Commercial Building Owners Research Articles

Sustainable Ecopreneurship: Solar Energy Solutions in Commercial Real Estate

This study delves into the rapid trend of integrating solar energy into the realm of business operations, providing valuable insights into the readiness of provincial business establishments and commercial building owners to embrace solar energy as a viable alternative power resource. This study examines the landscape of factors influencing the adoption of solar energy. These pivotal variables, namely, the comfort of tenants, competitive advantage, and cost-effectiveness, are all identified as central drivers within the thriving commercial real estate industry, signifying a promising shift towards solar energy adoption in the province of Pampanga. The result from the study affirms the paramount importance of tenant comfort, a factor inextricably linked with enhanced profitability. Additionally, the study illuminates the strategic significance of maintaining a sustainable environment, serving as a formidable competitive advantage. By embracing sustainability, businesses can unlock an array of economic benefits, rendering solar energy adoption inherently cost-effective. In sum, the interplay of these independent variables signals a robust relationship poised to usher in the widespread adoption of solar energy as a sustainable alternative power resource. As a prudent and forward-looking recommendation, this study underscores the compelling case for provincial commercial real estate entities to actively embrace the integration of solar panels into their operations. By doing so, they can champion both environmental responsibility and economic viability, reaping the rewards of a progressive and eco-conscious approach.

Strategic collaboration between land owners and charging station operators: Lease or outsource?

Many regions of the world aim to phase out conventional private gasoline cars within ten years, requiring imminent expansion of the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. However, because of high installation and maintenance costs, many landowners (LOs), such as shopping malls and commercial building owners, hesitate to install and operate large-scale EV charging facilities of their own volition. In light of this reason, government-led investment is widely provided in many cities, in which local governments provide subsidies to or directly invest in the installation of EV charging facilities. However, this mode cannot be sustained in the long run. As the charging infrastructure market grows, many charging station operators (CSOs), who specialize in EV charging facility installation and operation, have emerged in recent years. These CSOs rent parking spaces from LOs to operate their charging business, which can potentially benefit LOs by attracting more EV drivers to patronize LOs. This parking-charging integration scheme (P&C scheme) builds a symbiotic relationship between LOs and CSOs. However, such schemes may have negative impacts on LOs. Allocating parking spaces to CSOs will increase the time general consumers without charging needs spend searching for parking, which will reduce the number of general consumers. If the newly attracted EV drivers only charge but do not consume in the LO, the LO might not be better off by participating in this scheme. To analyze the economic viability of the P&C scheme and the resulting impact on consumers, we develop a sequential-move game model, taking into account the responses of general consumers and EV drivers. We analytically prove the existence and uniqueness of the market equilibrium and derive the feasibility conditions for this scheme. Interestingly, we find that when the proportion of charging drivers who choose to patronize the LO is high, the LO is willing to reward the CSO for operating the charging service. A realistic P&C example is also presented to demonstrate our analytical insights.

Motivators and impediments to seismic retrofit implementation for wood-frame soft-story buildings: A case study in California.

Motivating property owners to mitigate seismic risks for existing buildings is a major challenge for many earthquake-prone regions. This article identifies primary factors that may affect the adoption of seismic retrofit by owners of commercial and residential buildings, assesses the influence of economic, social, regulatory, and individual factors on retrofit implementation in three California cities, and discusses potential approaches to promoting seismic retrofits. Data for three retrofit programs are utilized to create predictive models for retrofit probability. The results suggest that retrofit probability for multifamily residential buildings may increase with building height, median housing value, educational attainment, and population density in the neighborhood, but may decrease with building age, building size, land value, and housing vacancy rate in the neighborhood. The retrofit decision for commercial buildings is strongly correlated with the number of stories and rooms, land value, vacancy rate, and population density, while the retrofit decision for residential buildings is highly associated with building age, number of rooms, land value, median housing value, median contract rent, and educational attainment. Overall, promoting seismic retrofits requires careful consideration of different motivators and impediments to owner's retrofit actions for commercial and residential buildings, and for older, taller, larger buildings, which tend to be more vulnerable but are associated with higher retrofit costs. In addition, neighborhood characteristics including median housing value and vacancy rate may be strong indicators of the retrofit probability among building clusters.

Location Selection Model for Small Wholesale Shops in Samutprakarn Province, Thailand

The objectives of this research were to study the factors affecting the importance of location selection criteria and present a model for the location selection of a small wholesale store in Samutprakarn province. The research applied the Modified Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology: screening the criteria of location selection from the literature review by interviewing five small wholesale business owners and using a set of questionnaires to collect data from 60 small wholesale merchants, followed by an analysis. The research found that the location zone is the most important factor influencing the location selection criteria. For the stores located in the industrial area, the priority is given to the parking space and the width of the road, while those located in the residential area place the first priority on the proximity or being located along the main and secondary roads. However, the importance level of the location selection criteria ranked in the second and third positions was similar for industrial and residential locations, namely proximity to fresh markets and proximity to distribution centers, respectively. The location selection model will help the small wholesale business owners in Samutprakarn province and similar areas consider the potential location for their business establishments. Furthermore, the commercial building owners can also use this model to assess the rental potential of their commercial buildings. Academia can also use the acquired factors and models for further studies.

Reconditioned Low-Voltage Circuit Breakers: Considering Electrical Safety for Applications in Industry

For many years, manufacturing plants in process industries, along with hospitals, schools, and commercial building owners, have installed used circuit breakers in panelboards, switchboards, switchgear, and motor control centers. Often, due to the vintage of existing electrical equipment, reconditioned circuit breaker replacements are the only available option. Is this practice safe? Some recognized industry standards, such as the Professional Electrical Apparatus Reconditioning League (PEARL)/ANSI <i>Accredited Electrical Equipment Reconditioning Standard</i> (<i>EERS</i>) say yes. For molded-case circuit breakers (MCCBs), the recently published U.S. National Electric Code, National Fire Protection Association NFPA 70-2020, says no.

Differences Between Supplier and Customer Experiences of Marketing Mix in the Construction Industry

Suppliers often contend they “know” best when it comes to what the customer wants. Yet, despite using advanced models, such as the 7P (product, place, price, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence) marketing mix, companies can fail to meet their service objectives because customers perceive services from their own perspective. This difference in perspective presents a knowledge gap that requires it to be filled in an objective way. This research study elucidates how differences between supplier perception and customer perception of delivery are objectively identified. In this study, the target population consisted of the managers of the construction companies in Kuwait and their customers as individual property owners of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. Discrete questionnaires consisting of the 7P marketing mix constructs were created specifically for the supplier and customer. Using a five-point Likert scale, data from 210 supplier staff and 210 customers were collected from the construction industry. The structural equation modeling (SEM) established the beta coefficients of latent variables reflecting the perceptions of both the supplier and customer. Both models were tested for internal consistency reliability using Cronbach’s alpha, and convergent validity was established based on the standardized factor loading and average variance extracted (AVE). In addition, discriminant validity was established using AVE and correlations. The differences between the standardized coefficients of supplier and customer coefficients were then tested against their pooled variance. The results show that suppliers tend to have a higher perception of their delivery on some constructs, while customers maintained a higher perspective on other constructs, that is, suppliers perceived that their product, place, price, and process were adequate, while customer data indicated otherwise. However, it was promising that the constructs of promotion, physical evidence, and people were more favorable among customer perceptions than supplier expectations. Interestingly, customers perceived that the people factor behind the construction industry was excellent. The findings recommend that suppliers scale their perceptions to be closer to the reality perceived by the customers. The study concludes that this approach of evaluating supplier–customer perceptions is highly beneficial to the supplier.

DETERMINING BARRIERS IN SUSTAINABLE REFURBISHMENT PROJECTS: COMMERCIAL BUILDING OWNER PERSPECTIVES

Existing commercial buildings in Malaysia account for one third of the total electricity consumption. They present a great opportunity for refurbishment to reduce carbon dioxide. However, sustainably refurbished commercial buildings that is Green Building Index (GBI) certified is still low. This study aims to investigate barriers that impede commercial building owners to implement sustainable refurbishment and explore ways to increase numbers of sustainable refurbishment implementation. Qualitative data were collected through semistructured interviews. The respondents were commercial building owners’ representative, who were mainly building managers. The findings indicated that higher cost of sustainable refurbishment than conventional method and lacking of sustainability awareness among Malaysian were the main barriers of sustainable refurbishment. This study will be useful in helping building owners and developers to enhance economic, social and environmental benefits of sustainable refurbishment.

Performance analysis of an experimental smart building: Expectations and outcomes

This paper investigates the performance of an experimental green building funded by the Australian Research Council, Australia, as a part of a Zero Carbon Australia (ZCA) buildings plan to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprints. Beyond Zero Emissions (an Australian research and education organization) draws up a ZCA building plan to avoid an average global warming of greater than 2 °C and achieve zero carbon emissions from the commercial sector in a decade. In order to implement this plan, Australian Government and other non-profit organizations offer a large number of grants, subsidies and incentives to commercial building owners for energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources. In this paper, energy analysis of an experimental (6-star rated) green building where a range of energy conservation measures were undertaken is presented. The objective of developing this green building is to reduce emissions and energy consumption from the built environment. The outcome obtained from the monitored data has shown some significant differences from the expected and previously estimated energy saving results. This paper focuses on some possible explanations and criticalities related to the characteristics of the chosen devices and to the strategies adopted. In addition, some coordinated measures, strategies and new technologies to mitigate the highlighted problems are recommended. Furthermore, it includes several analyses to show the effectiveness of proposed recommendations. Through this case study, building designers and operators can gain insights into built-environment projects to provide more positive development solutions for the building industry in Australia and other countries.

Commercial Buildings: Energy Efficiency and Reliability with Electric, Smart, and Microgrids

In this paper, we examine energy storage, peak load minimization, and demand response and how these new technologies are allowing commercial building owners to capitalize these value streams by implementing new technologies. The use of smart grids in commercial buildings can reduce total carbon emissions, placing building owners in an advantageous position should a carbon tax ever be imposed on emissions. Owners of commercial buildings should seriously consider smart microgrids that combine energy production, storage, and the ability to isolate and insulate the building from the grid should a power disruption occur. Smart and micro grids add positive value to commercial buildings because they provide (1) peak load management (shaving costs), (2) integrate renewable energy (reducing emissions and costs), and provide (3) instant back-up power on demand giving the building added reliability, safety, and the ability to continue operating under otherwise challenging circumstances.

Improving Occupant Wellness in Commercial Office Buildings through Energy Conservation Retrofits

There is increasing literature demonstrating the link between building indoor environmental quality, and occupant health and productivity, driving the corporate real estate industry to investigate how to integrate wellness features in both new and existing building stock. Meanwhile, new voluntary standards to promote occupant health are becoming adopted alongside sustainability standards. As commercial building owners and tenants seek to improve occupant conditions and incorporate wellness, apparently conflicting priorities must be balanced, particularly improving indoor environmental conditions has the potential to increase energy. This paper presents a framework to consider retrofits holistically and considering the benefit of improved conditions both qualitatively and quantitatively. Where poor conditions exist, published literature demonstrates a lost productivity cost that exceeds typical building energy costs, and this is quantified in the financial analysis presented. Energy retrofits provide a unique opportunity to integrate wellness-enabling features because the energy savings can offset marginal energy or operating cost increases for particular wellness interventions. This paper presents a flexible, customizable framework to develop potential retrofit bundles and evaluate them considering economic, sustainability, wellness, risk and occupant experience factors to identify the optimal zone of retrofit. An illustrative case study using real building data demonstrates how the framework might be applied to a real project and customized to achieve unique stakeholder priorities.

Understanding post-earthquake decisions on multi-storey concrete buildings in Christchurch, New Zealand

The 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquakes, which involved widespread damage during the February 2011 event and ongoing aftershocks near the Christchurch Central Business District, left this community with more than $NZD 40 billion in losses (~20 % GDP), demolition of approximately 60 % of multi-storey concrete buildings (3 storeys and up), and closure of the core business district for over 2 years. The aftermath of the earthquake sequence has revealed unique issues and complexities for the owners of commercial and multi-storey residential buildings in relation to unexpected technical, legal, and financial challenges when making decisions regarding the future of their buildings impacted by the earthquakes. The paper presents a framework to understand the factors influencing post-earthquake decisions (repair or demolish) on multi-storey concrete buildings in Christchurch. The study, conducted in 2014, includes in-depth investigations on 15 case-study buildings using 27 semi-structured interviews with various property owners, property managers, insurers, engineers, and government authorities in New Zealand. The interviews revealed insights regarding the multitude of factors influencing post-earthquake decisions and losses. As expected, the level of damage and repairability (cost to repair) generally dictated the course of action. There is strong evidence, however, that other variables have significantly influenced the decision on a number of buildings, such as insurance, business strategies, perception of risks, building regulations (and compliance costs), and government decisions. The decision-making process for each building is complex and unique, not solely driven by structural damage. Furthermore, the findings have put the spotlight on insurance policy wordings and the paradoxical effect of insurance on the recovery of Christchurch, leading to other challenges and issues going forward.

Establishing conditions for the economic viability of fuel cell-based, combined heat and power distributed generation systems

Combined heat and power (CHP), distributed generation (DG) technologies have the potential to provide economic savings to commercial building owners in certain markets, if the system is appropriately configured, sized, and operated. Numerous optimization models exist for determining the design and dispatch of a DG system, and some require a great deal of time and computing power to determine building-market scenarios for which the optimal solution includes the acquisition of CHP technologies. Thus, it is beneficial to identify which scenarios are likely to be economically viable prior to solving an optimization model that determines the lowest-cost system design and dispatch. Accordingly, we derive conditions for the economic viability of a CHP DG technology by comparing the total operational savings afforded by the technology to its total installed cost. We demonstrate these conditions numerically in eight distinct scenarios that include the installation of a fuel cell-based CHP system for various building types and energy markets. Using these scenarios, we examine the energy, emissions, operations and maintenance, and peak demand savings provided by the DG system, and determine which scenarios are likely to result in total savings that exceed the total installed cost. Results indicate that the combination of building type, energy market, and system design and dispatch in a given scenario have a significant impact on the economic viability of the CHP system.

Breaking Down Financial Barriers Towards a More Sustainable Commercial Real Estate Market

ABSTRACT Approximately 40% of the US energy [1] and nearly 16% of the world energy [2] is consumed within the existing building stock. It is estimated that over 2 quadrillion Btus of site energy could be avoided by simply engaging in an energy efficiency project [3]. These energy savings projects could carry with them an average internal rate of return (IRR) of 17% and save up to $900 billion in estimated energy costs by the year 2020 [4]. Why, then, are private building owners not investing in their buildings? Why are investors and banks unwilling to engage building owners to provide capital for these projects? The simple answer is they can't. Current lease and accounting structures give rise to issues such as the split incentive and leverage barrier, which frequently make these investments financially irrational for commercial building owners. Many financial structures have been developed to successfully fund energy projects in our public buildings. Unfortunately, most of these structures fail to addres...

A roadmap for navigating voluntary and mandated programs for building energy efficiency

Commercial building owners and managers often face the challenge of selecting the appropriate combination of voluntary and mandated programs for commercial building energy efficiency. Using a mixed-method, both quantitative and qualitative approach, this study finds that barriers to energy efficiency can be interpreted as strategic drivers for the emergence of five forms of voluntary and mandated program forms. We argue that the links between energy efficiency programs in commercial buildings should be conceptualized in a comprehensive manner by evaluating the strategic drivers that have ultimately led to the emergence of the principal forms of voluntary programs: economic incentives; certifications; alliances and partnerships; and internal company programs. We develop a conceptual framework that helps building owners and managers: identify the primary drivers for energy efficiency efforts; assess the efficacy and limitations of available program forms; apply each program form strategically in conjunction with a number of other program forms; and, ultimately, predict the emergence of new program forms. In addition to United States Department of Energy survey data, this study draws upon data collected through semi-structured interviews with experts at major U.S.-based corporations, federally funded laboratories, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations.

Re-/Retro-commissioning: The Best Kept Secret You Can't Afford Not to Know

ABSTRACT Re- or retro-commissioning, the process of ensuring that an existing building's performance continues to meet or exceed its design over time, is increasingly the target of government policy and the beneficiary of market forces. New federal, state, and local mandates, in conjunction with voluntary, market-based standards, are poised to transform the marketplace. Having begun as an overlooked tool to ensure that commercial building owners get their money's worth from design and construction professionals, commissioning is now known to be the most cost effective measure available for reducing energy use, lowering costs, and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in buildings. A recent meta-analysis by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that re-/retro-commissioning yields a median 16% energy savings with a payback time of 1.1 years for a cash-on-cash return of 91%. Economy-wide, the service has the potential to save building owners and operators more than $30 billion a year in energy costs by 2...

Expenditure on operation and maintenance service and rental income of commercial buildings

PurposeThe recession in the late 1990s in Hong Kong has triggered many commercial building owners to cut operation and maintenance (O&amp;M) cost via outsourcing. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dominant expenditure on O&amp;M service and examine the relation between extent of outsourcing and rental income of the buildings.Design/methodology/approachExperienced O&amp;M practitioners were interviewed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data of the commercial buildings they looked after. The in‐house and outsourced O&amp;M costs, air‐conditioning energy costs, rental incomes, and management and air‐conditioning fees for the buildings were analysed.FindingsThe total air‐conditioning O&amp;M cost is the principal cost item, with the energy cost being the dominant element. The analysis reveals that the extent of outsourcing bore little correlation with the air‐conditioning O&amp;M cost and the rental income.Research limitations/implicationsFurther work may take a similar approach to identify the extent and effect of outsourcing other kinds of services that underpin the core business of an organisation.Practical implicationsVarying the extent of outsourcing O&amp;M service was found to be unpromising for enhancing rental performance or cutting O&amp;M expenditure. This is an important point that the building managers should address when considering whether to go for outsourcing.Originality/valueThe findings imply that in the building O&amp;M service industry, it would be more economical to outsource or undertake in‐house the vast majority of O&amp;M work. The focus for cost minimization should be to improve building energy performance rather than reducing labour resources through outsourcing.

CFC Users Seek Exemptions from Ban on Ozone-Depleting Substances

Environmental Protection Agency officials were surprised last month as the deadline passed for chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) users to ask for exemptions from the production ban that goes into effect in less than 29 months. Only a handful of CFC users petitioned EPA to put their case before the countries that are party to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. Three major groups--as well as a few other minor users--say they must have CFCs available after the Jan. 1, 1996, phaseout deadline. The automobile industry and commercial building owners cite the turmoil and expense of switching to substitutes for existing air-conditioning and commercial building owners cite the turmoil and expense of switching to substitutes for existing air-conditioning equipment. And the pharmaceutical industry has not yet developed approved alternatives for certain medical devices. But only metered-dose inhalers, which use CFCs to propel medication directly into the lungs of patients suffering from asthma and other respiratory diseases, are likely to be deemed an exempt essential use.

Cleaning services: how to make the most of a bargain

Old timers in the contract cleaning industry have traditionally told commercial building owners that they are likely to spend, each year, an amount equivalent to around one‐twentieth of their construction costs on cleaning. If this was ever true, it is no more; if it was an analogy to boost the importance of what is generally a non‐considered industry, it was a perverse misrepresentation. In fact, contractors can today clean most new office buildings for an annual charge of no more than half of one per cent of the capital cost. Contracted‐out cleaning is one of the great unrecognised bargains of commercial life in the UK today.

Can “good” architecture meet the market test?

Architectural quality is a public good characteristic of a building for which a market failure may occur. A hedonic price equation for office space in downtown Chicago is estimated to determine if the value of “good” architecture has been internalized by tenants or owners of commercial buildings. The regression results indicate that a considerable rent premium is paid for “good” new architecture but not for “good” old architecture. The results also yield information about the impact on office rent of other building characteristics such as age, height, location, and amenities.

Are Energy Management Systems Cost Effective?

While the market for energy management systems (EMS) has been exploding, there are many indications that the pendulum of high expectations may have swung too far. A simple seven-day time clock can usually provide 80-95 percent of the potential savings of many EMS features. For several hundred additional dollars, a small microprocessor based time clock with features such as automatic holiday and daylight savings adjustments, optimal start, and four separate load stop/start schedules (ventilation, heating, and air conditioning, indoor lights, and outdoor lights) can be purchased which can increase the savings an additional 5-20 percent on most buildings. Owners of multiple building systems or large commercial and industrial buildings can often justify a complex EMS with increased load scheduling capability. However, EMS features such as duty-cycling and demand limiting are usually overrated in their energy savings capability, not only because slowing down the fans can save more energy than cycling them, but also because duty cycling can cause personnel discomfort and equipment maintenance problems. Moreover, any temperature control modifications which save energy can usually be installed without an EMS for less initial cost and with an equivalent energy savings. Additional expenses for EMS features such as temperature monitoring and remote set point adjustment are not usually of value if a building's heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system is operating properly. EMS features such as metering and report logs can be useful diagnostic tools in the hands of a qualified individual, but often they provide data diarrhea.