by Rebecca Walker — November 9, 2009—Green building activity has sustained impressive growth during 2009, amid a brutal construction market that has decimated other segments of the construction marketplace, according to the 2009 Green Building Market & Impact Report published by GreenerBuildings.com.
Report author Rob Watson said floor area registered and certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green building rating system in 2009 is estimated to grow by more than 40 percent compared to last year’s totals, for a cumulative total of more than 7 billion square feet worldwide since the standard was launched in 2000.
The annual report, which can be freely downloaded, assesses the environmental impacts of green building as well as its impact on the overall building market.
It found that while dramatic declines in 2009 U.S. new non-residential construction might result in construction starts dipping below the one billion square foot mark for the first time in many years, registrations of LEED new construction projects in the U.S. are expected to exceed 1 billion square feet.
The report also assesses the impact of green building outside the United States. According to Watson, non-U.S. green building reached nearly 800 million square feet of registered projects in 2009, representing more than a fourth of all project square footage. Non-U.S. LEED projects could show a 30 percent increase in registration this year, thanks in large part to green building booms in China, India, and the Middle East. Green building is also growing quickly in Europe, notably Germany and Italy.
