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    Things That Happen When You Work In A Sustainable Building

    Because the best companies recognize that saving energy is cheaper than buying it

    Rocky Mountain Institute
    by Rocky Mountain Institute

    Community Contributor

    1. You're no longer a sad panda

    Via gph.is

    Work performance may be improved by as much as 10 percent by providing superior indoor environmental quality. **

    2. You’re never quite sure who LEED is and where he works

    Scott Matheson / Via Flickr: smatheson

    In a survey of more than 2,000 tenants who moved to 154 LEED or Energy Star buildings, 55% of responses agreed that employees were more productive.

    3. Daylighting means your sunscreen budget has gone through the roof

    Via giphy.com

    One study shows that a half-hour exposure to bright daylight by sitting adjacent to windows reduced afternoon sleepiness in healthy adult subjects. The study also found that daylight was almost as effective as a short nap in reducing normal post lunchtime drowsiness and increasing alertness.

    4. “Is this compostable?” becomes your most frequently asked internal question

    Via giphy.com

    5. Using up those sick days becomes a challenge

    Via giphy.com

    A study of 31 green buildings from the City of Seattle found absenteeism reduced by 40 percent. You just feel so great. All. The. Time.

    6. Your mood drops considerably every time you walk into a building that isn’t green

    Via giphy.com

    A large scale survey of office workers during the winter in Sweden shows that mood and vitality were enhanced in healthy people with higher levels of exposure to bright daylight.

    7. A prime bike rack space is the new “employee of the month parking spot”

    Dustyn Roberts / Via Flickr: dustynrobots

    8. Your boss is always making it rain with all that cash he’s saving on his bottom line

    Via giphy.com

    Rocky Mountain Institute’s deep retrofit work on the Empire State Building created energy savings of $4.4 million per year.

    9. You feel great – you’re single handedly saving the environment (okay, maybe not single-handedly)

    RMI’s report Calculating Deep Retrofit Value explains how conducting deep retrofit can reduce a building’s energy consumption by as much as 50 percent.

    View this video on YouTube

    For more on how sustainable buildings can help ease the effects of climate change, watch Rocky Mountain Institute’s video, “A Tale of Two Futures: Sustainable Buildings or Climate Catastrophe.”

    ** All sourcing information via RMI's report, Deep Retrofit Value for Owner Occupants

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