Green Buildings A Trillion Dollar Money Shaker?

The days of constructing energy-hogging buildings could soon be something considered so 2010. A new study out from Pike Research, Zero Energy Buildings, shows the revenue from constructing zero energy buildings growing by leaps and bounds over the next 20 years.

In fact, their projections show green building revenue growing to $690 billion in 2020 and then jumping up to $1.3 trillion by 2035.

“The goal of designing zero energy buildings, or buildings that consume as much energy as they produce through on-site and renewable energy systems, has emerged as the next major frontier,” the report says. Behind that push toward green buildings are a number of new zero energy construction codes, green targets and regional regulations being put in place across the globe.

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In Europe especially, the agency that oversees building energy codes is requiring nearly zero energy construction in public buildings by 2019 and in all new construction by 2021.  Similar regulations have come into effect or are being discussed in the United States and Japan. At the same time, the technologies that goe into energy-efficient buildings like lighting, HVAC systems and solar arrays, have also become more affordable with improved performance.

“Following the surge in LEED and other green building certifications worldwide over the last few years, zero energy building has emerged as the ‘holy grail’ in green building design,”research analyst Eric Bloom said in a statement. “Technically, zero energy building design is feasible for many building types in many regions, but concerns about the upfront cost continue to impede it in the market.”

In some areas, governmental entities have already established long-term targets and regulations requiring zero energy building construction that will come into effect over the coming years, some as soon as 2016. This trend of new green building construction and the increasing popularity of green retrofits in commercial buildings could soon help to reduce the huge amount of energy buildings consume worldwide.

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