Businesses have barely scratched the surface of building performance, with the link between sustainability and business performance invigorating the real estate industry’s interest in green practices. That's why we're excited to present our Seattle Sustainability event on April 21, the day before Earth Day, at the Grand Hyatt Seattle.

Paladino & Co director Dina Belon, who will be a speaker (left, snapped at a previous Bisnow event), tells us "we're seeing greater demand for solutions driven by outcomes instead of ratings checklists. Green buildings are expected to deliver tangible business outcomes for owners and tenants, while also addressing the larger issues of climate change and livable communities." 

Sustainability is a path, not a destination, she points out. There are more ways to innovate than ever, in three main areas:

1) Existing buildings. Sustainability innovations aren’t exclusive to new buildings. Most existing buildings can easily gain between 5% to 20% performance efficiency from no- or low-cost strategies. "We recently achieved massive efficiencies on a building that was more than 100 years old," Dina notes. "The client recouped their investment in the first month of working with us through energy savings alone."

2) Tying nature to infrastructure systems. "We're seeing some very interesting uses of natural systems to make buildings more sustainable," Dina says. There will be more stormwater capture, vegetation shading, wind and solar energy, on-site composting, biomimicry design, gray water recycling as a water feature, battery storage and a Living Machine system for on-site wastewater treatment.

3) Resiliency. Developers are increasingly expected to deliver buildings that can survive the environmental events like hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, floods and blizzards. Buildings must be adaptable and have the capability to be used for multiple purposes over their life spans.

Hear more at our Seattle Sustainability event on April 21, beginning at 7:30am at the Grand Hyatt Seattle. Sign up here.