Looking Past the USGBC Plaque to Make Buildings Greener

Leslie Guevarra
Editor
GreenBiz

Editor's Note: In the runup to the VERGE DC conference, Chris Pyke, the U.S. Green Building Council's research guru, talks about the need for market transformation and the strategy that can make it happen.

Today, more than 1.8 billion square feet of commercial property is certified under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.

And for many, obtaining the shining LEED plaque that attests to green building achievement is a major goal. That's great, say green building advocates, but efforts shouldn't stop there. To transform the built environment in a generation in order to avoid catastrophic damage from climate change lots more needs to happen, and quickly.

To do that, says Chris Pyke, the USGBC's vice president for research, it's necessary to "unpack the plaque" -- to tap into the wellspring of data that's available from buildings themselves about how they are performing.

Report: Build Green to Build a Better America

Jason Hartke
Vice President, National Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

Here at USGBC we often say that green building sits at the nexus of saving energy, saving people and businesses money, and creating jobs.

Yesterday our friends at Environment America put that powerful combination of green building benefits into their own words. The organization, made up of a vast federation of state-based, citizen-funded environmental advocacy groups, released a new study showing how green building is all about…well, the title of the report: Building a Better America: Saving Energy and Money with Efficiency.

Access the report. 

The report details a set of policy opportunities that could help accelerate green building - so much so it could save American families $450 every year in energy and reduce greenhouse gases by 30% from buildings.

What does that mean, though? As the report points out, that’s the equivalent of taking 320 million cars off the road.

“It’s time to build a better America by investing in efficiency,” said Courtney Abrams of Environment America during the launch of the report.

“Bold efficiency measures that slash energy use in our homes and businesses can reduce pollution and save consumers money. The best part about making energy efficiency improvements is that they pay for themselves as consumers enjoy lower energy bills and a cleaner environment year after year,” said Abrams.

Top 10 States for LEED Green Buildings

Ashley Katz
Media Manager
U.S. Green Building Council

Today, USGBC released its top 10 list of states with the most LEED-certified building square footage per capita. The District of Columbia leads the nation, with more than 31 square feet of LEED-certified space per person in 2011, and Colorado is the leading state, with 2.74 square feet per person in 2011. Other top states include Illinois, Virginia and Washington, with 2.69, 2.42 and 2.18 square feet of LEED-certified space per person, respectively.

Clean Energy and Conservation the Silver Bullet the American Economy Needs

Maggie Comstock

Associate, Policy

U.S. Green Building Council

One day the history books could say that the Obama Administration’s stimulus package of 2009 saved the nation from deep and irreparable financial collapse. But one thing we know right now is that the historic $90 billion investment in clean energy was a significant policy decision for unleashing critical market forces and helping ignite a nascent clean energy economy—a decision that continues to pay clear dividends.

Clean energy technology was identified by the Center for American Progress (CAP) as “one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy…projected to grow to $2.3 trillion by 2020.” For example, it is estimated that 827,000 clean energy jobs will have been saved or created nationwide by the fourth quarter of 2012 through the progressive provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Bracken Hendricks, author and senior fellow at CAP, called the green stimulus dollars the “the most important energy bill in American history.” And if we want to spur more new jobs that cannot be outsourced, we need even more innovative policy decisions that spur better clean energy market choices.

That is why clean energy and a more intelligent and resilient infrastructure to deliver that energy are also key components of CAP’s three step approach to further boost job creation: 1) Invest in national infrastructure through existing channels and the creation of an investment bank; 2) Stabilize the housing market through restructuring loans and automatic foreclosure mediation; and 3) Promote residential and commercial energy efficient retrofits.

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the United States has remained unchanged at 9.1%, and that no new jobs have been added to the U.S. economy. Retrofitting our buildings may be the most obvious step forward when buildings consume 70% of all electricity and contribute to 40% of our national greenhouse gas emissions. McKinsey & Co showed that we could create nearly a million jobs by working to bring building energy retrofits to scale. With 25% unemployment in the construction sector, energy efficiency retrofits make our investment dollars go further by creating jobs, saving homeowners and building occupiers utility expenses and reducing our nation’s impact on the environment—called a triple win by some lawmakers.

In a few days the President will address the nation on the current state of unemployment and the economy. We anticipate and hope that his speech will include provisions for ramping up investments in clean energy and conservation. The clean energy economy could be the silver bullet needed to ensure America’s sustainable future—not exclusively in the environmental sense, but as a self-perpetuating and long-term economic solution.

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Greenbuild Green Jobs Summit: The U.S. Green Building Council, in partnership with the Center for American Progress, the BlueGreen Alliance and the BlueGreen Alliance Canada, will host the Green Jobs Summit at Greenbuild 2011 to further explore the role of green jobs in the economy as well as their deployment. The Summit will feature notable experts and sector leaders inlcuding eco-entrepreneuer Majora Carter and Dan Esty, Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for the State of Connecticut.

View the full Green Jobs Summit program »

Visit the Greenbuild 2011 site to register »