The Future of Green Building
Posted on September 19, 2008
Tag(s): Going Green, Green Building, Greening the Office
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Since buildings account for a whopping 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, it is easy to see why green building is a growing necessity for the future well-being of this planet and its inhabitants. A new report released by McGraw Hill Construction, North America’s premier construction information source, revealed significant growth in global green building trends.
The report was produced in partnership with the World Green Building Council and is based on a survey of early market adopters in 45 countries.
Highlights of the report include:
- “By 2013, 53% of responding firms expect to be largely dedicated to green building (on over 60% of projects), up from 30% today.”
- “86% of firms expect rapid or steady growth in sales and profit levels associated with green building.”
- “Solar power is the most common form of renewable energy in every region, used by over half (52%) of industry professionals today and expected to grow to 76% in the next five years. The most dramatic growth is expected in wind power use (57% expected in 2013, up from 20% today), followed closely by geothermal power (expected to double from 22% today to 45% in 2013).”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Photo by woodleywonderworks
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Although we’re not pioneers, we think we’re on the cutting edge of Green home building. The biggest challenge was getting over the hump of believing that Green design and features can double the cost of a home. Our home (documented at http://www.greenlabron.com) will probably end up costing about 15-20% more because of our Green features. We defined a Green feature as one that we wouldn’t have otherwise wanted to use…so a very efficient HVAC system didn’t qualify as a Green feature for counting extra cost. A rainwater harvesting system did. We opted out of solar energy due to its current high cost, however we had the house pre-wired so that we can take advantage of it when the price drops in 5-7 years. I desperately want to incorporate wind power, but given the average wind speeds in Dallas that’s probably not going to happen (unless I could harness the hot air of Texas politicians).