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PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Prompted by a growing demand for efficiency retrofits, Limbach Facility Services is expanding its energy solutions business to eight new markets in the U.S.
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GREENWICH, Conn. -- Nestle Waters North America and Keep America Beautiful have partnered to provide grants of $10,000 to 12 communities to spur recycling in public areas including sports venues and parks.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW and SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Eight utilities in the U.S., Canada and India are teaming up with Google in smart meter projects that will enable customers to monitor their energy use online and better manage their power consumption, the Internet giant announced.
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The Top Green Building Stories of 2008
Major developments on the green building front in 2008 hold the promise of even greater momentum in 2009. We take a year-end look at five general areas: the resilience of green building, the hot pursuit of energy efficiency and incentives, increased focus on the built environment, legal landscape and the path ahead.
Green Building Remains Buoyant
The resilience of green building through the economic turmoil of the past year was perhaps the greatest source of inspiration and relief to the industry. A raft of studies published in the fourth quarter reported that green building was on the upswing despite the down market.
Several studies affirmed the appeal of smart green buildings and their benefits. Among the more widely hailed was McGraw-Hill Construction's report in November saying that the potential for continued growth in the green building market is huge. The study projected a possible tripling in the value of eco-friendly construction starts to reach as much as $140 billion in the next five years.
Studies by the hospitality and restaurant industries released in Q4 also showed that eco-friendly built environments continued to hold their own despite tough times. The reports predicted that the green elements, in many cases coupled with perceived value, would persist as market differentiators in 2009 and beyond. Firms should jump on the opportunity to upgrade their environmental profiles now; those already pursuing green strategies are ahead of the game, should stick with their plans and expand them if possible, the studies suggested — advice that was echoed in reports across the green building industry.
More so than ever, the key for companies in the coming year is determining where true value lies — for the market as well as the business.
As Aaron Adelstein, the executive director of the Built Green Association of King and Snohomish Counties in Washington state, told an audience at West Coast Green: "It's important to know the difference between what can be merely a feature and what's a true benefit."
Although figures and reports on green building in the final quarter of the year could yet show a slowing of growth, green building proponents were generally heartened that the industry had not stalled.
Monitoring + Measuring = Money
For many firms, testing that equation proved to their advantage in 2008 as the pursuit of energy efficiency, cost savings and incentives ratcheted up while operating budgets tightened.
Increasingly businesses, institutions and public bodies looked for help in reducing their energy use and firms like Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens, Site Controls, Telkonet and others stepped in to assist with programs that in many cases were effectively financed by energy cost savings
New technology from firms including Cemtrex and Tririga also contributed to the effort as facilities managers took more of a strategic approach to greening the properties they oversee.
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