Earth Advantage Institute:TOP TEN GREEN BUILDING TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2010
Posted on Friday, January 15th, 2010
According to the Earth Advantage Institute, this is the top ten trends in green building for 2010:
1. The smart grid and connected home. While utilities will continue to make upgrades to the grid
for more effective generation, storage and distribution of power, the big news is in the home.
The development of custom and web-based display panels that show real-time home energy
use, and even real-time energy use broken out by individual appliance, will go a long way
towards helping change homeowners’ energy behavior and drive energy conservation. In the
same way that the Toyota Prius miles-per-gallon indicator has motivated some owners to
modify driving habits, these home “dashboards” may create “extreme energy” buffs intent on
reaching individual energy goals specified for the home by rating systems such as the Energy
Performance Score.
2. Energy labeling for homes and office buildings. The advent of more accurate energy rating
systems for homes and office spaces – similar to the miles-per-gallon sticker on your car – has
caught the attention of energy agencies and legislators around the country. Not only can it make
a building-to-building or home-to-home comparison easier, but a publicly available score on the
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) could galvanize owners to make needed energy improvements
while adding value to their building. A post-improvement audit can also measure the
effectiveness of upgrades, a useful tool for gauging results of stimulus funding for retrofits. In
Oregon and Washington, the Energy Performance Score has been written into recent bills to
explore mandatory energy labeling at the time of any transaction.
3. Building information modeling (BIM) software. The continued evolution of CAD software for
building design has produced new add-on tools with increasingly accurate algorithms for energy
modeling as well as embedded energy properties for many materials and features. This will
prove instrumental in predicting building performance. BIM developers will soon be offering
more affordable packages aimed at smaller firms and individual builders. Contractors are
predicted to show the greatest increase in usage of BIM compared with any other group,
according to market research firm McGraw Hill Construction.
4. Buy-in to green building by the financial community. Lenders and insurers have come to see
green homes and buildings as better for their bottom line and are working to get new reducedrate
loan products, insurance packages, and metrics into place. Lenders and insurers are
realizing that green home owners are more responsible, place higher value on maintenance, and
are less likely to default due to lower operating costs of homes and office buildings.
5. “Rightsizing” of homes. As we’ve seen during the current downturn, a larger home no longer
translates into greater equity. Given that the forecast for home valuation remains conservative,
that energy prices are expected to rise over time, and the Federal Reserve is expected to raise
interest rates mid-year, homeowners will likely feel more comfortable building smaller homes
and smaller add-ons.
6. Eco-districts. Portland is already on the bandwagon with this one, encouraging the creation of
greener communities where residents have access to all most services and supplies within
walking or biking distance. These areas would also incorporate green spaces and green certified
buildings. While we have such neighborhoods in the cities, the creation of walkable, low impact
communities in the suburban setting is also gaining steam.
7. Water conservation. Because indoor and outdoor residential water use accounts for more than
half of the publicly supplied water in the United States, the EPA finalized the WaterSense
specification for new homes in December of 2009, which reduces water use by about 20 percent
less water compared to a conventional new home. Verification groups that certify single and
multifamily homes will likely also train the same staff to verify WaterSense compliance when
requested by builders or homeowners. Mandatory energy labeling in Europe already documents
water efficiency in buildings — it may soon be incorporated into U.S. performance scores. Water
will be the essential resource in the next decade.
8. Carbon Calculation. With buildings contributing roughly half the carbon emissions in the the
environement, the progressive elements in the building industry are looking at ways to
document, measure, and reduce greenhouse gas creation in building materials and processes.
Lifecycle analysis (LCA) of building products is underway by third party technical teams, while
others are working with federal and state building authorities to educate staff, create monetized
carbon credits, and develop effective carbon offset policies. This effort will be heightened once
a federal cap-and-trade mechanism is launched in this country.
9. Net Zero Buildings. A net zero building is a building that generates more energy than it uses
over the course of a year, as a result of relatively small size, extreme efficiencies and onsite
renewable energy sources such as wind, solar or geo-exchange systems. While the Architecture
2030 Challenge sets forth net zero as the goal for all buildings in 2030, we are already within
striking distance on many fronts. Building extreme efficiency into a structure is highly cost
effective, and achieves the bulk of the net zero effort. Oregon already has several net zero
homes, and the planned Oregon Sustainability Center is an example of a net zero office building.
10. Sustainable building education. While the slowdown afforded many builders the opportunity to
learn about green building and establish credentials, the momentum for green building is being
supplied by homebuyers, homeowners and building owners. The continued demand, especially
in progressive cities, will supply new learning opportunities, not just for designers and builders
but for the entire chain of professionals involved in the building industry, from real estate to
finance, and insurance. These peripheral professionals seek to know more about the features
and benefits of sustainable construction in order to place an appropriate value on a green
building. In this way they can be assured that there will not be a disconnect between the
homeowner’s or builder’s perceived value and the appraiser’s perceived value, and all parties
can benefit from the greening of the building industry.”
