Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Jerry Yudelson, one of the leading green building and sustainability consultants has just released his annual list of "Top 10 Megatrends" for the green building industry this year.
Yudelson (pictured left) says "It looks like a good year ahead for the green building industry. Based on our experience, it seems clear that green building will continue its rapid expansion globally in 2013 in spite of the ongoing economic slowdown in most countries of Europe and North America. More people are building green each year, with 50,000 LEED projects underway by the latest counts; there is nothing on the horizon that will stop this Mega-trend or its constituent elements.”
Yudelson’s top 10 trends include the prediction that green building will rebound strongly this year, in terms of LEED project registrations. He is predicting faster growth in green retrofits, especially college and university projects. In addition Jerry is predicting that the green building industry will focus on greening existing buildings rather than new building design and construction. He also expects that green buildings will increasingly be managed in the "Cloud," due to the number of new products introduced in the field of building automation, wireless controls and building services and information management during the past couple of years. Yudelson says "2013 could well become ‘The Year of the Cloud' for how quickly this trend will manifest."
It's also likely that building designers, owners and managers will take steps to reduce water consumption in buildings by fitting more conserving fixtures including rainwater recovery systems and innovative new on-site water technologies. Another prediction is that local and state governments will step up their mandates for green buildings within the public and private sector. The race to reduce carbon emissions through going green should lead to more companies and government agencies requiring green buildings from design and construction teams. Another growth sector is seen as being solar power usage, both within the commercial and residential sector.
Jerry Yudelson is founder and lead consultant of Yudelson Associates, a leading international sustainability and green building consultancy. Yudelson has written 13 green building books and checked the country's largest annual green building conference, Greenbuild for six years. More information can be found on his website.
Main image courtesy of Jerry Yudelson on Google+
