Sustainable Real Estate

The Burnham-Moores Center continues to strengthen its leadership position in the area of sustainability, both on and off-campus.

Sustainability Highlights
•Chula Vista Research Project: The Center has completed its work on the Chula Vista Research Project, which is sponsored by the California Energy Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, the city of Chula Vista, San Diego Gas & Electric and the National Energy Center for Sustainable Communities. The project was launched to identify outstanding technical, market and policy barriers to the creation of more sustainable communities in California. In 2008, the Center conducted the final two workshops of the research project, in which Center researchers Louis Galuppo, Esq., and Charles Tu, Ph.D., facilitated a discussion with a wide range of community stakeholders, including real estate professionals, environmental organizations, community advocacy groups and state and local government agencies.

Galuppo and Tu also conducted two online surveys to supplement the research: One survey probed the capital market community on their views of the risks and opportunities of investment in energy-efficient buildings and communities; the other questioned the real estate development community to determine the maximum incremental cost acceptable for energy-efficient residential, commercial, industrial and institutional structures. The Center submitted a report of its findings to the California Energy Commission; the findings of the comprehensive report will be released at a Dec. 10 meeting of OEM and development industry representatives on the University of San Diego campus.

•Journal of Sustainable Real Estate: The Burnham-Moores Center is playing a key role in the launching of a new Journal of Sustainable Real Estate. Norm Miller, the Center’s director of academic programs, is serving as editor of the journal, with three associate editors: one in the United States, one in Asia and the other in Europe. The journal will be published under the auspices of the American Real Estate Society, with funding by the CoStar Group; the first issue will be available by early November 2009. The author of the best research paper published will receive a $15,000 honorarium; all published authors will receive $1,000. An advisory board has been formed, consisting of approximately 30 leaders from academia, the private sector and the nonprofit sector. An editorial board of 20 academics from universities such as Harvard, University of Michigan, Clemson and University of Denver has also been put in place to review the journal submissions. The journal’s Web site is: www.josre.org.

•Greenbuild 2009: After being wait-listed for two years, the Burnham-Moores Center has been granted exhibitor space at the Greenbuild 2009, which is being held in Phoenix Nov. 11-13. Greenbuild is a gathering of over 20,000 sustainable professionals form across the country and around the globe. At the conference, Norm Miller, professor and director of academic programs at the Burnham-Moores Center, will be presenting his recent research on the productivity of employees in green buildings vs. non-green buildings. It is extremely difficult to get papers accepted into the conference: More than 1,300 papers were submitted, and only 112 accepted. According to organizers, this was the most competitive and strongest program to date. Miller also presented at last year's Greenbuild conference in Boston to a standing-room only audience of over 900 and received high marks from attendees.

•Research Publications: “Does Green Pay Off?,” the groundbreaking paper that Norm Miller co-authored, which put him at the forefront of green real estate researchers internationally, won the award for the Best Paper published in the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management (JREPM) during calendar year 2008. There were 31 papers published in JREPM in 2008. The award was selected by the more than 1,000 members of the American Real Estate Society, which is composed of the leading global academic and professional researchers. Further, the paper is now referenced or listed on over 1,000 Web sites.

"Green Buildings and Productivity," co-authored by Norm Miller and David Pogue, national director of sustainability at CBRE, will be presented for the first time at Greenbuild 2009 in Phoenix. The study looks at the productivity levels of employees in green buildings vs. non-green buildings.

•Certificate in Land Use and Sustainable Community Development: The Burnham-Moores Center, in partnership with the University’s Office of Corporate and Professional Education, developed a new continuing education certificate program in Land Use and Sustainable Community Development, which launched in September 2008. The certificate is a comprehensive program for professionals interested in understanding the mandated, complex and time-consuming processes that are involved in land use decisions. The program also helps participants understand how to incorporate sustainable measures in their projects through site planning, building design and energy-efficient approaches. SDG&E is providing 10 full scholarships for the program to local government professionals interested in completing their certificates.

•Green Events: On Oct. 30, 2007, the Center hosted its first sustainable development conference, “Is It Easy Being Green?” along with the city of San Diego, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation and CleanTECH San Diego. The conference was attended by more than 200 industry and civic leaders and featured San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders as the keynote speaker.

In May 2009, Norm Miller, professor and director of academic programs at the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, organized a session on sustainable real estate at the Homer Hoyt Institute, which was held at the institute's offices in North Palm Beach, Fla. Miller is a fellow of the prestigious Homer Hoyt Institute.

The session featured participants of national and international reputation on the topic of green and sustainable real estate, including: Gary Pivo of the University of Arizona; Jeff Fisher from Indiana University; Nils Kok and Piet Eichholtz from Maastricht University; John Quigley from the University of California-Berkeley; Franz Fuerst from the University of Reading; Patrick McAllister, author of “Green Noise or Green Value?” Measuring the Price Effects of Environmental Certification in Commercial Buildings,” as well as panelists Erin Inglish from the Colliers International’s Regional Sustainability Advisory Group based in Bulgaria; David Pogue, national director of sustainability for CBRE; Jay Spivey, director of analytics for CoStar; Victoria Kahn, director of sustainability at ING Clarion; Dan Kohlhepp of Granite Road, LLC; and Andrew Nelson, vice president of research at RREEF, a division of Deutsche Bank. Richard Epstein, senior urban designer/architect-RNL, delivered a keynote presentation.

•USD Sustainability Committees: Norm Miller was asked by School of Business Administration Dean Pyke to co-chair a university working group on sustainability, along with Simon Croom, executive director of the school’s Supply Chain Management Institute. The research working group facilitates the exchange of ideas on current and potential research in the area of sustainability, particularly across disciplines, including real estate, environmental sciences, supply chain and law. The Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate also was asked to have one of its associates participate on USD’s campus-wide Sustainability Committee, which includes faculty, staff and students. The Sustainability Committee was formed to raise awareness across campus on environmental issues and to develop and implement programs and initiatives related to recycling, reducing transportation-based emissions, water conservation, energy efficiency and green building design.

Green Resources

San Diego County Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Guide to Going Green
Green References and Organizations Guide

Multimedia

Streaming audio of Norm Miller Q&A session on green development at the NAIOP National Forum Symposium May 1 in New York