Coatings World - December 2015

categories varies substantially, with the latter being much more costly. The share of Pure Acrylic has been increasing in recent years and although it still has a small share in volume, it already accounts for a substantial share of the value.

All research was undertaken between July and October 2015 from our offices in London, New Jersey, New Delhi and Beijing. The research took the form of an extensive telephone interview programme with senior executives at major coatings companies in each of the countries covered. The information provided has been crosschecked and validated using other online information, published statistical data and trade association data.

Country reports are priced individually, and will be available to purchase online at IRL’s website: www.informa-tionresearch.co.uk.

New Study Finds Green
Construction is Major U.S.
Economic Driver

The green building sector is outpacing overall construction growth in the U.S. and will account for more than 2.3 million American jobs this year, according to a new U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) study from Booz Allen Hamilton.

The 2015 Green Building Economic Impact Study, released today by USGBC and prepared by Booz Allen, finds the green building industry contributes more than $134.3 billion in labor income to working Americans. The study also found that green construction’s growth rate is rapidly outpacing that of conventional construction and will continue to rise.

By 2018, the study finds, green construction will account for more than 3. 3 million U.S. jobs–more than one-third of the entire U.S. construction sector–and generate $190.3 billion in labor earnings. The industry’s direct contribution to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is also expected to reach $303.5 billion from 2015-2018.

“Green building is playing a mas-
sive role in the U.S. construction sec-
tor, the clean and efficient energy sector
and the U.S. economy as a whole,” said
Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair,
USGBC. “More than 2.3 million U.S.
workers are taking home $134 billion
annually in large part because of green
building programs like LEED. Demand
for green building will only continue to
grow as individuals, businesses and insti-
tutions continue to prioritize sustainable
approaches to the design, construction
and operations of our built environment.”
The new USGBC analysis also ex-
plores the multifaceted economic con-
tribution of green construction to the
U.S. economy and individual U.S. states,
quantifying the economic impact of green
building and LEED (Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design).
“Our research shows that green build-
ing has created millions of jobs and con-
tributed hundreds of billions of dollars to
the U.S. economy, with the construction of
LEED-certified buildings accounting for
about 40 percent of green construction’s
overall contribution to GDP in 2015,”
said David Erne, a Senior Associate at
Booz Allen. “This industry is certainly
on the rise, and aggressive growth in the
green building sector is anticipated over
the next four years.”
In addition to national jobs, GDP
and labor earnings from green building,
the study projects significant growth in
green building’s contribution to indi-
vidual states’ tax contributions and en-
vironmental asset indicators at both the
national and state levels.

Total state earnings related to LEED building construction projects are estimated to total $8.4 billion by 2018. In Texas alone, almost 1.26 million jobs in the green building sector are projected between 2015 and 2018. As a result, green building will also contribute to significant savings across energy, trash, water and maintenance costs.

Self-healing Coatings and
Parts Are Next Frontier for
Smart Materials

Recent advances and ongoing improvements will help rapid and low-cost development of smart materials, and the next wave of innovation will be in self-healing coatings and parts, according to Lux Research.

Smart materials – those that
change their properties in response to
environmental stimuli, pro-
viding dynamic functionality
– range from everyday items
like photochromic lenses that
darken in sunlight to complex ceramics
and nanocomposites used in electron-
ics. Emerging classes of smart mate-
rials include self-healing materials,
sensing materials, and shape memory
materials, each of which has many po-
tential applications.

“Today, researchers are beginning
to develop software tools for predicting
what structures will result in what smart
properties. As a result, in the next five to
ten years, these kinds of smart materials
may become much faster and cheaper
to develop,” said Anthony Vicari, Lux
Research Analyst and the lead author
of the report titled, “Get Smart: Smart
Materials as a Design Paradigm.”
Lux Research analysts studied advanc-
es in the development of smart materials
and their adoption by industry. Among
their findings:
The focus is on self-healing materi-
als. With applications in composites and
coatings, self-healing materials are set to
be the next frontier for smart materials.
Such materials automatically repair dam-
age to themselves through one of several
chemical mechanisms.

Varied companies hold patents. Over 300,000 patents have been granted across all smart material families even though few mention the term “smart material” in their titles, abstracts or claims. Patent filings peaked in 2012 at about 100,000, and top patent holders include heavyweights such as Siemens, IBM, GE and Samsung.

Commercialization can occur rapidly when conditions are right. Many classes of smart materials had long incubation times, but saw very rapid commercialization once the time was right. Pieozelectric materials were long relegated to niche applications before booming due to adoption in mainstream products such as inkjet printers, digital cameras and smartphones.