According to the 2009 Green Building Market & Impact Report, the green building sector has maintained constant growth throughout 2009 despite a coarse year for the construction market, which has essentially terminated subdivision expansion.
Flooring Metric
Report author Rob Watson states that, by late 2009, flooring registered and certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building rating classification is anticipated to advance by over 40 percent compared to last year's totals; with a collective total reaching over 7 billion square feet internationally since the criterion was introduced in 2000.
The annual Green Building Market & Impact Report weighs the environmental influence of green home building, as well as its impact on the global construction market.
Key points analyze the total water savings and annual carbon dioxide savings from LEED through 2009, growth in green building jobs, as well as sustainable building material costs when compared to the standard.
Watson goes on to evaluate the impact of the green building boom outside the United States, estimating heavy expansion in non-U.S. LEED projects throughout countries such as China, India, and the Middle East; with Europe, notably Germany and Italy, also developing significantly.
Green Jobs for a Green Building Workforce
An average of at least 580,000 employees are currently enjoying improved indoor environments in LEED buildings at present, and the "green building workforce" is expected to approach 29 million by 2020 and almost 64 million by 2030.
The productivity benefits from LEED buildings to date range from $230 to $450 million.
Accumulating Green Building Benefits into 2030
Total water savings from LEED through 2009 is estimated at 15 billion gallons, comprising 0.5% of annual non-residential water use. By 2030, LEED results in nearly 1.3 trillion gallons of saved water, equivalent to 30% of current annual non-residential water use.
Annual carbon dioxide savings from LEED buildings is approximately 2.9 million tons from energy efficiency and renewables, a figure that is expected to grow to 130 million tons per year by 2020 and almost 320 million tons annually by 2030.
Not So Obvious Benefits of Greener Buildings
Air quality is often overlooked as a benefit of greener buildings. The author of "Green Building Market & Impact Report" points out that "While operational savings are real and important, we believe that the financial benefits in LEED are largely achieved through the enhancement of employee productivity. Salaries represent approximately 90% of the money flow through a building, the rest being amortized construction costs and operations and maintenance, including utilities.
"For our estimates of green building benefits from LEED, we assume a conservative range of 1%-2% productivity increase in "built-to" and LEED-certified projects, respectively, from the aggregate of the indoor environmental quality measures rewarded by LEED."
They back up their indoor-air quality claims based on a San Diego study of 5,000 tenants in 124 buildings found that for tenants selfreporting higher productivity and fewer sick days taken, these increases were approximately 6%. Studies reviewed by the University of San Diego researchers covering a range of work situations showed productivity increases from green building measures ranging from 1% in manufacturing to over 25% in an Australian law office.
RESOURCE: © 2009 Greener World Media, Inc. (www.greenerworldmedia.com).
The embodied energy in buildings that are renovated instead of demolished is expected to save as much energy in 2030 as we import this year from Saudi Arabia.
Flooring Metric
Report author Rob Watson states that, by late 2009, flooring registered and certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building rating classification is anticipated to advance by over 40 percent compared to last year's totals; with a collective total reaching over 7 billion square feet internationally since the criterion was introduced in 2000.
The annual Green Building Market & Impact Report weighs the environmental influence of green home building, as well as its impact on the global construction market.
Key points analyze the total water savings and annual carbon dioxide savings from LEED through 2009, growth in green building jobs, as well as sustainable building material costs when compared to the standard.
Watson goes on to evaluate the impact of the green building boom outside the United States, estimating heavy expansion in non-U.S. LEED projects throughout countries such as China, India, and the Middle East; with Europe, notably Germany and Italy, also developing significantly.
Green Jobs for a Green Building Workforce
An average of at least 580,000 employees are currently enjoying improved indoor environments in LEED buildings at present, and the "green building workforce" is expected to approach 29 million by 2020 and almost 64 million by 2030.
The productivity benefits from LEED buildings to date range from $230 to $450 million.
Accumulating Green Building Benefits into 2030
Total water savings from LEED through 2009 is estimated at 15 billion gallons, comprising 0.5% of annual non-residential water use. By 2030, LEED results in nearly 1.3 trillion gallons of saved water, equivalent to 30% of current annual non-residential water use.
Annual carbon dioxide savings from LEED buildings is approximately 2.9 million tons from energy efficiency and renewables, a figure that is expected to grow to 130 million tons per year by 2020 and almost 320 million tons annually by 2030.
Not So Obvious Benefits of Greener Buildings
Air quality is often overlooked as a benefit of greener buildings. The author of "Green Building Market & Impact Report" points out that "While operational savings are real and important, we believe that the financial benefits in LEED are largely achieved through the enhancement of employee productivity. Salaries represent approximately 90% of the money flow through a building, the rest being amortized construction costs and operations and maintenance, including utilities.
"For our estimates of green building benefits from LEED, we assume a conservative range of 1%-2% productivity increase in "built-to" and LEED-certified projects, respectively, from the aggregate of the indoor environmental quality measures rewarded by LEED."
They back up their indoor-air quality claims based on a San Diego study of 5,000 tenants in 124 buildings found that for tenants selfreporting higher productivity and fewer sick days taken, these increases were approximately 6%. Studies reviewed by the University of San Diego researchers covering a range of work situations showed productivity increases from green building measures ranging from 1% in manufacturing to over 25% in an Australian law office.
RESOURCE: © 2009 Greener World Media, Inc. (www.greenerworldmedia.com).