Green Buildings: Save Money and Save the Globe!
Opportunity: Green Building Services
On an ever increasing scale nowadays, everybody is looking in wonder at the price of the world’s energy sources going up, dragging up with it a great many other prices. Why? Because everything we do on a daily basis from sleeping in our warm homes to eating, dressing and traveling implies a consumption of energy. People usually take energy for granted; we do not normally think about the energy implications of the hot showers we take or the news and music we listen to every day. But with the conventional energy sources well on their way towards depletion marked by the record price of oil at over USD 100 a barrel and the price of gas visibly increasing (the gas price in Romania has gone up by 8.5% starting with February 1st) can we really afford not to? Not really! And this not only for the good of our planet but also for the sake of our pockets.
There are, however, some who have already started thinking about this and also taking action. SOPOLEC has recently seeded and launched a new professional services company, EcoNavitas, that helps real estate developers and investors build energy efficient and environmentally friendly buildings. Worldwide, buildings account for more than 30% of the consumption of energy and carbon dioxide emissions, which is more than any other industry alone. Due to new available technology that can reduce dramatically the impact of buildings on the environment (up to zero carbon), construction is an area where great environmental battles can be won. Building “green†doesn’t only make environmental sense, but also economic sense. The additional initial cost for green buildings can be as low as 5% but the energy and water consumption savings could go down by up to 80%. With the soaring energy prices, the choice to build green should be a no-brainer.
EcoNavitas is working to make real estate companies aware of the benefits of this choice and help them implement it by providing initial advice and feasibility study and by supporting the real estate company through all the stages of “greening†the development, from sourcing to project management and post-sales monitoring and services. Through this integrated approach EcoNavitas aims at taking away from the real estate developers all the complexities and headaches associated with building green. Hopefully this means that we will have a lot more new green buildings in Bucharest and around the country in the next few years!
Written by Sinziana
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