Studies Make Case for Green Building
NEW YORK — Two studies from McGraw-Hill Construction (MGH) and one developed by Turner Construction, both international building contractors headquartered in New York, show that the demand for green buildings continues to increase despite the struggling worldwide economy.
In fact, one MGH study indicates that 81 percent of U.S. executives believe the public expects them to “institutionalize” sustainability.
“The public now expects organizations to focus on sustainability, report on their efforts and reduce their impacts,” said Stephen Ashkin, CEO of Sustainability Dashboard Tools LLC, an organization that develops tools for companies to create a sustainable work culture, in a statement. “This means sustainability is now becoming an essential part of how business is conducted and part of the corporate culture.”
The results of the studies were released in late 2012 and early 2013, and other key findings include:
• The top reason for building and operating green facilities is costs from energy use, which means organizations are beginning to realize that sustainability translates into lower operating costs over time.
• Green building construction has grown from $10 billion in 2005 to about $85 billion in 2012. This number is expected to double by 2016.
• The number of U.S. firms seeking LEED certification has decreased from 61 percent in 2008 to less than 50 percent today, but it is predicted that LEED will still remain the standard for defining a green building.
• Health-related factors, such as indoor air quality, were said to be some of the key benefits of green building and helped enhance worker productivity.
• Water-use reduction is more important, with 25 percent of study respondents citing reduced water consumption as the one of the reasons to engage in green building, up 4 percent from 2008.
“What I found especially interesting is that the studies indicate U.S. executives are no longer going green just because they think it is the right thing to do,” Ashkin said in a statement. “Today, the bread-and-butter issues like protecting [builder user] health, enhanced worker productivity and lowering operating costs are center stage when it comes to why organizations want to be green and more sustainable.”
The MGH study titled World Green Building Trends stated that over the next three years the sectors with the largest opportunity for green building around the world will include new construction and renovation projects. Sixty-three percent of firms have green work planned in new commercial projects and 45 percent in new institutional projects by 2015, and 50 percent have plans for green renovation work.
“We’ve been on the ground watching the markets shift to green around the world. Today, there are green building councils in 92 countries around the world — more than double what it was when we first looked at the green building market globally in 2008,” said Jane Henley, president of the World Green Building Council, in a statement about the study. “The business case is helping move the markets, and this study underscores the importance of measuring and reporting those benefits.”