"Green Building" also applies to office and commercial buildings. Commercial and industrial buildings contribute greatly to the Urban Heat Island effect. Reflective roofing, reflective pavement for parking lots, and strategic shade plants can limit the amount of heat radiating off these structures, thus reducing the ambient temperature of the air around them. Office buildings also have great potential to save energy and money by using ENERGY STAR© appliances and motors, which use significantly less energy than competitive products. Like residential structures, commercial buildings can alter their impact on the environment while saving money.

To access energy efficiency suggestions for specific areas of commercial buildings click on the any of the green areas in the drawing or the side bar.

Since buildings consume 67% of all US electricity, and commercial buildings represent 32% of that, many additional opportunities exist for substantial energy savings in the commercial building sector. Among those are:

• Urban Heat Island Mitigation Measures
  
  
• Lighting Retrofits
  
  
• Improvements to the chiller/HVAC system of the Building
  
  
• LED exit signs