The green building trend is not just strong here in the United States, green building is also booming around the world. Although a building can be built with the environment in mind, most builders are pursuing an official green building certification rating like that offered by the U.S. Green Building Council. A new study by Pike Research that certified green building space will reach 6 billion square feet worldwide this year and grow to 53 billion square feet over the next decade.

 

As would be expected, the majority of this space is in the commercial sector. Currently, 73 percent of green-certified building space is in a commercial building but this number is expected to grow to 80 percent by 2020. Since commercial buildings are responsible for a large portion of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, it is important to see green building continue to grow in this segment.

 

The report finds that there are three drivers for pursuing green building certifications: companies are embracing the importance of green building as part of their overall corporate social responsibility plans and certified office space helps the company meet their CSR goals, energy efficient buildings can reduce annual operating costs, and the increasing frequency of government instituted regulations mandating greener buildings.

 

The USGBC’s LEED rating system is by far the most recognized and most used green building rating system in the world but the UK’s Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) is frequently used in Europe. As other nations begin to grow their own green building certification programs, we’re likely to see more certifications come to the forefront. Pike Research estimates that the new green building programs being implemented by both China and India will result in a 30 percent global market share by 2020.

 

Pike Research has made an executive summary of the Green Building Certification Programs (PDF) study available for download but the full report comes with a $3500 price tag.