OPTOmism

OIDA is holding its 1st OPTOmism conference in Santa Clara this week. I'll be doing some posts of interesting datapoints picked real time.

The first speaker, Greg Kats from Good Energies, talked significantly about Green Buildings. He makes a point with which I concur that a lot of the discussion is about marketing. The energy payback, with the exception of the issues I've mentioned before, is straightforward. While 'Energy Efficient" is not going to get you any dates in college, "Green Building" is becoming a sexy term. This changes perceptions allowing a more open adoption environment. Already, in some areas, Green SQ Ftg is unavailable.

New data shows that LEED buildings also have

• Lower vacancy
• Higher lease rates
• Higher productivity
• Higher sales prices

And if you doubt what can be done with efficiency, with California regulation and utility participation, the state has actually held electricity consumption flat since the 70's, not per capita, total!

Buildings, including embedded energy (used to make the materials in the building) consume about 45% of US energy, so the target is huge. Obama administrations is to reduce CO2 net emmissions of buildngs in the US by 80%. Current programs can generate some 50% of that savings, but even more innovation needed to get to 80%.