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U.S. Green Building Council : Membership |
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10,032 member organizations, including corporations, governmental agencies, nonprofits and others from throughout the industry. |
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91,000 actively engaged individuals |
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Since 2000, USGBC’s membership has increased ten-fold |
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LEED® Green Building Rating System™ |
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LEED was originally created in 2000 for new commercial construction and expanded in 2004 to include commercial interiors/tenant improvements; existing buildings/operation and maintenance. |
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Rating systems for core & shell, homes and neighborhood development are currently pilot testing. |
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LEED for homes is currently in pilot demonstration phase and expected to officially launch in spring 2007. |
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There are over 6,300 homes across the U.S. involved in the LEED for home pilot program; 222 homes have already received LEED certification. |
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Twelve LEED for Homes Providers are administering the LEED for homes program at the local level. |
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U.S. Construction market (includes all commercial, residential, industrial) |
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Represents 20% of U.S. economy (Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National science and Technology Council: Construction Industry Statistics, 1995) |
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Comprises 12.7% of the $10 trillion U.S. GDP. Includes all commercial, residential, and industrial construction. (Source: 2003 U.S. DOE Buildings Energy Databook). |
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Size and Impact of the U.S. Housing Market |
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According to the McGraw Hill SmartMarket report, 2% of homes built in the U.S. were built green. The value of this marketplace is approximately $7.8 billion. Given forecasts of the housing market and other trends, the green homes market is expected to increase to 10% by 2010. |
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More than 1.8 million residential buildings are built annually (2006 Annual Housing Starts Census Bureau).
- In 2005 – number of single-family housing starts was 1,7 million and housing starts for multi-family units in 2005 was 352,500 for a total of 2,068,300 residential starts in 2005 (U.S. Census Bureau)
- Renovation is one of the largest construction sectors: $275 billion in 2005 (http://www.aia.org/SiteObjects/files/conted_SA35c.pdf#search=%22total%20residential%20renovation%20%22 Dept. of Commerce).
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The most important motivators for builders when considering building green homes are "doing the right thing" and "lowering lifecycle costs." (McGraw Hill Construction SmartMarket Residential report 2006). |
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Energy Consumption |
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Buildings account for nearly 40% of total U.S. energy consumption; residential buildings account for 54.6% of that total. |
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The residential sector is responsible for 21% of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions. |
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LEED certified homes are on average 30-50% more energy efficient that conventional non-green homes. |
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By 2010, residential energy use is expected to be 9% higher than today (Alliance to Save Energy). |
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The average household spends some $1,500 each year on energy bills. By choosing Energy Star-certified products, consumers can cut this by 30%, saving about $400 each year (Energy Star). |
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Energy cost increases is the number one trigger cited by home builders when considering building green homes (McGraw Hill Construction SmartMarket Residential report 2006). |
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Two-thirds of the lighting technology used in homes and offices dates to before 1960. (Philips Electronics NV, Via The Wall Street Journal) |
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This year, Americans will consume close to 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 143 billion gallons of gasoline. To heat our homes and businessess this winter, we will purchase $62 billion worth of natural gas and heating oil. ("Mr. Green", The New Yorker, 1/22/07).
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Electronic devices in standby mode account for 10% of home energy use - up from 2% in 1980. (U.S. EPA, via Forbes.com) |
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Water consumption |
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Building occupants use 12.2% of the total water consumed in the U.S. per day, 74.4% of which is used for residential needs. |
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Waste |
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Building-related construction and demolition debris totals approximately 136 million tons per year, 43% of which is generated from residential sources. (Source: www.epa.gov/greenbuildings/stats/gbstats.pdf) |
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Health |
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64 million homes, 83 percent of the privately owned housing units built before 1980, have lead-based paint somewhere in the building. Twelve million of these homes are occupied by families with children under the age of seven years old (National Survey of Lead-Based Paint in Housing. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1995. http://www.epa.gov/lead/r95-003.pdf). |
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Fun Facts |
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By 2010, California's building energy efficiency standards will create 8,000 new jobs in the state, with a net economic benefit of $4 billion. (California Climate Change Center, UC Berkeley) |
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Since 1975, energy efficiency investments have boosted the state's economy by 3% ($31 billion) more than if the investments had not been made - equivalent to a net savings of $1,000 per household. (RAND Corporation, from The Public Benefit of California's Investments in Energy Efficiency) |
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In 2000, the United States used 123 billion kilowatt-hours to supply water and treat wastewater, just under 4% of total electricity sales. (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) |
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The average new refrigerator used 1,278 kilowatt-hours per year in 1980. Today, there are full-size, automatic-defrost refrigerator freezers on the market that use less than 400 kilowatt-hours per year. (Steven Nadel, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) |
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Average daily U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, per person: 122 pounds. Average worldwide: 24 pounds. Amount that could be emitted without raising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere: 9 pounds. (Sierra Magazine) |
