Jerry Yudelson of Tucson-based Green Building Consultant, Yudelson Associates, projects that the green building industry will grow significantly in 2009. Yudelson has just published his Top Ten List of Green Building Trends for the coming year. In it, he shows great enthusiasm for the industry despite the macro economic conditions resulting from the credit crisis and other economic malaise.
"What we're seeing is that more people are going green each year, and
there is nothing on the horizon that will stop this trend," explains Yudelson. "In putting together my Top Ten trends for 2009,
I'm taking advantage of conversations I've had with green building leaders in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East over the past year."
We're very glad that Jerry agrees that we will see an increase in the greening of existing buildings this year (see #3). We believe that lighting retrofit projects are one of the easiest to plan, design and complete and they also provide one of the quickest return on investments. Lighting retrofit projects are the "low hanging fruit" of the green building movement for existing buildings. Jerry's complete top ten list is shown below.
Yudelson's Top Ten trends includes the following:
- The green building industry
will continue to grow more than 60 percent in 2009, on a cumulative
basis.
- Green building will benefit from the new Obama presidency, with a strong focus on green jobs in energy efficiency, new green technologies and renewable energy. This trend will last for at least the next four years.
- The focus of green building will begin to switch from new buildings
to greening existing buildings.
- Awareness of the coming global crisis in fresh water supply will increase, leading building designers and managers to take further steps to reduce water consumption in buildings with more conserving fixtures, rainwater recovery systems and innovative new water technologies.
- LEED Platinum-rated projects will become more commonplace as building
owners, designers and construction teams learn how to design for higher
levels of LEED achievement on conventional budgets.
- Solar power use in buildings will accelerate with the extension of solar energy tax credits
for buildings through 2016 and the prospect of increasing utility focus
on renewable power goals for 2015 and 2020. As before, third-party
financing partnerships will continue to grow and provide capital for
large rooftop systems.
- Local governments will increasingly mandate green buildings from both themselves and the private sector. While concern over economic impacts of green buildings mandates will be present, the desire to reduce carbon emission by going green will lead more government agencies to require green buildings.
- Zero net energy designs for new buildings will gain increasing
acceptance in both public and private buildings.
- Green homes will come to dominate new home developments in more
sections of the U.S., as builders increasingly see green as a source of
competitive advantage.
- European green building technologies will become better known and more widely adopted in the U.S. and Canada.
About Yudelson Associates: Yudelson Associates is a leading international firm in sustainability planning and green building consulting. The founder, Jerry Yudelson, is widely acknowledged as one of the nation's leading experts on green building and green development. He is the author of eight green building books
and serves as Research Scholar for Real Estate Sustainability for the
International Council of Shopping Centers, a 70,000-member
international trade organization. He is a frequent green building
speaker at industry and professional conferences and chaired the
industry's largest annual show, Greenbuild, from 2004 through 2008. For more information visit http://www.greenbuildconsult.com.
via Building Design & Construction