While marking Earth Day this past week, we’ve been reminded of the drawbacks of ignoring environmental concerns and many benefits of living “green.” Two organizations, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and The Nature Conservancy, are leading the way with green headquarters. KIB moved into its green building at 1029 Fletcher Ave. in June. The Nature Conservancy earlier this month broke ground here on a new headquarters at 620 E. Ohio St., which is due to open in March 2010.

David Forsell of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and Mary McConnell, who heads the Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, explain how building green benefits not only businesses and organizations, but this city, state and the planet as well.

For more information about all things green in Central Indiana, go to The Indianapolis Star’s new Web site, Green.Indy.com.

In the documentary film, “The Greening of Southie,” about a 2008 project in South Boston, a construction worker comments, "I was told this was going to be a green building, and everybody said, ‘What do you mean, green building, are you going to paint this green?’ "

Public knowledge of what constitutes a “green building” has been growing at a gratifyingly rapid pace. The good news is that in today’s economy you can build green for about the same price per square foot as a brown building. In fact, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful saw only about a 4 percent premium in the cost of constructing a green headquarters in 2008. The even better news is that a green building becomes the investment that pays a myriad of dividends for your organization, for our city and for our planet.

For example, green buildings carefully manage storm water that otherwise would run off the roofs, through parking lots, off sidewalks and into streets, picking up pollutants as they flowed. Using features such as rain gardens with native plantings, permeable pavements, and cisterns, these structures keep tens of thousands of gallons from flowing into Indianapolis’ sewers. During a heavy rain, our city’s storm-water infrastructure does not have sufficient capacity, which often results in the discharge of those pollutants and overflow sewage into streams and other nearby waters.

Between The Nature Conservancy’s new headquarters, where 100 percent of the storm water will be handled on site, and KIB, where 42 percent of the storm water is captured on site, this equals an annual savings of almost 920,000 gallons. Imagine the stress that could be taken off the storm-water system and the water quality of our streams and rivers if more buildings were green.

Green buildings generally use materials that were extracted, processed or manufactured regionally. That lowers the energy costs of transportation and puts more money back into our local economy. They are constructed with low-emitting adhesives and sealants, paints and carpet systems, which means improved air quality for employees. The buildings usually feature daylight and views for the majority of seated spaces, making them more pleasant places in which to work, along with lowering the need for artificial light.

The means for rating the design and performance of a green building is called LEED, short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This is a third-party program to verify whether a building is environmentally sustainable, and it is managed by a nonprofit organization called the U.S. Green Building Council. This system has a hierarchy of ratings: “certified,” “silver,” “gold” and “platinum” for buildings that are designed for and perform at the highest standards.

To determine a building’s rating, points are awarded on a sliding scale for everything from the amount of building materials that are recycled during construction to the use of on-site renewable energy, which in the case of both of our organizations is wind turbines.

In addition to its advanced technology, a green building becomes the bricks-and-mortar embodiment of your environmental commitment — and a positive statement about your organization’s brand. Your new building will be a magnet for attracting visitors who might never have interacted with you before. It contributes to employee attraction and retention as a source of pride. It also becomes a community landmark, a place for forums and an example of being part of the solution.

Finally, green buildings significantly reduce operating costs. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, you can expect a 24- to 50-percent reduction in energy use and a 40-percent decrease in water use in a green building. The bottom line is that green buildings make solid business sense.

We urge to you consider going green for your next building project. The benefits for your company, our city and our world will compound.