Green Building Industry Continues to Grow

October 7, 2015 1749 Views Daikin Applied, Eastern U.S., Healthcare Corporation, remote, school HVAC

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has recently released its 2015 Green Building Economic Impact Study, which shows rapid growth in the green building industry.

The study, released in late September, revealed that the green building sector is outpacing overall construction growth in the U.S. and will account for more than 2.3 million American jobs in 2015. The study also found that the green building industry contributes more than $134.3 billion in labor income to working Americans.

As the economic impact for 2015 is substantial, the green building industry is only continuing to grow, according to the study. By 2018, green construction will make up more than 3.3 million U.S. jobs, generate $190.3 billion in labor earnings, and the industry’s direct contribution to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is also expected to reach $305.5 billion from 2015 to 2018, according to the study.

“Green building is playing a massive role in the U.S. construction sector, the clean and efficient energy sector and the U.S. economy as a whole,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair of USGBC, in a statement. “Demand for green building will only continue to grow as individuals, businesses and institutions continue to prioritize sustainable approaches to the design, construction and operations of our built environment.”

As the trend continues, the total state earnings related to LEED building construction projects are estimated to total $8.4 billion by 2018, according to the study.

“Our research shows that green building has created millions of jobs and contributed to hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, with the construction of LEED-certified buildings accounting for about 40 percent of green construction’s overall contribution to GDP in 2015,” according to a statement by David Erne, senior associate at Booz Allen, the company responsible for helping to gather the study’s information. “The industry is certainly on the rise, and aggressive growth in the green building sector is anticipated over the next four years.”