Manhattan’s incandescent skyline is still dimmed, its office buildings emptied of workers. And Silicon Valley’s corporate campuses remain islanded, surrounded by seas of empty parking lots, as a nation of commuters continues to log in from home.
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered office life — and the commercial building sector — in ways few could have dreamt of even a year ago. Yet as companies begin to map out tentative plans for a post-pandemic return to cubicles, the emphasis on greening those buildings hasn’t receded.
If anything, industry leaders say, COVID-19 has intensified the urgency of making buildings more energy efficient and healthy for workers.
For Workday, with some 12,300 employees worldwide, decisions are still being made of how and when to return to its mix of owned and leased office spaces. But this hasn’t diminished the software company’s plans to add onsite solar panels and battery storage at its headquarters in the Bay Area in California.
COVID-19 has intensified the urgency of making buildings more energy efficient and healthy for workers.
"Our focus on sustainability in our office buildings has remained strong. Leadership agreed we should be making this a priority and gave us their full support to make our buildings more environmentally friendly," said Erik Hansen, Workday’s director of sustainability at a breakout session during GreenBiz Group’s clean economy conference last week, VERGE 20.
It’s not just renewable energy anymore
Rising expectations
Resources to help you green your lease
- The green lease library at the Institute for Market Transformation.
- U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)’s guide to green leasing.
- Renewable Energy Buyers Assn. (REBA)’s Lessor Sustainable Energy Network (LESSEN)
- The Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) network at CERES.
And as more players steer into this space, Neff emphasizes that climate urgency dictates pragmatism. For instance, green project developers should not shy away from offsite renewables. There can be a bias towards doing as much onsite efficiency investment as possible, followed by as much onsite renewable as possible, but off-site renewable energy is sometimes regarded as less impactful.
"We have nine years to solve climate change," Neff said. "Let's first get fossil fuels off the grid.’"