This particular designation is rapidly gaining traction among building owners that have existing building stock--a category that includes just about every developer. Up until now the focus on LEED has been for new buildings; anecdotally, however, it appears that interest in existing building designations is picking up, especially as more straightforward paths to ROI are established.

For instance, this year a number of cities have announced their "first" EB O&M certifications. These include Watt Plaza, a twin 23-story office tower complex encompassing 900,000 square feet in the Century City submarket, the first in Los Angeles to become Gold EB O&M. In Chicago the FBI's Regional Facility secured Platinum EB O&M. Earlier this month in Downtown Atlanta, the 18-story Hurt Building was the first to receive Gold EB O&M.

EB O&M can reap significant energy savings for a building, Laurie McMahon, managing director of Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers, tells GlobeSt.com. For instance, retro-commissioning the Pepco headquarters'--along with other energy conservation measures--reduced the 400,000-square-foot building's energy consumption by 16.7%, and its CO2 emissions by over 507.78 metric tons, she says.

Pepco began to green its corporate headquarters 18 months ago. Other measures it took--which were part of the EB O&M process--included the implementation of a water efficiency program and a waste stream audit and occupant education programs.