Building Business

The Coolest, Most Innovative Green Building Products of 2010

Winning market share in the building products industry isn’t that heard. Just converge stunning design, innovative thinking, strong utility and sustainable efficiency into a value unmatched by your competitors. Pretty easy, right? It was for these 16 products identified by Preston Koerner in the article for Jetson Green, 16 Green Building Innovations of 2010. Our favorites? PowerPly solar panels by Lumeta, Inc. are backed with an adhesive and are applied directly to the roof, reducing installation time and material costs. Plumen 001 light bulbs by Hulger last eight times longer than regular incandescents and saves 80 percent on energy bills. Especially cool is the eMonitor whole house energy monitor by PowerHouse Dynamics which provides electricity use, cost and carbon footprint information in real-time. 

@NeilAndrewJames

Green Builders Ignoring Recession as Business Soars

No different from any other industry, the construction sector overall has been affected by the current recession. Despite this fact, the green building market is on the rise - in a big way. As Earthandindustry.com reports in a new article, Despite Recession, Green Building Soars in U.S., green building represented 25 percent of all new construction activity in 2010 and that the value of green building construction starts was up 50 percent. And the growth spurt still expected to rise. Not only is it positive to know that green companies are thriving in this market, it will be a tremendous benefit to our environment. 

@JoniArtz

Seven Green Building Predictions for 2011

With each year, not only have green technologies grown, but so has consumer demand for sustainability. So where is green going next year? Mitchell Funk and the team at Green Building Pro has released their second annual list of green building predictions in the article Green Trends in 2011. Among their predictions, Green Building Pro foresees strong growth in Building Information Modeling (BIM) which provides designs for more sustainable buildings and helps optimize construction practices for efficiency. In addition, Green Building Pro predicts a wider variety of options for builders to finance energy efficient improvements, including new tax credits, utility rebates and state grants. 

@NeilAndrewJames

New Green Ratings System Created to Certify New Products

The Green Products Innovation Institute (GPII), created by William McDonough, California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger and representatives of Shaw Industries Group, is a nonprofit that further developed the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certification process by creating a rating system to certify new products.  As discussed in a recent article for Eco Structure, Green Products Innovation Institute Launched, C2C criteria assess products in five areas: material health, take-back, renewable energy, clean water, and social fairness. The GPII certification will allow companies to share details of the chemistry makeup of its products in an effort to eliminate harmful and contaminated materials in all products produced in California. 

@NeilAndrewJames

Wall Street Journal: Builders Failing at Green Building

Sustainability. LEED. Net-Zero. These terms, alien to the building products industry a decade ago, are now fixtures in the industry’s lexicon. With all the emphasis on green practices, initiatives designed to reduce the environmental footprint of homes surely have been successful, right? Hold the phone, says Dawn Wotapka in an article for the Wall Street Journal, Home Builders Lag in Building Green. According to Wotapka, innovation hasn’t been the problem. Builders are introducing more eco-friendly features than ever before. Where they are lacking, Wotapka says, has been in stimulating consumer demand and effectively communicating the benefits of going green, overcoming price objections. Despite industry shortcomings, Wotapka notes however, mega-builders such as KB Home and Pulte have maintained a strong commitment to efficient, economical and eco-friendly homes.

@NeilAndrewJames

Few Believe Completely Green Homes Are Affordable

Consumers and builders alike believe in the importance of and the benefits to green building. The disconnect is occurring when the waiter brings the check. And although nearly everyone believes that green homes are affordable to live in, a new survey, as chronicled in an article for ApplianceMagazine, Green Homes Seen As Affordable to Live In, Expensive to Build, found that only high-income respondents believed a completely green home would be affordable to purchase. These opinions were not exclusive to homebuyers. A similar builder survey found that 30 percent of builders felt that green homes were too expensive for middle-income families. Sixty percent builders felt the same about green homes and low-income families. 

@NeilAndrewJames

Is LEED Certification Unnecessary For Green Building Construction?

LEED certification costs have proved too costly for some companies, but that doesn’t mean buildings aren’t being built according to certification system standards.  In an article for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, LEED Certification Boosts Cost of Going Green, Connie Engel states that “we’ve been doing it for years: recycling, water conservation, all kinds of things generally considered green, (but) we don’t want to pay the cost” of certification.  The paperwork to apply for LEED certification can cost tens of thousands of dollars, a cost building owners don’t necessarily want to pass down to their tenants.  Is it possible LEED certification is not necessary to construct a “green” building?

@JoniArtz

How to Sell Green Building Products To a Color-Blind Market

Despite the social benefits of going green, the statistics are still overwhelming: only 15 percent of consumers identify themselves as green advocates according to American Standard Brands. How do you tell your building product’s compelling green story to the 85 percent of consumers who are in no mood to listen? According to Jean Dimeo in her article for Eco Home Magazine, Marketing Tips for Green Homes, the key is to emphasize a different shade of green – that green shade of dollar bills. A new survey from the Pulte Group found that among new-home buyers, nearly half would spend $2,000 to $6,000 to lower their monthly utility bills by $30. Deborah Meyer, Senior Vice President of the Pulte Group, urges marketers to keep it simple – focus on how much it costs to operate the home, no more, no less. 

@NeilAndrewJames

Green Building Starts Represented One-Quarter of 2010 U.S. New Construction

The growth of green building is saving our environment. Can it save our economy as well? A new report from McGraw-Hill Construction, Green Outlook 2011: Green Trends Driving Growth, outlines the dramatic post-crash growth of green building and offers several promising predictions. According to the survey, the value of green building construction starts grew 50 percent over the past two years from $42 billion to $55-71 billion. In addition, 25 percent of all new construction activity in 2010 was comprised of green building construction starts. The growth of green is not merely resulting from residential consumer demand. McGraw-Hill projects the value of nonresidential green construction to triple over the next five years, representing $120-141 billion in new construction.

@NeilAndrewJames

One-Third of Homeowners Expect Their Next Home to be Smaller

During the housing boom, big houses were all the rage. But as many stretched with adjustable rate mortgages discovered, you have to fill those homes with things. And cardboard box furniture makes for a lousy dinner party. Leigh Buchanan discusses the shift away from McMansions in a new article for Inc., Hot Market: Eco-Friendly Homeowners. Buchanan cites two recent studies: one stating that for the first time since the 1950s, Americans’ ideal home sized has decreased; the other finding that thirty-six percent of homeowners expect their next residence to be smaller. Buchanan also explores a Massachusetts-based business, Blu Homes, capitalizing on this trend with its line of eco-friendly, modular 750 square foot homes.

@NeilAndrewJames

Image Credit - Becoming Minimalist