Green Buildings and Development

"Green" buildings, "smart growth" development and corporate sustainability involve reducing negative environmental impacts from construction, urbanization and corporate activities. Green development is an international trend that is growing at nearly 50% per year. For example, the American LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design; www.leedbuilding.org) green building rating system has stimulated over 50 million square meters of green development worldwide, representing over $US 50 billion in green building investment. LEED is expanding rapidly into a variety of building types and into community- and city-level certification. Green buildings and development are becoming so popular because they simultaneously improve the environmental and economic performance of buildings and cities.