green buildings as a climate solution

• Buildings: 70% of electricity use, 40% of energy consumption, ~ one-third of emitted CO2 in America
• Retrofitting – a climate solution
• Green building qualities:
• innovative design and modest consumption
• Positive for CO2, energy + water consumption, public health
• Most common certifications: LEED, Energy Star

​

Source: U.S. Green Building Council/Wikimedia Commons

Backing green stacks more greenbacks: what that means for equity

​

• Owners motivated to renovate, certify green buildings through extrinsic and intrinsic factors
• Less costly operations, higher rents, greater occupancy rates
• Lack of “push” factors into lower-income communities (long-term benefits)
• Low-income communities left behind?

Atlanta’s Building Space Audit-y: how local governments “LEED” the way

• 2015 – Commercial Energy Efficiency Ordinance
• All commercial buildings >25,000 sq ft must benchmark consumption data for reports
• 2017 – all new city-owned facilities >5,000 sq ft must be LEED NC Silver or higher
• All existing facilities >25,000 sq ft must be LEED O+M through 2027
• Municipal procurement policies: potential as “early adopter”

Testing: Structure of Efficiency, Efficiency of Structures

The Structure of Efficiency and the Efficiency of Structures

• Tract-level logistic regression on Energy Star/LEED buildings
• “Do socioeconomic conditions have effect on green building location?”
• Tract-level linear regression on benchmarked Atlanta buildings
• “Do socioeconomic conditions have impact on reported energy efficiency score?”
• Gini coefficient for certified green building space
• “What proportion of counties has 50 percent of Georgia’s green building space?”

The Structure of Efficiency and the Efficiency of Structures

• Multivariate analysis of variance, dual certified buildings
• “Do high-scoring LEED certified buildings score high with Energy Star too?”
• Multivariate analysis of variance, all benchmarked buildings
• “Are certified green buildings really as energy efficient as they claim?”

3 Ravinia Drive and 191 Peachtree Tower, two dual-certified green office buildings in Georgia (Source: images by Clifflandis and Stanmar, distributed under a CC-BY 1.0/3.0 license.)

Data

​

• Green Building Information Gateway
• Energy Star, LEED websites
• Atlanta Building Efficiency site
• GIS shapefiles (tract, CEJST disadvantaged, county)
• Commercial Buildings Survey, 2019

Source: istockphoto.com

The Structure of Efficiency and the Efficiency of Structures

Socioeconomic factors do have significant and negative effect on whether area has Energy Star and LEED locations (race + poverty + education); more pronounced with commercial buildings

The Structure of Efficiency and the Efficiency of Structures

Surrounding socioeconomic factors have a significant and negative effect on Energy Star score of building; There is a significant positive difference for benchmarked buildings with LEED and Energy Star certification

Gini Coefficient

At 0.37, the top 25% of counties have 50% of green building space in Georgia (bottom)

The counties with the lowest percentage of disadvantaged tracts according to CEJST have the most green building space (top)

The Structure of Efficiency and the Efficiency of Structures

Among dual-certified offices, there was no significant difference in Energy Star scores among LEED certification tiers; high scores in one do not guarantee high scores in the other

Source: EPA. “LEED Certified Homes.”

Beyond Benchmarking: Becoming the Standard

Suggestions:

• Government regulation requiring new multifamily housing to be LEED certified
• Incentives for building green commercial buildings in low-income areas
• Education and information programs – let community take the lead

​

Source: Virginia Organizing. Center for Sustainable Communities.

Thanks! Merci! ¡Gracias! Obrigado! Obulu! Avo! Daalụ! Idupẹ!