Author: Billy Grayson

BILLY GRAYSON is executive director of the ULI Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance in Washington, D.C.

Articles by Billy Grayson

• ULI Greenprint Congratulates Five Members Who Earned Energy Star Partner of the Year
  Published on April 14, 2019 in Inside ULI
  Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star program honors businesses and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy achievements. Energy Star Award Winners lead their industries in the production and sale of energy-efficient products and services, and in the development and adoption of strategies that provide substantial savings in the buildings where people work and live. This year, five ULI Greenprint members achieved Energy Star Partner of the Year.
• Sustainability in the Age of Big Data
  Published on October 29, 2018 in Sustainability
  Armed with a healthy sense of skepticism, ULI Greenprint members are evaluating a range of tech-based approaches to augment savings already achieved through Greenprint’s shared-data benchmarking.
• Return on Resilience: A Dollar of Prevention Is Worth $6 in Avoided Costs
  Published on July 13, 2018 in Sustainability
  A review of 20 years of federal programs puts a price tag on inaction.
• How Residential and Office Developers Are Preparing for the Realities of Net Zero
  Published on March 12, 2018 in Sustainability
  In 2017, California passed the first net-zero building code in the United States (for new residential construction by 2020). New York City; Washington, D.C.; and other cities have made net-zero building commitments as well, including both new and existing buildings. While a perception remains that achieving net zero is too costly for most residential and office development, a few pioneering development companies are figuring out how to deliver net-zero and net-zero-ready projects with a high net-present value at scale.
• ULI Product Council Launches Webinar Series Highlighting Business Case for Sustainability
  Published on February 22, 2018 in Sustainability
  The ULI Responsible Property Investment Council (RPIC) in January kicked off a webinar series that will run through 2018 highlighting the business case for renewable energy investments in real estate. The inaugural webinar, “Here Comes the Sun,” provided an in-depth look at the project economics of a pilot solar retrofit project developed by Ginkgo Residential, a development and property management company operating in southern Virginia and the Carolinas.
• Moody’s: Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Could Affect Cities’ Bond Ratings
  Published on January 17, 2018 in Sustainability
  In December, Moody’s Investors Service issued a report encouraging cities to invest in climate adaptation and mitigation. Cities will be evaluated in the future at least in part on how they prepare for both short-term climate “shocks” and longer-term trends associated with climate change. Moody’s is the largest credit rating agency to date to publicly outline how it evaluates climate change risk and integrates it into its credit rating assessments.
• Study: Buildings with Poor Energy Efficiency Default at Higher Rate
  Published on October 23, 2017 in Sustainability
  A recent study has added a new value proposition for energy efficiency in commercial buildings: efficient buildings are less likely to default on their mortgages than their more energy-intensive peers.
• Making the Case for Health: Insights from the First WELL Projects
  Published on August 10, 2017 in Sustainability
  With a handful of WELL-certified projects now in operation and hundreds in the certification pipeline, real estate owners and developers are starting to take a hard look at the business case for healthy building certification.