Greenbuild 2013 in Philadelphia is approaching (November, 20-22). It will also be the time to present officially, to the widest possible audience, the novelties of the new LEED v4 certification system. If you are not yet convinced of the impact of buildings on the environment and on energy consumption, and/or if you do not know the numbers of the exponential growth of LEED in the world … well, if you want to learn more, these are the green building facts, straight from the pages of the U.S. Green Building Council.
The problem vs the opportunity.
Energy consumption:
- Buildings: 41%
- Industrial: 30%
- Transportation: 29%
In the U.S., buildings account for:
- 39% of all CO2 emissions
- 72% of electricity consumption
Buildings use 13.6% of all potable water, or 15 trillion gallons per year.
Buildings use 40% of raw materials globally (3 billion tons annually).
The solution: LEED®
Green buildings consume less energy. Compared to the average commercial building, the LEED Gold buildings in the General Services Administration’s portfolio generally:
- Consume 25% less energy and 11% less water
- Have 19% lower maintenance costs; 27% higher occupant satisfaction; 34% lower greenhouse gas emissions
LEED projects are responsible for diverting over 80 million tons of waste from landfills, which is expected to grow to 540 million tons of waste diversion by 203o.
The market.
More than 2.7 billion square feet of building space are LEED-certified (as of October 1, 2013).
41% of all nonresidential building starts in 2012 are green, as compared to 2% of all nonresidential building starts in 2005.
With energy efficiency financing having the potential to soar from $20 to $150 billion annually, over one million jobs could be created.
The number of LEED certified federal building projects in the U.S. increased by more than 50 percent from 2011 to 2012.
Let’s retrofit! Square footage of LEED-certified existing buildings surpassed LEED-certified new construction by 15 million square feet on a cumulative basis. Approximately 61% of all construction projects are retrofit projects. The market share of retrofit projects that are green is expected to rise to 20-30% in 2014.
An analysis of 7,100 projects certified under LEED for New Construction found:
- 92.2% are improving energy performance by 10.5%
- 89% are improving energy performance by 14%
Industry Sectors with the Highest Penetration of Green Building:
- Education
- Health care
- Office
Top 10 Cities in the U.S.A. for LEED: Certified & Registered
- New York, NY
- Washington, DC
- Chicago, IL
- Houston, TX
- San Francisco, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Seattle, WA
- Atlanta, GA
- San Diego, CA
- Boston, MA
Top 10 States in the U.S.A. for LEED: Certified & Registered
(LEED Platinum)
- California
- Texas
- New York
- Florida
- Pennsylvania
- Illinois
- Virginia
- Maryland
- Georgia
- Washington
LEED is becoming increasingly international: 40% of all projects pursuing LEED are located outside of the U.S.
Top 10 Countries outside of the U.S. for LEED: Certified & Registered
- China
- United Arab Emirates
- Brazil
- Canada
- India
- Mexico
- Germany
- Turkey
- Chile
- Korea
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