A greener world

Since the establishment of the U.S. Green Building Council in 1993 and the United Kingdom-based Building Research Establishment in 1990, many organizations have formed around the world to promote green building. Currently, the World Green Building Council, Toronto, recognizes 20 established green building councils worldwide, with more than 40 other national-scale groups seeking similar status in the next few years (See Fig. 1.1), according to the research report "Green Building Certification Programs," published by Pike Research LLC, Boulder, Colo.

Although awareness of green building has risen dramatically in the last three years—particularly in North America, Western Europe and highly developed parts of the Asia Pacific region—it is still just taking hold in many developing countries, where the construction markets are not necessarily ready to provide the products and services required in green building certification programs. Still, worldwide certified green building space is expected to grow from about 6 billion square feet in 2010 to about 53 billion square feet in 2020 (See Chart 1.1), according to the report.

Driving this growth: a growing sense of corporate social responsibility on behalf of building owners; increased brand value of certified green projects; the opportunity to reduce operating expenses through energy efficiency; and most importantly, regulatory requirements. As to what the market will look like in 10 years, Pike Research predicts commercial buildings will account for about 80 percent of space certified under green building programs in 2020. While the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program and the U.K.'s Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method program will dominate the North American and European green building markets, newly developed programs in China and India are likely to represent about 30 percent of all certified green new construction by the end of the decade.

To purchase a full copy of the "Green Building Certification Programs" report, including market analysis and forecasts for global green certification programs for new and existing buildings in the commercial and residential sectors, write Pike Research at sales@pikeresearch.com.