Lower staff costs; value of green building?

I’ve been thinking about how most discussions on green building are misdirected. When I mention the business case for sustainability people inevitably say, “Oh, you mean like energy efficiency? That’s where you save money, right?”

Well yes and no. While you do save money with resource efficiency, that is not where the most substantial value resides – in fact, it tends to only be 1% of a business’s operating cost. The real expense is in your people.

While many business owners understand that up to 90% of their operating costs can be staff salaries, few realize that increasing productivity and occupant satisfaction by improving their building's health may reduce employee costs.

You can get more detail in “The Value of BREEAM”