by Rebecca Walker — August 4, 2010—Worldwide, the square footage of certified green building space will increase 780 percent, from approximately 6 billion square feet in 2010 to 53 billion square feet in 2020, predicts a new report from Pike Research.
According to the report, about 80 percent of the space will be commercial and will be certified under LEED in the U.S. or BREEAM in Europe. Programs in China and India, however, will be responsible for 30 percent of new certifications.
The report notes, “In many markets, such as Class A office space, green building certification is the standard rather than the exception.” The demand for certified commercial buildings will only grow, says the report, as “many corporations and government agencies are beginning to establish policies that they will only own and occupy spaces that have received green building certification.”
Approximately 60 percent of currently certified commercial space worldwide is in existing buildings, but both that sector and certified new construction will continue to grow. In the residential sector, the vast majority of certified buildings are new construction; this will remain the case over the next ten years.
An executive summary of the report, “Green Building Certification Programs,” is available online.
