As our country continues to move to a deeper shade of green, so are our buildings. In the United States, more than 2,000,000 acres of open space, wildlife habitat, and wetlands are developed each year. This development also accounts for almost half of the total energy consumed by our country. Green building aims to increase the efficiency with which buildings use resources — energy, water, and materials — while reducing negative impacts on human health and the environment during the building’s lifecycle.1 According to the EPA, this goal is achieved through, “efficiently using energy, water, and other resources, protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity, and reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation.”2 While we continue to look for ways to reduce our overall impact on the environment, green building proves to be a promising option for the future.
Already, many steps have been taken at the state and federal level to encourage builders to go green. In the 1990s we saw the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy launch the ENERGY STAR program and the U.S. Green Building Council launch the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. More recently, the Energy Policy Act passed in 2005 including federal building sustainable performance standards, and in 2007 President Bush signed Executive Order 13423 – Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management-including federal goals for sustainable design and high performance buildings. Also passed in 2007, The Energy Independence and Security Act includes requirements for high performance green federal buildings. At the local level, starting in 2010, Washington, D.C. will make the actual energy bills of large commercial buildings a matter of public record; smaller buildings (down to 50,000 ft2, or 5,000 m2) will be added in subsequent years. The state of California, through Assembly Bill 1103, is also phasing in a mandatory energy use reporting requirement, beginning, like D.C., with government buildings before extending to the private sector.3
Although the green movement is picking up momentum, sustainability on a large, national scale is a big task at hand. Green building and green resources still remain a small percentage of the total market shares. This could be attributed to misguided information, “A recent survey by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development finds that green costs are overestimated by 300 percent, as key players in real estate and construction estimate the additional cost at 17 percent above conventional construction, more than triple the true average cost difference of about 5 percent.”4
The green building community is not giving up! More and more interest, research, education, and public awareness are geared toward this sector. The U.S. Green Building Council has published its 2009-2013 strategic plan for promoting green building at the national level. Some of the main goals of this report include:
• Sustainable Cities and Communities: Catalyze and lead the building sector’s active participation in the movement to achieve sustainable cities and communities
• Climate and Natural Resources: Lead the dramatic reduction and eventual elimination of building construction and operations’ contribution to climate change and natural resourcedepletion
• Green Building Marketplace: Accelerate green building demand, delivery, and accessibility
• Public Policy: Advocate for effective and comprehensive green building policy and codes at all levels of government.
• International: Advance green building around the world by developing certification capacity, sharing knowledge, and collaboratively advancing regionally appropriate and effective green building practices and policies.
• Organizational Excellence: Leverage USGBC’s organizational structure and capacity to support and catalyze the market transformation required to achieve its mission.
At the community level, green building events and resources are popping up every year. This past September 2008, West Coast Green, the largest milestone in the green innovation movement, opened its doors in San Jose, CA at the Green Building Conference. The conference included “over 380 exhibitors showcasing the latest in resource-efficiency among a stunning array of green and healthy building products. Over 100 experts and visionary leaders presented their latest developments, insights, and inspiration at the expanding frontiers of the field. And over 14,000 attendees including the entire chain of professionals and decision-makers rarely reached by other conferences.”5 Green is on the rise-and will hopefully be mandatory on our country’s’ next high-rise!
