Earlier this year, GreenBuildingCommunity.com published
an article by Sean Penrith, executive director of Earth Advantage Institute,
which included some very interesting projections for energy efficiency and sustainable
building.
Penrith, who heads the not-for-profit green building
resource and certification provider, listed these hot issues among his choices
for the Top Ten Green Building Trends to Watch in 2010:
The smart grid and connected home.
Penrith sees the biggest news to be “…development
of custom and web-based display panels that show real-time home energy use,
and even real-time energy use broken out by individual appliances…” While utilities
continue making upgrades to the grid that are designed to improve more effective
power generation, storage and distribution, Penrith thinks more homeowners will
install and rely on the improved home “dashboards” to help them curb energy
consumption.
Energy labeling for homes and office buildings.
Energy agencies and legislators around the country
are taking great notice of using more accurate energy rating systems for both
homes and commercial office spaces as a way to better standardize building-to-building
and home-to-home comparisons. The Energy Performance Score has been adopted
in Washington and Oregon and has been written into recent State legislation
designed to “…explore mandatory energy labeling at the time of transaction”
when a property is sold.
Buy-in to green buildings by the financial community.
Penrith also makes an interesting point supporting
continued investments in green buildings.
He says that lenders and insurers “have come to see green homes and buildings
as better for their bottom line”. Penrith claims lenders and insurers are currently
“working to get new reduced rate loan products, insurance packages, and metrics
into place for green building transactions because they “…are realizing that
green homeowners are more responsible, place higher value on maintenance, and
are less likely to default due to lower operating costs of homes and office
buildings.”
Sustainable building education.
The demand for greater energy efficiency is being
provided by building owners, homebuyers and homeowners. And that demand has
continued to drive the need for further education and training among all profeesionals
involved with real estate, construction, and building/facility management. This
includes a host of folks who “…seek to know more about the features and benefits
of sustainable construction in order to place an appropriate value on a green
building…” so “all parties can benefit from the greening of the building industry.”
Bottom line, these trends point to green building
gaining continued momentum across the home and commercial office markets thanks
to the greater perceived value of energy-efficient structures.
While distributors are primarily interested in selling
more green products, it makes good sense for a distributor’s sales and marketing
team to understand and make mention of these “soft” benefits in their sales
efforts as additional reasons for their customers to switch to using more energy-efficient
power distribution, lighting and controls solutions.