Green building goes big

Developers are starting to incorporate environmentally sound building techniques in their multi-home projects.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – With oil piercing the $70-a-barrel barrier and natural-gas prices quadrupling since the late 1990s, the use of green construction in large-scale, multi-home developments is taking off.

Helping the change is that green techniques and materials are increasingly becoming more affordable and “scalable,” that is, they are capable of being made and installed in mass quantities.

Many developers are coming around. McGraw Hill Construction, in partnership with National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reported a 20 percent jump last year in home builders focused on environmentally responsible construction. That should increase another 30 percent in 2006. Some 50 percent of all builders will produce at least some homes using green methods by 2010.

But the percentage of green residences and commercial buildings constructed this year will still come to only about 2 percent of the total built, according to the report. However, that should rise to perhaps 10 percent by 2010. By then, between $29 billion and $57 billion a year will be spent on green building, up from $11 billion in 2006.

CNN/Money