Monday, February 16, 2009

A 'Top Ten Trends' List Worth Reading

One of the green building movement's leading experts, Jerry Yudelson, recently put together his "Top Ten trends for 2009." Yudelson writes for iGreenBuild.com. The list is based on conversations he has had with green building experts in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East. Yudelson expects green building to continue its healthy growth pace even in the midst of a recession.

"Green building will continue to grow more than 60 percent in 2009, on a cumulative basis," Yudelson says. "We’ve seen cumulative growth in new LEED projects over 60 percent per year since 2006, in fact 80 percent in 2008, and there’s no sign that the green wave has crested." (In the lodging industry, there are still fewer than 20 LEED certified hotels but there are more than 500 projects registered. This is a dramatic increase from just a year ago.)

"The focus of green building will begin to switch from new buildings to greening existing buildings," Yudelson says. "The fastest growing LEED rating system in 2008 was the LEED for Existing Buildings program, and I expect this trend to continue in 2009." (Most registered LEED projects in the lodging industry have been for new construction but this is beginning to change, with properties such as The Ambrose and The Avalon already achieving LEED for Existing Buildings certification.)

To read Yudelson's trends article, click here.

No comments: