Green Buildings and Development

Development Challenges in the 21st Century

The 21st Century will be one of intense urbanization, particularly in China and India where over 70% of the world's building and infrastructure construction will occur. This building boom will strain energy, water and material resources and cause costs to soar.

In China, seven hundred thousands of hectares are developed each year, including 3 million mu farmland and other sensitive lands. Over 80% of China's water treated for human use is consumed in buildings. Buildings account for roughly 40-45% of China's primary energy use including the industrial energy to manufacture building materials, which ranges between 10-15%. Finally, as China's population urbanizes, people spend more time indoors, they are exposed to cooking and cigarette smoke, chemicals and biological contaminants that cause health problems, lost productivity and lower quality of life. Already, due to pressures from Chinese construction alone, materials costs have risen nearly 30% in the last two years and India's boom is just beginning.

In response, countries worldwide are adopting stringent energy, water and green building standards. Green buildings reduce resource consumption up to 70% and, when properly integrated, result in comparable costs to standard construction. Unfortunately green building technology and know-how is in short supply, particularly in China and India.

The Green Building Market

Green Buildings, Smart Growth Development and Corporate Sustainability is an international trend that is growing at nearly 50% per year. This trend is rapidly changing the face of the design and construction markets worldwide because it simultaneously improves both the environmental and economic performance of buildings and cities, while reducing the negative environmental impacts from construction, urbanization and corporate activities.

The U.S. market potential for green buildings is approximately $75 billion annually, while the realized value is roughly $5 billion. A conservative estimate of China's potential annual market for energy efficient green buildings is over $55 billion within 5 years. India's ultimate market should approach that of China's but not for several years.

The LEED Green Building Rating System ( Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, http://www.usgbc.org/leed), has stimulated over 50 million square meters of green development worldwide, representing over $US 50 billion in green building investment. LEED is expanding rapidly into a variety of building types and into community- and city-level certification.