January 7, 2009

USGBC Offers Report on Green Building By the Numbers

Last month the U.S. Green Building Council released a three-page report (PDF) with statistics on the state of green buildings in America.

Jetson Green says the authors of the report seem to have attempted optimism about progress in gaining market share for green building.

The report said that over 4.2 billion square feet of commercial building space is involved with the LEED green building certification and that according to McGraw Hill Green Building Smart Market Report 2006, about 10 percent of commercial construction starts are expected to be green by 2010.

According to the USGBC, $464 million worth of construction registers with LEED every business day and there are LEED projects in all 50 states and 69 countries.

Sectors such as education, government, industrial, office, healthcare, hospitality and retail are expected to have green building growth. According to the U.S. Construction Overview there are three factors expediting the growth of green buildings: Unprecedented level of government initiatives; heightened residential demand for green construction and improvements in sustainable materials.

The USGBC’s latest LEED rating system, called LEED v.3 or LEED 2009, is expected to go into effect shortly. The new rating system incorporates regional credits and other changes important to the building community.

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