Green Building Market Share

The green building indicator measures the percent market share of new commercial and residential construction that is certified to meet green building standards each year.

Green building strategies:

Conserve energy and water.

Use environmentally preferred materials.

Significantly reduce construction waste.

Create healthy indoor environments.

Increasing the number of green buildings also increases markets for environmentally sound building materials. Third-party verified green building certification programs include the U.S. Green Building Council's Leedâ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Program, the Built Greenâ Program, and the Earth Advantage Instituteâ. These programs enable accurate tracking of growth in the industry over time and quality assurance of the buildings themselves.

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Green Building Market Share Data

Since 2004, green building practices increased significantly in Washington. The market share of new LEEDâ, Built Greenâ, and Earth Advantage Instituteâ residential and commercial construction projects (compared to all new construction projects) grew from 4.6 percent in 2004 to 17.9 percent in 2009. In other words, 2,427 of the 52,213 construction starts were green in 2004, compared to 2,184 green projects out of just 12,192 construction starts (much fewer total starts) in 2009.

From 2008 to 2009, the overall green building market share increased from 15.7 to 17.9 percent. This is because the numbers of commercial and residential building starts declined at a sharper rate than the numbers of green building starts. A breakout by residential and commercial sector is available below.

To produce this indicator, Ecology gathers data from outside sources, giving this indicator a time lag of more than a year.

Why should we be concerned about the market share of green buildings?

Growth in the green building industry will result in:

Reduction of energy use in building operations and maintenance.
Increased use of environmentally preferable building materials.
Less construction waste taking up landfill space.
The creation of hundreds of green jobs in Washington.

What are the benefits of increasing the market share of green building?

Reduced energy, water, and other resource use.
Reduction of toxics in the environment.
Creation of green jobs in construction, forestry, manufacturing, and building operation trades.
Reduced construction and demolition debris.
Reduced impacts of climate change.
Improved indoor air quality and improved human health.

What are some Beyond Waste actions being taken to increase green building in Washington?

Ecology and other organizations are:

Providing training for contractors working on publicly funded building projects.
Providing technical assistance to developers and builders who use green building practices.
Educating the public and trade professionals on the importance of selecting green building products.
Providing technical assistance to local governments and others working on construction and demolition waste issues.

Related Indicators

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Commercial Green Building		Residential Green Building


Construction and Demolition Debris

Want more information on green building in Washington?

For more information, contact Gretchen Newman, 360-407-6097.

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Case Study:

Spokane Falls Community College - Music Building

The Spokane Falls Community College Music Building was designed and built based on sustainable design concepts. It will be used to promote future green building efforts.

The goal for this building was to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® Silver certification or beyond. They met their goal with a beautiful result! It is a great example of one of the many new green buildings that have been built in Washington State in the last few years.

The Community College chose to reuse an existing building’s exterior shell and many of its interior components to lessen the impact on the environment.

By using green building methods, this facility will use less water, less energy, more recycled-content products, and increase user-comfort with a large percentage of windows to take advantage of the daylight and the view.

SFCC Music Building