Reinventing Green Building

This is a unique, data-driven insider’s critique of the green building movement, and a manifesto calling to rekindle the fires of the green building revolution. Yudelson shows how current green building certification programs have failed and offers a positive vision for the future. The book focuses on current problems and new ideas, reflecting the views of leading practitioners and thinkers under the age of 40, representing a new generation of green building leaders, practitioners and climate-change experts. After 15 years in the marketplace for LEED, 10 years for Green Globes and 8 years for the Living Building Challenge, less than 4% of the commercial and residential building area in the U.S. and Canada had been certified. This represents a colossal failure to “transform the marketplace” in a meaningful way. The U.S. building stock won’t meet the requirements of the “2030 challenge” for buildings: zero net energy from new buildings and 50% reductions in energy use from 2005 levels for existing buildings. This book aims to open up a more expansive, informed and engaged discussion about what a new green building movement should look like, and what elements should be incorporated into new cost-effective green building rating systems. Yudeslon argues that new green building certification systems