"Change and Adapt or be Vacant"

I attended a business breakfast this morning at 7:15. I arrived 10 minutes early at the wrong place; and arrived 10 minutes late at the right place!

It was organised by the 'Property Council of Australia' for World Environment Day, and they were kind enough, or smart enough, to offer some Green Activists like myself a free table. 

The topic was the desirability of making commercial buildings more environmentally well designed. 

I hate being late but it worked out well. I would have had to stand around waiting to go in, which I find physically difficult. Instead I walked in with everyone else. Missed out on some schmoozing though...

There were two speakers: a local Greens Politician, who spoke very well from good notes; and a director of a Real Estate multinational company, whose speech was a lot more poorly delivered. 

However, his company sponsored the event and some of what he said was very interesting. Studies in America, of a large sample of buildings, have been done that show that buildings built and managed on sound ecological principles have a higher occupancy rate, and are more profitable to the owners. Employees have fewer days off sick and the savings to tenants, on reduced absenteeism alone, covered the increased rental costs!

Providing separate metering of power to the occupants was what saved the most energy in the building. When they had to pay they began economizing on power! Derr! Didn't someone think of that already? Not in the age of abundant cheap energy, apparently.