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USD Launches Green Academic Journal for Real Estate Professionals

The University of San Diego has launched a new academic journal aimed at publishing research that furthers the science of green building and its business ramifications.

The Journal of Sustainable Real Estate is produced by the university’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate. It is published with the support of the American Real Estate Society and has garnered nearly $100,000 worth of funding from CoStar Group Inc., a Maryland-based commercial real estate market research company.

Norm Miller, a professor and director of academic programs at the real estate center, is editor of the journal. To him, the journal fills a need for “truth-telling in the green space.”

“Technology changes quickly in this field and there’s a need for an independent, third-party academic view that examines what businesspeople are questioning right now,” he said.

For instance, said Miller, if a builder spends 2 percent above traditional construction costs to get a green certification for adding environmentally friendly features to a new building, studies can show whether benefits come from that expense. That could include the effects of a 2 percent rent hike, and whether the changes translate to higher occupancies and lower operating expenses.

With its research coming from around the globe, the journal is also sharing technological advances in construction efficiencies, Miller added.

Questions

“Those are all questions that need to be addressed,” he said.

Best practices of water conservation is another research topic he cited as fodder for the journal through exploring the pros and cons of policing water use or setting prices to discourage waste.

Chris Pyke, research director at the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council, is happy to see the emergence of the journal, which he sees as a needed link between academia and the real estate industry.

“We need more outlets that provide a forum for real estate sustenance as a technical issue and as a business issue,” he said.

It will also help him on the job. Pyke manages all green building research at the 20,000-member council. That includes information on energy efficiency, gas emissions and indoor environmental measures.

His job includes what the new sustainable research journal aims to do: provide a link between research on the subject, and those in the real estate business.

“Having this kind of forum allows us to have a better dialogue,” said Pyke. The Green Building Council has established itself, he said, and the journal reflects the next stage of the green building movement.

“It’s a move toward a greater sophistication of evidence-based practices in design and construction,” he said of the journal.

“There’s a need for some place in academia that is outside of commercial interests; peer reviews outside of commercial activity.”

No Single Answer

Because of variables in each market, such as skilled labor availability, supply chain conditions and market demand, Pyke contends there is no single answer on whether green construction “works or doesn’t work.”

He cited Las Vegas, which he said, “has a huge capacity to do green construction.” But because of the slump in the construction market there, green building is a non-issue until the market rebounds.

But the big interest on the research side, he said, is in what are the factors that determine cost versus benefits of green construction.

“Most people that publish in this space are interested in the fundamentals of things such as light, heat and sound quality,” he said. “The ‘What do we know?’ It’s great when we can review the state of knowledge. By doing that we can move the ball forward.”

CoStar is funding the journal for its first two years, paying for costs of editing, production, printing, distribution and administration.

The journal, to be distributed in print and online, has one edition for its first year, and will likely continue as two editions per year, said Miller.

Subscriptions are expected to cost $30 a year. More information on the journal is available at costar.com/josre.

Mark Larson is a freelance writer for the Business Journal.

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