The final Green Building Law Update epiphany for the week will come in the form of a headline I came across this past weekend:  

In the LEED:  Green certification will be the norm in a few years

Last week, Green Building Law Update focused on how the economic downturn may result in a slowdown of green building developments.  On Wednesday, we discussed how government projects should consider foregoing the green building certification process due to certification costs.  But the exact opposite is true of private developments.  Private developments should continue to seek green building certification primarily because “green certification will be the norm in a few years.” 

Why does this matter?  Well, why would you build a project now that you know will be outdated in a few years?  Others are also recognizing this factor in their green building efforts:

“I think that over time, cities will start to adopt some of the LEED standards into building codes,” CEO Bill Cawley said. “It will cease to become something that sets companies apart and start to become standard – I would think in the next five, maybe seven years.” 

Mr. Cawley also brings up another great point that relates to Wednesday’s post:  government’s should adopt LEED standards into building codes.  But that is a topic for another post. 

Are there better reasons for continuing to pursue private project green building certification in a struggling economy? 

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