Skip to Content

Stanford GSB News

 

Eco-Friendly Buildings Enhance Health and May Save Money

November 2005

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS—From African mud huts fitted with solar panels to eco-friendly high rises in Europe, green buildings are becoming a regular part of the landscape around the world. Ecologically sound building design makes sense not only for the health of the planet but for the health of people—and even the health of the bottom line, according to a panel of professionals associated with green building efforts who spoke at the Stanford Graduate School of Business Nov. 11.

Greg Snowden, owner and founder of Green Fusion Design Center in San Anselmo, Calif., told MBA students and other attendees of the 13th annual Net Impact Conference that green building elements—such as energy and water-saving systems, building supplies using recycled resources, and designs that capitalize on nontoxic materials to improve air quality—are aesthetically pleasing, promote health, and save money over the long term. A home builder who spends an extra 10 percent installing big windows in the south to capture the warmth of the sun and a long roof in the north to help buffer against cold in the winter will see a return on investment in 5 to 10 years in the form of significantly reduced utilities bills, he said.

Building green is also a wise investment for businesses and governmental organizations, Snowden said. "Studies show that green buildings that provide good air quality, for example, increase productivity of workers and reduce absenteeism significantly."

Eco-smart buildings can also in some cases be cheaper to construct, said Ben Klasky, executive director of IslandWood, a 255-acre paradise on Bainbridge Island in Washington state that serves as a living laboratory for teaching inner-city schoolchildren how to be responsible stewards of the earth. "Our main center cost $180 a square foot to build," he said. "In Seattle, new schools go up for $240 a square foot, and office buildings cost even more."

And for that bargain price, Klasky said, IslandWood features state-of-the-art permaculture design elements such as waterless urinals, compost toilets, bamboo floors, countertops made of recycled yogurt containers, a solar-powered electric system, and even a "living machine" in which plants grow and help detoxify the compound's waste water. "Digging a septic system for a new house costs much more than creating a living machine," he said.

Even when buying green means forking out more green, said Snowden, a growing LOHAS market—Lifestyle of the Healthy and Sustainable—is sending the message to developers and designers that consumers are willing to pay for a better quality of life. "Keeping your children healthier is ROI for a parent," he said. "A lot of people are willing to pay $50 a square foot for carpet instead of $10 if it means they don't have to inhale toxic gases from the fibers."

As a building project manager at Stanford University, Laura Goldstein reported that Stanford aims to build green whenever possible. "We evaluate sustainability alongside other building needs and constraints," she said. The Leslie Shao-ming Sun Field Station at Stanford University's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, she said, is a premier example of a building designed to minimize energy consumption and to maximize the use of solar energy. "Our tradeoff was that we spent more on the building and less on the finishes," she said.

Ironically, Goldstein said, Stanford's older, more august buildings, such as those on the Main Quadrangle, are some of the most energy-efficient structures on campus. "The deep-set windows and thick walls provide natural cooling and insulating properties," she said. "In some senses, green building is about returning to how design was originally done."

"Really, in the end," said Snowden, "green building is all about common sense."

—Marguerite Rigoglioso

Related Links

Other News from the Net Impact Conference

Center for Social Innovation

Public Management Program

Net Impact