...green building, when you are planning your building you get your team – your architect, your engineer, your contractor – involved at the very beginning. If you have this goal upfront, when you are designing the project research shows that there is virtually no significant increase in costs to build a green building.

It is also a lack of understanding of the benefits. Green buildings have an operational advantage since you build your energy efficiency, water efficiency and waste management in upfront. Energy efficient buildings can demand a slightly higher square footage rent and are also more marketable.

NYC: Is your region and state working on sustainable building legislation? Are these efforts heading in the right direction?

RU: In New York City we have a local law requiring all City-owned or City-funded construction to be built to LEED. There are a series of bills being considered in City Hall right now that would require various types of retrofits in existing buildings and we are assisting in that effort. And, as you know, our organization is responsible for the Green Codes Task Force, formed at the request of Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Christine Quinn, to review all the laws and regulations affecting construction in New York City and to propose ways to make those laws and regulations greener. With PlaNYC and a Mayor and Council Speaker so strongly supportive of green building, NYC is a place for policy makers to watch.

TR: What Connecticut enacted in June is a phase-in. After the International Energy Code and ASHRAE adopt new standards then Connecticut has 18 months to phase it into code here. What they are adopting is something that is not static. When certain standards, like ASHRAE and the International Energy Code are modified it will have an effect on the overall energy code within a reasonable time frame. I think it is a sensible approach.

FB: On our website we are tracking about 30 bills having to do with environment and green building. We can’t take a position necessarily but what we do is present the pros and cons for educational purposes so our members can make their own decisions.

Right now the state is doing a lot in sustainable building legislation. They are providing numerous incentives, such as solar and geothermal. Through the State’s energy master plan the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is providing loans and grants to residential customers for energy audits so customers can make the renovations necessary to increase their building’s performance. Existing homes are the largest culprits and constitute the majority of our energy usage in the country. So these incentives and the legislation supporting home energy efficiency are really going to have a tremendous impact on the carbon footprint.

NYC: The economic stimulus bill made a lot of promises in terms of green jobs and retrofitting buildings. Are you starting to see these promises come to fruition in your region?

RU: I think it is a little bit too early to say. I do not know whether there is a relationship to the stimulus bill but there certainly has been a shift in the market in interest towards existing buildings. Capital is scarce to come by and people are looking to increase the value of their existing assets.

We are seeing that shift and it is also driven by City policy. This shift is what it is largely reshaping existing jobs to make them more green. I think there is a lot of interest from building operators and superintendents to learn about green building and energy and water efficiency. There are efforts underway in government and the various unions and community colleges are involved to expand that effort.

In general labor has really taken up green building. They recognize this is where the market is going and these are the good jobs for the future.

So we are largely seeing a greening of existing jobs. I think we will see more jobs coming out of the building sector related to green, largely as a result of whatever legislation comes out of City Hall, whether it is for auditors, building commissioners, etc. These are the areas of growth.

TR: I really have seen little affect from any stimulus money, little or nothing. We are starting to see it in some community healthcare centers but it is such an infinitesimal drop, it is almost nonexistent.

FB: There is a lot of ground work that is being laid. There are numerous green training programs and grant proposal requests out there for training various trades in the building industry. The New Jersey Department of Labor and...