Paint makers and their raw material
suppliers are key players in the green
building boom taking place in the U.S.
BY TIM WRIGHT
EDITOR
The booming field of “green building” continues to grow
even as the mortgage crisis has pushed the U.S. economy into a downward spiral leading to a current construction crash. The level of construction starts in 2009 is
expected to decline seven percent to $515 billion following a
12% decline predicted for 2008, according to McGraw-Hill
Construction’s “2009 Construction Outlook.”
“We know there will be a slowdown in new construction
while the economy sorts itself out, but even so, we’re seeing
continued interest in green building practices particularly
as it relates to greening existing buildings,” said Ashley
Katz, communications manager, U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC). “Now more than ever people want to
save on utility bills, and green buildings use less energy
and water, and cost less to operate and maintain.”
In addition, Katz said that green buildings do not cost
more than conventional buildings. “In fact, the upfront costs
for a high performance office building average only one to
two percent of the overall budget,” she said. “Once the building is operational, money savings kick in. The average return
on investment is 20% over the buildings lifetime.”
The fuel behind the green building boom is a combination of
factors. “Green building benefits the building occupants
through increased levels of health, safety and productivity,”
said Katz. “At the same time building owners benefit from a
better bottom-line gained through energy savings, increased
productivity, reduced absenteeism and turnover, and happier
employees. Also, green building reduces resource use and the
impact of building on the land. Additionally, building green
stimulates the economy by creating a demand for ‘green-collar’
jobs and workers to make these improvements, and that will
contribute directly to creating a sustainable future.”
So what exactly is green building? The National Paint
and Coatings Association (NPCA) defines green building, or
sustainable building, as the practice of creating and using
healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction,
renovation, operation, maintenance and demolition. There are
many facets of green building: energy efficiency and renewable
energy, water efficiency, environmentally preferable building
materials and specifications, waste reduction, toxics reduction
and indoor air quality.
GREEN BUILDING MARKET TRENDS & OUTLOOK
Given the amount of energy both residential and non-residential buildings consume, reducing the amount of natural
resources buildings consume and the amount of pollution
given off is important for future sustainability. At the
moment green building is more prevalent in commercial
building, and hasn’t become as widespread in residential
construction.
In 2004, green building comprised approximately two percent of the new U.S. non-residential construction market,
which translates to approximately a $3.3 billion industry. In
2006 McGraw-Hill Construction projected that by 2010,
between five to ten percent of new non-residential construction
starts will be designed using the principles of green building. It
forecasted U.S. non-residential construction starts will be
worth approximately $204.5 billion in 2010. A projected growth
of five to ten percent translates to a green building market valued between $10.2 billion and $20.5 billion.
Attendance figures from USGBC’s annual Greenbuild
Expo serve as a good barometer of just how fast the green
building market is growing. The number of registered
attendees has sextupled from just over 4,000 at its 2002
inaugural conference to more than 22,000 last year. The
number of exhibitors has grown from 220 to nearly 500
during the same time period while the number of countries
represented has grown from 27 to 66.
