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Last year, 100 goats were brought to the AmberGlen corporate campus in Beaverton to chomp down on blackberry bushes. The animals provided a way to reduce invasive species without using harmful chemicals.

鈥淭hat’s a good story,鈥� said Kim Schoenfelder, project director at KG Investment Management, which represents AmberGlen. 鈥淧eople will read that and think, 鈥業 want to rent at AmberGlen.’ 鈥�

Carbon4Square

In the Carbon4Square building efficiency challenge, 85 office buildings in the Portland metropolitan market are competing against each other to reduce carbon footprints. Four areas are considered:

1. Watts: Energy usage

2. Waste: Consumption of products, and removal, transport and treatment of waste

3. Water: Energy used in pumping, treating, moving and disposing of water

4. Wheels: How tenants, goods and services move to and from the building.

Initial benchmarks were identified for the buildings. Now, sustainability plans are being formulated, with help from the Carbon4Square team. A winner will be announced next spring. Visit for more information.

Schoenfelder said she works with building owners interested in creating their own such stories. Little concrete data exists that supports the business advantages of green building management, but landlords and property managers are testing the waters as they wait for the economy to recover.

鈥淭he jury is still out, but the mood on the street is that (a building’s sustainability) is going to be more and more critical to bringing tenants in the door,鈥� said Jack Davis, who manages , a sustainability initiative in Portland. 鈥淎 lot of real estate and building managers are hedging their bets 鈥� it’s safer to go green than not to.鈥�

鈥淎t some point this is going to be mandatory, whether it’s on the state or city level,鈥� said Susan Steward, executive director of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Portland. She cited state , which would have required energy performance score reporting for buildings via a program similar to those in California and other states. That bill died, but Steward expects a modified version to return sooner or later.

BOMA opposed the measure, 鈥渂ecause we don’t like the word 鈥榤andatory,’ 鈥� Steward said, but it is also preparing its members for possible changes.

The federal government, the biggest tenant in the country, already requires Energy Star ratings for buildings it rents. That means that the building’s energy usage is being measured and assessed through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Portfolio Manager software. Private companies also are looking at these ratings, Davis said.

鈥淲e’re hearing that the big, Fortune 500 companies are using it as a shopping criteria,鈥� Davis said. Smaller firms also like to use green practices to recruit younger employees, he said.

Some industry professionals expect to be able to charge higher rents for buildings with greater energy efficiency, but there’s no hard data to back that up, Steward said. That belief will be studied and monitored as the economy recovers and more people start renting and buying, Davis said.

In the meantime, building managers are trying to establish green reputations for their buildings. Dani Hammer, who manages the Montgomery Park building, said the properties she manages compete with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified buildings by attaining Energy Star designations. The Montgomery Park Building has received lighting retrofits and new low-flow plumbing devices, and a green team involves tenants in a recycling program.

鈥淚t’s something that tenants look for,鈥� Hammer said. 鈥淭hey want to know you’re doing the best you can for the environment; it also lowers their operating expenses.鈥�

Managers of 85 Portland office buildings are learning about sustainable management through Carbon4Square, which offers free assessment and assistance from several organizations, including several Portland city bureaus and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. Carbon4Square is one way to determine the effectiveness of sustainable programs, and how they may be more widely adopted or institutionalized.

Green lease agreements, for example, include provisions regarding tenant and landlord behavior in relation to sustainability initiatives.

鈥淕reen leases are starting to happen,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭he problem is that there’s no definition of it.鈥�

Schoenfelder said that green lease language is still being developed and tested.

鈥淲e’ll see it coming from both owners and tenants. It’s the future,鈥� Schoenfelder said. 鈥淚t’s important as we start enforcing the agreement 鈥� that it doesn’t put an onerous responsibility on one party or another.鈥�