May 11, 2008

Study: Builders Slow To Embrace Green

A green building study by the Boston College Institute for Responsible Investment and investment management group Calvert Group found that not one of America’s 13 largest publicly traded home builders has “fully embraced the emerging market of sustainable building design and construction,” according to a report on CNBC.

According to the report, “the biggest challenge facing this group” is that most builders “have not acknowledged that there is a market for green homes or that they have a role in serving or promoting it.”

Based on energy use, building-material use, water use and land use, the report says Los Angeles-based KB Home gets top rankings, while Hovnanian Enterprises, Standard Pacific, and NVR are on the so-called bottom run of sustainability.

Builders have estimated that by the end of this decade 10 percent of all new homes will be green buildings.

In October, the National Association of Home Builders said it would launch a green building standard of its own that would compete with the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating tools for residential and commercial buildings.

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