Meanwhile, amidst the flood of election articles, my daily reading cycle did encounter some actual insurance-oriented literature. Insurance Journal is running an article discussing green trends in the American property insurance market:
“We see some very significant differences; that’s why we are very willing to offer a rate to green buildings,” said Steve Bushnell, product director at Fireman’s Fund. Green buildings are designed with state of the art specifications for electric systems, heating and A/C systems, and plumbing systems, he said. Plus, they go through a commissioning process where a professional engineer makes absolutely sure the systems have been installed to manufacturers’ expectations, he added. “That gives us a lot more confidence that these systems are going to perform, not only more energy efficiently for the insured, but more safely for us,” Bushnell said. “Most of our losses for commercial property insurance come from electric fires, heating and A/C fires, and plumbing leaks. So we feel that if we have a system where these three things have been specifically engineered to be high performance systems the building is going to be a better insurance risk.”