Jerry Yudelson, founder of the top notch green building firm Yudelson Associates, and author of some of the best books on Green Building I have read posted what he believes to be the top 10 Green Building Trends for the coming year. Well, he is kind of a big deal, so I for one am listening.
This is more a list of overall industry trends as opposed to specific products and processes. Below is a summary of his points.
1. “There is no sign that the green wave has crested” – Green Building will continue to grow at a rate of 60% or higher this year.
2. The Obama presidency will benefit the Green Building industry as they continue to focus on green job creation, incentives to energy efficiency, and renewable energy.
3. The focus of the green building industry will continue to switch from new buildings to greening existing buildings.
4. Water Use reduction in buildings will become a bigger focus as the awareness level in the global fresh water supply crisis rises.
5. The Green Building movement will go global, and more countries will create their own Green Building councils and incentive structures.
6. Solar Power Use in buildings will grow with the prospect of increasing utility prices at the state level . Third party financing partnerships will continue to grow, providing capital for large rooftop systems.
7. Local government standards and mandates for green buildings will grow. We will see at least 20 major new cities with commercial sector green building mandates.
8. Zero-net-energy designs for new buildings will become increasingly commonplace for both residential and commercial sectors.
9. The retail sector will begin to embrace green building and operations as they are becoming more conscious of the importance and possible competitive advantage of green operations and endeavors.
10. European green building technologies will become better known and more widely adopted in the United States. Yudelson wrote a book on green building trends in europe.
ALSO – University Campus Sustainability plans and actions will become the defining trend in higher education with over 800 schools looking to embrace a response to climate change.
Tags: green building trends 2010, Jerry Yudelson
[...] which continue to lead the way when it comes to green building. Last week I wrote a post about Jerry Yudelson’s top ten green building trends for 2010. Just a week later and they are already coming true, as trend number 7 involved mandated green [...]