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USGBC Commits $1 Million to Green Building Research

Green building practices receive insufficient funding from all sectors, according to a recent study.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 6/21/2007 12:00:00 AM

To support its vision of a sustainable built environment within one generation, the U.S. Green Building Council has made a hefty $1 Million pledge towards green building research. The organization plans to use the funds to increase knowledge in areas including energy and water security; global climate change prevention; indoor environmental quality; and passive survivability in the face of natural and man-made disasters.

“The industry needs to take giant steps forward in construction, renovation and operation practices if we want to see large scale improvements to health and environmental conditions in this generation,” says Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the USGBC. “Our board has identified research as a key strategy to accomplish that, and has set aside a pool of research dollars so we can act now, even while encouraging others to increase their own research commitments.”

The USGC intends the research to advance the practice of building science, as well as track and validate the relationship between green buildings and human health and productivity.

“…we’re beginning to have some astonishing data about fewer absences in schools, greater productivity and fewer injuries in business, even higher sales in retail environments, explains USGBC board member Vivian Loftness, of Carnegie Mellon University.

According to the recently published Green Building Research Funding: An Assessment of Current Activity, research related to high-performance green building practices receives insufficient funding from all sectors. The USGBC Research committee will build upon the assessment to publish a national green building research agenda. The agenda will single out key research areas for advancing building performance and market transformation.

“Building operation consumes 40 percent of energy and 71 percent of the electricity in the U.S., and accounts for 39 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions, which is directly influencing global climate change,” says USGBC’s vice president of research and education Peter Templeton.“Given this impact, it’s critical that the building sector makes exponential performance improvements and research, development and deployment activities a top priority.”