The absence of the next version of the Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system did not at all seem to dampen GreenBuild
which held in San Francisco from November 10-17 2012. GreenBuild is the world’s
largest conference about green buildings and is organized each year in November
by the US Green Building Council (USGBC). The LEED rating system administered
by the USGBC is now prevalent in several countries including India and a new
version is released every third year. 2012 was originally planned to be one of
those years.
Among a multitude of themes, what emerged as a consensus was
the importance of political will which is required to make the world greener. The
opening plenary which included over 30,000 attendees was addressed by a series
of leaders: from politicians to the CEO of twitter. Another interesting topic that
emerged was related to the recent hurricane Sandy. Experts believe the hurricanes
have recently increased in their intensity and frequency due to climate change.
Energy-security was also discussed extensively. Technological
advancements have afforded exploration of gas and oil resources that were inaccessible earlier.
However, the overall feeling for green building professionals was optimistic. Experts
shared their vision on how green could still remain attractive in an environment
where fuel security is of less concern than it used to be a few years
earlier. Synergies between economics,
finance and green development were projected as the emerging trends. Various aspects
of real estate, in particular, were discussed in detail. Green leasing,
maintenance, development and ownership of green properties and, case studies of
successful green real estate projects and were presented.
realism.IN closely tracks the developments at GreenBuild. Green
real estate is one of the major focus areas at realism.IN. In addition to
developing India-focused educational module on sustainable real estate,
realism.IN is soon to launch an affordable preparatory module for IGBC AP exam
preparation. The module contains a 1-hour lecture video, mock online exam (with
scores and answers) and other relevant materials. In addition, realism.IN researchers
have also been actively involved in
scientific research about green real estate. For example, a recent paper
(published in the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate) by a realism.IN
researcher argues that green rentals may act as a hedge against bad economic
conditions. IN addition, realism.IN has also produced several white papers
related to sustainability.
