Though Iowa and the United States lag behind Europe in reduction of carbon emissions and other sustainable practices, there are some promising signs in the area of “green” commercial construction.

MidAmerican Energy Co. has completed 191 projects and has another 131 in the works in its Commercial New Construction program, which works with owners, architects and construction companies to design highly energy-efficient buildings. Weitz Iowa has completed four projects with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ratings from the U.S. Green Building Council and has four more in the works this year, including headquarters for both Aviva USA and Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. CB Richard Ellis said last year that it would strive to make all of its properties carbon neutral by 2010, just one example of the increase in tenant demand for green buildings.

These examples were presented during the Business Record’s annual “Commercial Real Estate Trends and Issues” forum this morning. The program focused on “Going Green in Commercial Development” and featured moderator Fred Hubbell, board chair of the Iowa Power Fund, and panelists Kevin Nordmeyer, past chair of the Iowa chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and partner at RDG Planning & Design; Bob Haug, executive director of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities; David Ahlberg, product manager of MidAmerican Energy; and Bryan Myers, vice president of estimating at Weitz Iowa. Metro Waste Authority, American Trust and Savings Bank and Barker Lemar and Associates sponsored the event.

Nordmeyer pointed out that more people are seeing the benefits of sustainable buildings, beyond just the cost savings from energy efficiency. He said studies show students perform 25 to 27 percent better on math and verbal tests and worker productivity can increase 6 to 12 percent. Meanwhile, a study of more than 800 projects worldwide showed that “green” features often were not the main driver in the cost of the building.

Still, Haug believes Iowa has a long way to go to make green development a priority. “At some point we have to bring the bottom up,” he said. “We have to set the bar at a higher level and I think it has to be a combination of incentives and regulation. The fact is that Iowa didn’t enforce the commercial energy building code until legislation passed last year. We’ve got to have both a push and pull if we’re going to have any impact on the change at all.”

A larger story about the CRE forum will appear in Monday’s Business Record; video of the event will be online that same day at www.businessrecord.com.