 BEPI Article Recap:
What's in store for green buildings and green business in 2010? Here are my predictions for the year's emerging trends. Readers, join in by posting your prognostications, too.
Retrofits
The mainstreaming of LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) -- which requires compliance with EPA's Energy Star program -- gives property owners a roadmap to green retrofit certification.
Two new books provide green retrofit guidance: my own "Retrofitting Office Buildings to be Green and Energy-Efficient" and my friend Jerry Yudelson's "Greening Existing Buildings."
As well, I'll look onward to meeting you at green building retrofit conferences throughout 2010. The first, which I've organized around an all-star lineup, is sponsored by the Urban Land Institute and takes place January 21 in San Francisco, CA.
I'll be sharing additional insights on green building retrofits in my next column.
Energy Efficiency
This will be an excellent year for energy auditors, energy benchmarking software and commissioning. This trend should be reinforced if -- as I expect -- local governments begin to follow the lead of the District of Columbia in mandating building energy benchmarking (PDF), and New York City, NY, in enacting building energy efficiency standards.
Alternative Energy
The use of the 30 percent investment tax credit for alternative energy should pick up steam during 2010, as investors begin to emerge from their foxholes.
Localism/Regionalism
Increasing interest in community-based economic activity and the financing of regionally or locally-produced products augurs well for a next generation of smaller-scale green ventures focused on neighborhood, local or regional markets.
Adam Smith, the intellectual father of modern capitalism, whose "Invisible Hand" relied on an economy dominated by small producers, might approve.
Greener Agriculture and Cityscapes
Localism/regionalism, when applied to the food chain, translates into rising interest in sustainable and organic agriculture, urban agriculture and additional greening of the urban landscape.
Urban farming, sustainable and organic agriculture, and permaculture (the design of self-sustaining, agriculturally-based communities) are drawing increasing interest in the context of land use planning.
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Mentioned:
Carbon Offsets: No
Green Building:Yes
Energy Technology:No
Property:
Corporations:
EPA
People:
Adam Smith
Intellectual Father of Modern Capitalism
Christine Ervin
First President and CEO
U.S. Green Building Council
Debra Italiano
Managing Principal
Merintra Co. LLC
Jerry Yudelson
BEPI Published Date: January 15, 2010
View Full Article - Note, links to articles may be removed by the original source.
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