Cloud-based building automation tools and product disclosure
declarations are among the green building mega-trends identified by industry
consultant Jerry Yudelson.
What are the major trends likely to affect the green
building industry and markets in the U.S. in 2014? As one of the world's
leading green building consultants, keynote speakers and authors, Jerry
Yudelson thinks he knows the answers. He offers his green building mega-trends
for 2014:
1. Green building in North America will continue its strong
growth in 2014. Yudelson predicts ongoing expansion of green commercial real
estate construction together with government, university, nonprofit, and school
construction. "Green building is the tsunami of the future that will
inundate the entire real estate industry," says Yudelson.
2. Growing focus on energy efficiency in all kinds of
buildings, including the increasing role of building automation for energy
efficiency using cloud-based systems. Yudelson said, "The convergence of
corporate and commercial real estate, information technology that is based in
the Cloud, and energy efficiency leads my list of new green building megatrends
for 2014."
3. Design and operation of zero-net-energy buildings.
Yudelson says, "We know that green building has hit the mainstream. To
distinguish themselves, many building owners and developers are taking the
logical next step: getting to zero net energy on an annual basis; Why? The most
widespread reason is that more people than ever believe it's the right thing to
do."
4. LEED will attract competitors as never before. Yudelson
says, "It's likely that LEED's cost and complexity will open up the market
to other competitors such as the Green Globes rating system offered by the
Green Building Initiative." One reason: Recent Obama administration
actions have now put this system on a par with LEED for federal projects.
5. The focus of the green building industry will continue
its switch from new building design and construction to greening existing
buildings. This trend has been in place since 2010. Yudelson's green building
book, Greening Existing Buildings, documents the strategic and tactical
components of this trend. Yudelson predicts that more than 500 existing Federal
buildings will seek green building ratings in 2014.
6. Green Buildings will increasingly be designed and managed
by innovative information technologies that are based in the "Cloud."
In fact, Yudelson calls 2014, "The Year of the Cloud," for how
quickly this trend will become fully established.
7. Green Building Performance Disclosure will continue as a
major trend, highlighted by disclosure requirements enacted in 2013 by more
than 30 major cities around the country, laws that require commercial building
owners to disclose actual green building performance. Yudelson says he expects
this trend to spread rapidly as the easiest way to monitor reductions in carbon
emissions from commercial and governmental buildings.
8. Healthy Building Products, Product Disclosure
Declarations, along with various "Red Lists" of chemicals of concern,
will become increasingly contentious, as manifested through such tools as
Health Product Declarations. Yudelson predicts, "Building product
manufacturers increasingly try to gain or maintain market share based on open
disclosure of chemicals of concerns." We also foresee that
industry-developed disclosure systems will compete with systems offered by
dozens of third-party rating agencies.
9. Solar power use in buildings will continue to grow.
Yudelson expects that third-party financing offerings will continue to grow and
provide capital for larger rooftop systems on low-rise commercial buildings,
parking garages, warehouses and retail stores, as well as on homes.
10. Awareness of the coming crisis in fresh water supply,
both globally and in the U.S., will increase, as global climate change affects
rainfall and water supply systems worldwide. Yudelson's 2010 recent water
conservation book, Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water Crisis, shows how
this is being done in green buildings all over the developed world.
For more on Yudelson Associates, visit:
http://greenbuildconsult.com/green-building-2014-top-10-megatrends/
Source: BDCNetwork.com
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