My column for the May 2010 issue of Builder & Developer magazine is now online. In this issue, entitled "Green Building Grows from Infant to Toddler,"I review the pros and cons that builders have so far encountered by building green homes as well as future growth prospects. An excerpt:
Now that green building is leaving its infancy and becoming a full-fledged (and often cranky) toddler, although its support among both the public and the industry remains high, some solid pros and cons are beginning to emerge.
According to the 4th Annual Green Building Survey by the law firm Allen Matkins, Construction Technologies Group (CTG) and Green Building Insider, support among over 1,600 design and construction professionals for green building remains extremely high at 92%.
Not surprisingly, the growth of the global green building sector is on a tear, totaling over $500 billion in 2009 and expected to continue growing at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 110% between now and 2015.
And yet as these same professionals now have a few projects completed, they’ve come to realize that accompanying the greater complexity of green building is the perception of more construction risk.
To counteract that risk, some important strategies have emerged, including retaining specialized consultants (including those certified by groups such as the U.S. Green Building Counsel’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED), measuring and re-commissioning existing systems to maximize energy savings, regular testing and, to tie it all together, shifting the risks through insurance contracts.
You can read the entire column by clicking here.
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