Will Green Building Survive a Recession?

New West Blog

By Courtney Lowery, 11-21-08



	A sketch of the LEED-certified First Interstate Bank to be built on the corner of Higgins and Front Streets in downtown Missoula. File image courtesy of CTA Architects & Engineers.

Writer Lisa Selin Davis asks on Grist this week: “… if McDonald’s is seeing record profits due to inexpensive food, will green housing be the equivalent of a biodynamic, $8 a pound plum?”

Industry leaders say not so much:

“Certainly green building is not a fad, rather, it’s a trend,” James Brew, an architect with the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Built Environment Team, wrote to me. “And while this current economic situation has stalled some projects and limited the availability of capital, the trend is still there.”

Read Davis’ story here.

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By Courtney Lowery, 11-21-08 | comments (5) | email story | print story

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Comments

By Marion, 11-21-08

I am trying to link to the coal story, but no matter what link I use I get this story.

By Courtney Lowery, 11-21-08

Thanks for letting me know Marion. The link to the coal story is fixed. You can find it here:
http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/inside_the_100_million_ge_wyoming_coal_project/C35/L35/

By problembear, 11-21-08

the recession will separate the "i turned green overnight solely for profit" builders from the genuine green builders. a lot of the charlatan builders who pose green to attract less savvy customers will vanish. conversely, the true green builders who walk the talk will not be as busy so savvy clients will be able to get the best builders sooner than before.

a purging of the local building market will not necessarily be bad. some of those guys need to find other things to do. and no- you won't get any names out of me.

By Lance Olsen, 11-24-08

The shift from building more and bigger new buildings to retrofit of existing ones is crucial to near-, mid-, and long-term purposes. It can re-employ some of the rank and file who were first to be unemployed when the more-and-bigger boom went bust. If well-funded, it will be a significant help in reducing the nation's dependency on fossil fuels for cooling and heating. To the extent that it does slash dependency on fossil fuels, it will leave security less threatened by turmoil elsewhere in the world.

By Megan, 11-25-08

I don't think green building is a trend rather a way of life. Montana is catching up but this has been going on all over the world and has been for some time.

Consumer need to do there research and ask questions. The only organization I have found that shows what businesses are doing to be sustainable is Green Directory Montana. They have developed a system to rate and rank businesses on how sustainable they truly are.
check out there web site some time. http://www.greendirectorymontana.com

Have a happy Holidays and have a green day!

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