Simply Green News and Entertainment
Home » Green News » Green Building

Green Retrofit Market Growing, Report Says


Vivi Gorman
Posted on Tuesday 3rd November 2009

Photo: Flickr, thirst3st
Your rating: None Average: 4 (2 votes)

More Green Building
More LED RSS

Although building new buildings to green standards is taking off, retrofitting existing buildings to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy-related pollution is poised to boom, according to a new report conducted by McGraw Hill Construction, a leading provider of project and product information to industry news, trends and forecasts.

The report, entitled Green Building Retrofit & Renovation: Rapidly Expanding Market Opportunities through Existing Buildings, highlights the emerging market for green renovations from the perspectives of owners of existing commercial buildings and commercial tenants. Through profiles of 20 projects, the report looks at the economic impact of green retrofits and identifies specific retrofit and renovations going on in the market.

Released at the Green Retrofit Conference held Oct. 21-22 in New York, green building currently represents 5-9 percent of retrofit and renovation market activity by value — a $2-4 billion marketplace for major projects. McGraw Hill forecasts the market for major retrofit projects to grow to 20-30 percent in the next five years, which by then will be a $10-15 billion market.

The report predicts that in the next 10-15 years, half of all retrofits and renovations will be green. Owners and tenants who have undertaken or experienced green retrofits are likely to do more green retrofit projects, it says. Most commercial property owners expect to see a return on their green investment within 10 years, it notes. Energy efficient lighting or natural lighting are the most frequently applied features, the report says. Most also install more energy-efficient mechanical and electrical systems.

"It is critically important that 20-30% of all retrofit and renovation activity will be green in five years because 98% of our buildings already exist, and they represent some of our most inefficient buildings," said Harvey Bernstein, vice president of global thought leadership and business development, McGraw-Hill Construction. "This is a $10-15 billion market opportunity in major projects alone, and it will significantly contribute to the expansion of green products and services, which will have a long-term impact on our future economy and ability to build green."

The report was produced with support from Autodesk, CB Richard Ellis, Siemens, UL Environment, Inc., and the U.S. Green Building Council.

JohnThomas's picture
Posted on 3 November 2009 - 8:38pm by JohnThomas.
4
This is great news. But we need to see more market information about residential retrofits. There seems to be so much focus on commercial and almost nothing, at least that I can see, about residential.
There are millions of homes across the country that would benefit from a green retrofit. The report out of Washington last week about Federal programs to help jump-start the commercial 'and' residential green retrofit market is encouraging. We desperately need credible market data and forecasts to help guide decisions and to help persuade investors to get on board.
Thanks,
John Thomas
EcoBroker Certified
Website: http://www.e3greenhomes.com
Blog: http://www.e3greenhomes.blogspot.com
Guest's picture
Posted on 30 January 2010 - 6:00am by Guest.
We desperately need credible market data and forecasts to help guide decisions and to help persuade investors to get on board.
affordable degrees | bachelors degree program | associate degree program | affordable degree programs | high school diploma program
Robert James's picture
Posted on 4 May 2010 - 4:12am by Robert James.
Yes this is a world phenomenon; yet there is little coordination to assist consumers in making good decisions. I have seen some governments provide a small grant to have qualified tradesman undertake an assessment with the homeowners, though this was an isolated instance and a short-lived program. There has been no follow through.
Guest's picture
Posted on 18 May 2010 - 11:36pm by Guest.
4
I agree that it is difficult to find true market summarizing information. I can find numbers on residential and commercial construction starts and now commercial retrofits. But residential information is elusive. We need to be careful with these numbers. People often use McGraw-Hill's 96-$140 billion by 2013 - but they don't know what it means. New buildings are a part of the story, but they don't describe the whole market.
How about one real estimate we can all use to size the market for people? Also, I would love to know how many companies, products and services are estimated to exist in this space. The USGBC estimates about 8 million jobs by 2013, but I also wonder how many people we can count if we also include folks who have an interest in green building but might not be trade professionals. I hear a lot about how people in the LOHAS market (lifestyles of health and sustainability) are also interested in green building, but I don't find much that is concrete.
The thing is, if you're trying to help an insulation company know their target, maybe none of these numbers are relevant. But it's good to have a real estimate of market size - and then it's good of course to break it down as appropriate for each situation.
I give great credit to McGraw-Hill and Greensource, and the USGBC for the jobs study, for creating some numbers. When I can afford it, I buy those reports. But I'd love to really get the whole puzzle. I have McGraw-Hill's Green Home Consumer SmartMarket report, and I was disappointed not to get a retrofit estimate. Is it safe to say this data does not exist yet? If you have an estimate, I'd love to hear it!
I would also like some global numbers. I know that we in the US are behind - but it would be great to get a sense of total investments in other countries and investments as a % of GDP. I want to have us all compete to be most green!
Many thanks,
Allison Friedman
Rate It Green
www.rateitgreen.com

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
 
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
 __        __ __     __  ____    ____    ____    _   _ 
 \ \      / / \ \   / / |  _ \  | __ )  |  _ \  | | | |
  \ \ /\ / /   \ \ / /  | | | | |  _ \  | |_) | | |_| |
   \ V  V /     \ V /   | |_| | | |_) | |  _ <  |  _  |
    \_/\_/       \_/    |____/  |____/  |_| \_\ |_| |_|
Enter the code depicted in ASCII art style.
LED Saving Solutions