A simple alignment of goals among developers and a commitment to green building is all we would need to change the face of building construction during a time when construction is booming.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development released a survey last week which found that real estate and construction costs of green buildings are overestimated by 300%. The 1400 respondents also understated greenhouse gas emissions from building as 19% of the world's total while the actual number is 40%.

"The global construction boom in the developing world has created a tremendous opportunity to build differently and dramatically decrease otherwise energy demands," said United Technologies Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive George David. "Existing technologies combined with common sense design can increase energy efficiency by 35 percent and reduce heating costs by 80 percent for the average building in industrialized markets."

What's worse, and what makes the study so important is the conclusion that the greatest obstacle is not the cost, technology, or availability of resources, but in fact the many conflicting interests of owners, investors, developers, engineers, architects and so on. The authors conclude that "The complexity of interaction among these participants is one of the greatest barriers to energy-efficient buildings."

According to Joel Makower:
"Building green turns out to be an overly complex proposition, with a fragmented value chain and a confounding lack of integration and coordination among the various players. Moreover, the study found, incentives to reduce energy use usually are split among these players "and not matched to those who can save the most through energy efficiency."

Resources:

• World Business Concil for Sustainable Developent
• Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Business Realities and Opportunities (pdf)
• WBCSD's Energy Efficiency in Buildings Project
• Joel Makower's Blog post: The Confounding Complexities of Building Green