While the green building market transformation is focused on numerous cases or arguments to build green, according to the recently published Opening the Door to Green Building market study, the most impactful and effective cases being made are that of energy efficiency.

During the past year, Sustainable Rhythm conducted the Opening the Door to Green Building study in Ohio, Alberta and the Triangle region of North Carolina engaging over 550 building industry professionals to examine the green building market transformation. This analysis, one of the first of its kind, engaged multiple perspectives to explore issues of the overall market, the perception of the financial investment, the role of certifications and finally how the benefits of green building are being communicated. Sustainable Rhythm partnered with Northeast Ohio Chapter of the USGBC, the NC Triangle Chapter of the USGBC and the Alberta Chapter of the CaGBC along with other building industry associations to promote participation.

Key findings include:

Market Embrace

• Across all regions at least 80 percent responded that their clients had at least "somewhat embraced" the message of green building.
  
• At least 46 percent of respondents indicated that they had added internal capacity to meet the green building market needs.

The Case for Green Building

• Energy Efficiency and overhead cost reduction are communicated most effectively and have the most impact as project drivers.
  
• Though it is an important factor in decision to build green, less than 30 percent of respondents indicated that long‐term Return on Investment is being communicated well in the marketplace.
  
• In the three regions analyzed, regulatory and environmental drivers are not resonating or seen as factors for implementation.

Financial Investment

• Perception of cost premium still prevalent with at least 58 percent of respondents indicating a significant premium for projects, this goes up significantly for renovation projects; majority believe the premium to be between 10‐25 percent over traditional design and construction.

Certifications

• Level of understanding or certifications and rating systems very low throughout all region – lowest level of understanding related to product certifications; with less than 33 percent in each region indicated that they understood the current landscape.

Marketing Communications

• There is a great deal of fatigue with buzzwords with respondents being very vocal about the confusion in marketplace particularly what does "green" mean?
  
• With less than 42 percent indicating that the benefits of green building projects, products or service are being communicated well to them as buyers, the need for more relevant data , particularly geographic, was seen a significant need for market growth.

The complete study as well as individual region reports can be found at http://sustain-rhythm.com/ODGB/ODGB.html