The vast majority of national green building councils participating in Green Building Insider's latest survey foresee substantial increases in both the number of green-certified buildings within their countries and the size of their memberships over the next five years.  

For the survey, 47 member councils of the World Green Building Council (WGBC) each permitted a representative to submit responses to a questionnaire that GBI made available to them throughout November. Councils participating in the survey, combined, represent more than half of WGBC's membership and serve countries whose populations total an estimated 3.14 billion people.

Thirty-seven of the 47 councils responding to the survey predicted that there will be at least a 100 percent increase in their respective memberships over the next five years. Also, 35 responding councils forecast that there will be at least a doubling in the number of green-certified buildings (under any rating system) within their countries during the same period. Predictions from each council that revealed the identity of the country it serves are listed below.

Respondents made the following comments about growth in certifications and membership within their countries:

Vessela Valtcheva-McGee, director of membership and education for the Bulgaria Green Building Council: "We anticipate that in 2014 all municipal buildings will have to be certified under DGNB Bulgaria. This applies to existing [buildings] as well."

Romania Green Building Council President Steven Borncamp: "There are 40 projects registered for certification today, and [there are] many more developers and investor groups -- small and large -- inquiring to us about certification."

Guatemala Green Building Council President Andres Prera: "We are still in the development stage, but we are very confident that there will be a lot of members, and from our surveys, the number is not yet clear, but it could go up to the thousands."   

Hong Kong Green Building Council Executive Director Kevin Edmunds: "The government has [been] incentivizing the BEAM Plus [rating system for Hong Kong] for new buildings and is expected to follow suit for existing buildings."

Various green building rating systems are used in the countries that the respondents represent. Among the systems are the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building rating system, the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen, Green Star, Green Mark, the Green Pyramid Rating System, and others.

"We believe that a rating system is also a mindset and a checklist," Jordan Green Building Council Chairperson Mohammad Asfour said. "The most important thing is for people to adopt the concepts it promotes."

Impediments to Green Construction

GBI additionally sought opinions from councils about what they consider to be the primary impediments to growth in green construction within their countries.

About 42.2 percent of respondents believe that a lack of government incentives or requirements present the most significant obstacle to green construction within their countries. A lack of general awareness of green building and its benefits was cited as the second-largest impediment (Figure 2).

Although insufficient general awareness of green building's benefits represented the second-largest impediment to green construction in the view of survey respondents, more than two-thirds of them reported that people in their respective countries have either a "fair" or "very strong" interest in green construction (Figure 3).

Despite "little interest" among Palestine's population for green construction, interest is growing, especially with engineers and some contractors who are being asked to go green, said Wijdan Al-Sharif, founder of the green building council there. 

Councils Favor a Balanced Strategy for Making Buildings Green

Most of the respondents expressed a need to do something other than merely focus on energy efficiency for going green. GBI asked survey participants, "Which type of green building feature should be emphasized most heavily in your country?" and provided them the following options: "indoor environment/indoor air quality"; "water conservation"; "energy efficiency/carbon emission reduction"; "sustainable landscapes surrounding a building"; "renewable energy equipment"; "green roofs"; "all of these features should be emphasized equally"; and an option for the survey participant to provide another response of his or her choice.

Half of the respondents believe that all of the listed features should receive equal emphasis. Roughly 28.3 percent of respondents selected the option of "energy efficiency/carbon emission reduction," and 10.9 percent of those surveyed believe that water conservation should be emphasized most heavily. No respondents chose the options of "indoor environment/indoor air quality," "sustainable landscapes," "renewable energy equipment," or "green roofs."

Roberto Escalante, the individual in charge of establishing the El Salvador Green Building Council, asserted that site selection is the most important aspect of a green building project "due to our high vulnerability to natural disasters and being the most densely populated country in Latin America."

Respondents Address the Current State of Their Countries' Green Building Industries

A plurality (43 percent) of respondents characterized the current state of the green building industry within their respective countries as "emerging" while 30.4 percent answered "nascent" and 26.1 percent indicated "expanding." No respondent characterized the green building industry within his or her country as "mature."

The Dominican Republic's green building industry is in a nascent stage, according to R Angelica Redpath-Perez, president and founder of the country's WGBC member council. "We are a country with no petroleum, coal, or natural gas reserves. We import all of our energy needs. We need to seriously implement solar technology to take advantage of our greatest natural renewable resource -- the sun. Not only do we have the opportunity to become energy independent but also to use the funds that are currently allocated [for] buying imported foreign energy [for] education, infrastructure development, and health. We can lower our carbon footprint while selling the offsets to fund these and other projects. We also see an opportunity to help one of our largest industries -- tourism -- by establishing green building standards to allow our resorts to become differentiated as green resorts."

Nearly three in five respondents (59.1 percent, 26 responses) reported that their country is in the process of developing a comprehensive green construction code. Approximately one-third of the respondents (31.8 percent, 14 responses) indicated that their country has neither adopted a comprehensive green construction code nor has plans to do so. Three respondents (6.8 percent) reported that an adequate green construction code is in place. Only one respondent (2.3 percent) indicated that such a code is in place and is an inadequate code.

Craig Williamson, chairman of the Costa Rica Green Building Council, reported, "It is anticipated that in the next five years, adoption and rapid acceptance of comprehensive green construction codes will occur [in Costa Rica]. We aim to provide the leadership and support services to make this happen."

Noted Tony Lee Luen Len, founding chairperson of the Mauritius Green Building Council: "We are starting with energy efficiency [in code development]. Hopefully it will become more comprehensive in the future, encompassing the other aspects."

Respondents Want At Least a Part of the IGCC Adopted

Also regarding codes, more than half of the respondents (53.8 percent, 21 responses) reported that their country has "no plans" to adopt any portion of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) (Figure 4). However, more than 90 percent of respondents believe that at least of a portion of the IGCC should be adopted within their country (Figure 5).

The IGCC applies to new and existing, traditional, and high-performance commercial buildings. It includes ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1 as a compliance option. Coordinated with the International Code Council family of codes, the IGCC is designed to go beyond traditional code requirements for communities that are aggressively pursuing a sustainable goal.

A large portion of the IGCC should be adopted in Botswana as long as it complies with the region, its climate, and people, commented Olegona Olly Chibua, chairperson of the country's Green Building Council.

GBI conducted its survey of WGBC member councils from Nov. 1 through Nov. 28 of this year and invited a representative from each member council listed in the organization's online directory to participate. In two cases, multiple questionnaires were submitted by a single national green building council. In each case, only one questionnaire was accepted.

Green Building Services -- whose stated mission is to "provide services and tools to design, construct, and operate buildings and communities that are responsible, enduring, and healthy" -- assisted in the development of the survey questions.