New Report: Green Retrofit Market Growing

Green building is booming, but new buildings account for less than 2.5 percent of the U.S. building market each year. Retrofits of existing structures, a tremendous market opportunity for green builders, owners, and building product manufacturers, are the focus of McGraw-Hill Construction's Green Building Retrofit and Renovation SmartMarket Report. The report says that green building currently comprises 5 percent to 9 percent of retrofit/renovation market activity and projects that the figure will grow by 20 percent to 30 percent by 2014.

According to the report: owners with green retrofit experience are likely to do more green retrofit projects; 70 percent who have engaged in green renovation activities are planning to continue to do so for over 15 percent of future projects; 24 percent will do so on over 60 percent of projects; and 92 percent report installing more energy-efficient systems. The report also found that 62 percent of owners expect to recoup their investments within 10 years from the savings achieved by their energy-efficient improvements.