“Market demand is shifting to green buildings and BOMA is an important leader,” says Brenna Walraven, BOMA International chairman-elect and executive managing director of national property management at USAA Real Estate Company. “Fortune 100 tenants like Bank of America, GAP and GSA, which is the largest tenant in the United States with 350 million square feet of space, are moving toward green buildings. As the voice of commercial building owners and operators, we need to focus on the changing needs of our members. Additionally, 320 mayors across the country have agreed to emissions reduction, plus states such as California and Michigan have committed to energy efficiency and green buildings alike, so we need to be in front of these issues and help our members execute and do their jobs better.”
USAA Real Estate Company committed to high performance sustainability 10 years ago. Since then they have been four-time Energy Star Partners of the Year, and saved $10 million on energy efficiency over the last five years.
Commercial buildings that earn the Energy Star label, a critical element of green buildings, are top performers for energy efficiency nationwide and use about 35 percent less energy than average buildings. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started the Energy Star program in 1992 to challenge building owners across the country to improve the efficiency of their buildings by 10 percent or more (commercial buildings account for almost 18 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions). The EPA estimated that if each building owner met the challenge, by 2015 Americans would reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 15 million vehicles and save about $10 billion.
According to recent information from the EPA, more than 3,200 buildings across the country have earned the Energy Star for substantial cuts to their energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions. These esteemed buildings represent almost 575 million square feet, save an estimated $600 million annually in lower energy bills and prevent almost 11 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to emissions from almost 900,000 vehicles.
Darwyn Harp, a member of BOMA Greater Phoenix and the group property manager for Hines in Arizona, says Hines’ buildings are operated as energy efficiently as possible because it minimizes costs to tenants and owners, which is extremely important. “Operating a building as efficiently as you can is just the right thing to do,” he says. “It’s the ultimate win-win situation.”
A number of Hines energy conservation measures include raising the temperature in its buildings, using occupancy sensors to shut off lights and encouraging employees to turn off lights when they leave a room. In 2001, Hines implemented Demand Limiting and Average Floor Temperature programs on the company’s energy management system at its main building, the U.S. Airways Headquarters and Flight Center in Tempe. Robert Bonilla, Hines engineering manager, who has successfully reduced total energy consumption in the building every year since 2000, religiously monitors both energy saving programs. He also had an inductive lighting system installed in the building two years ago, which reduced electricity output by half.
Currently, more than 100 Hines owned or managed buildings across the country have earned the Energy Star label. That includes the U.S. Airways building, which has earned the Energy Star every year since 2000.
Wells Fargo Bank’s Corporate Properties Group is also committed to integrating environmental responsibility into its business practices and reducing its direct and indirect environmental footprint. The company is purchasing 550 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy certificates each year for three years beginning in 2006. That made Wells Fargo the largest purchaser of renewable energy in the United States in 2006, according to the U.S. EPA Green Power Partnership Program.
Wells Fargo also replaced the central plant at Wells Fargo Plaza in Phoenix, a building built in 1971. By replacing the entire central plant with high efficiency equipment, energy consumption for the over 500,000-square-foot building was reduced by close to 30 percent.
“Wells Fargo is implementing strict energy-savings guidelines in all new facilities and doing a great deal of work to upgrade energy efficiency in existing owned and managed buildings,” says Sue Hughes, property manager for Wells Fargo (including Wells Fargo Plaza) and president-elect of BOMA Greater Phoenix. “The result has been meaningful conservation in energy usage by location and the ability to maintain an overall lower level of energy consumption across our footprint. Our commitment also reflects the desire of our team members to do what is right for our company, community, customers and the environment.”

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www.hines.com
www.wellsfargo.com