Systemic impediments to constructing energy-efficient commercial buildings

Abstract

Exploring a systems-based view of the energy efficiency roadblocks faced by financiers, builders, owners, and tenants. In 1992 Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, wrote a paper entitled "Energy-Efficient Buildings: Institutional Barriers and Opportunities". In it, he detailed roadblocks to constructing energy efficient commercial buildings- from the fear of lenders to finance the unknown, to developers unmotivated to instill efficiency, to mechanical engineers specifying job-securing (and commission-increasing) safety margins when (over)sizing the apparati- every step of a commercial building's genesis is fraught with status quo and timidity. Now, almost 25 years later, we will take a look at what has changed, what hasn't, and what areas still need incentivizing to get on a sustainable track towards efficiency. We model the systems to exhibit the persistent resistance to changes, the extraordinary pace with which some markets have embraced change, and the feedback mechanisms that can make efficiency both possible and profitable.