A recent report published by McGraw Hill Construction, the real estate research unit of McGraw Hill group, has revealed that a number of companies are moving operations to "Green Buildings".
"Green buildings" offer sustainable and healthy operation facilities. These buildings focus on efficient energy consumption while preserving and protecting the surrounding environment.
The report surveyed around 62 companies around the world.
The study revealed that around 51 percent of the respondents were planning to move 60 percent of their operations to a "green building" by 2015. This was around double the percentage of the number of companies that announced the same in 2008.
The report found that the number of firms planning to move around 60 percent of their operations to green buildings from 2002-15 had tripled in South Africa and doubled in Norway, Brazil and Germany. In regions like the U.K., U.S., Singapore, Australia and the U.A.E, the growth was estimated to be somewhere between 33 percent to 68 percent.
"This report confirms that the green building movement has shifted from 'push' to 'pull'-with markets increasingly demanding no less than green buildings. By promoting greater efficiencies for energy and water, green buildings lower building costs while conserving the earth's precious resources. This powerful combination of built-in payback with environmental stewardship creates a new value proposition that is accelerating green building in all regions of the globe." John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer, UTC Climate( a partner in the survey), said in a press statement.
The main reason behind this shift is the growing imperative of "going green" in today's world, which in turn is influenced by the clients and the market.
However, it was also found that green buildings were beneficial for the companies. Around 76 percent responded that green buildings lowered their operating costs notably.
"The acceleration of the green building marketplace around the world is creating markets for green building products and technologies, which in turn will lead to faster growth of green building. And the fact that green is growing in all parts of the world indicates that there are market opportunities in both established markets as well as developing countries." Harvey Bernstein, vice president of Industry Insights and Alliances at McGraw-Hill Construction said in the statement.
Find the complete results and analysis of the study here.
Now with the rise in demand for "green buildings", The National Association of Home Builders has just released "The 2012 ICC 700 National Green Building Standard TM (NGBS)," which is a builder's guide to "green buildings". Changes in the standard had recently been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
