Would You Recommend That Genzyme Make the Additional Investments Required to Enable Genzyme Centre to Achieve Leed Platinum? Why or Why Not?
ASSIGNMENT 3 1.   Would you recommend that Genzyme make the additional investments required to enable Genzyme Centre to achieve LEED Platinum? Why or Why not?My recommendation would be that Genzyme should make additional investments to enable Genzyme Centre to achieve LEED Platinum instead of just silver or Gold. This is because the Building Design and Delivery committee and the Green Building Team felt that the building could earn 48 LEED points with the existing design but need 52 points for LEED Platinum.Therefore, they were just 4 points short and as Termeer said that this building must be second to none and there was a huge difference between being the best and notbeing the best.Also, Termeer had wanted the building to be innovative and green to reflect Genzyme’s innovativeness and creativity in fulfilling its corporate mission to discover drugs to combat rare diseases. Genzyme would need to make only certain additional investments to achieve LEED Platinum. The benefits would be more in comparison to the existing design benefits. Considering, there is only 1 LEED Platinum building in 2002 gives Termeer all the more reason in order to achieve that competitive advantage.
2. If Genzyme were to invest in additional features to enable Genzyme Centre to achieve LEED Platinum, what decision criteria would you recommend using to decide which features to implement? Based on a quantitative & qualitative analysis, which green features do you recommend they implement?I would use a Cost-Benefit analysis and weigh the pros and cons of all the options to decide which additional features would serve as a fruitful investment. Water Efficient Fixtures Green Power Smaller Offices and cubicles Green building education Land ConservationAdvantages :- 24 waterlessurinals, 69 dual-flush toilets, and 96 automatic sinks—were also installed, usage: less two-thirds of the water used by a conventional building.- Fixtures were expected to save 529,000gallons of water per year, and $6,600 per year in water and sewer costs.- Help to earn 1-3 LEED Points.Disadvantages :Very costly initiative in comparison to others.Advantages : – Use of Renewable energy sources – Help in Ozone Protection – Earn around 5 LEED points Disadvantages :- Using 100% Green Power would increase the building’s electricity cost by 20% beyond the cost of purchasing normal grid electricity.Best Option. Advantages :- Enhance productivity as more employees would be co-located.-Save $300,000 per year as cost of renting new office saved. – Higher occupancy would leverage building’s energy use and reduce energy costs upto 8% per employee. Disadvantages : – Small workspaces might cause morale problems – Increase building’s energy and water consumption.Advantages : – Virtual tour would help highlight the building’s green features- Virtual and guided tour would help to earn 1 LEED point. Disadvantages : – initial investment of $60,000. The monthlytours might also cost $10,000 per year to organize and conduct.Advantages : – Protecting or Restoring open space could earn 1 LEED point. – Improve Vegetation and better utilization of materials.Disadvantages :- Initial cost of $100,000 – Fall short of 50% requirements for LEED. Best Option is to invest in Green Power as it will help in achieving the 4 LEED points that Genzyme is short of and also the advantages will be beneficial to the company in the long run.