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benefits
Insurance companies
are now offering premium reductions for LEED and Green Globes certified
buildings. (Building Design and Construction, November 2006)
Daylighting in retail stores has
been shown to increase average daily sales by 40%. Energy savings are
between $0.24/s.f. to $0.66/s.f. (Building Design and Construction, November
2006)
If every American home replaced
just one light bulb with a [compact fluorescent] bulb, we would save enough
energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million
in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the
emissions of more than 800,000 cars. (www.marshill.org, July 2007 Week 444)
A ton of recycled paper saves:
17 trees (EPA)
3 cubic yards of landfill space
7000 gallons of water (EPA)
4200 kWh of energy (enough to heat a home for half a year)
390 gallons of oil
60 lbs of air pollutants (Center for Ecological Technology)
(www.marshill.org, July 2007 Week 444)
If every Americans’ tires were properly inflated it would save more than 4
million gallons of gas a day. (www.marshill.org, July 2007 Week 444) |
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growth
The value of green building construction starts is expected to exceed
$12 billion in 2007. (McGraw-Hill Construction Analytics)
The construction market accounts for 14.2% of the $10 trillion U.S. GDP
(2006 DOE Buildings Energy Databook)
There are LEED projects in all 50 states [in the U.S.] and 24 countries.
(www.usgbc.org)
[As of August 2007], 10,448 [USGBC] member organizations, including
corporations, governmental agencies, nonprofits and others [exist]
throughout the industry. [In addition], 91,000 [are] actively engaged
individuals. (www.usgbc.org)
Since 2000, USGBC’s membership has increased ten-fold.
(www.usgbc.org)
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emissions
In the United States, buildings
account for:
36% of total energy use / 65% of electricity consumption
30% of greenhouse gas emissions
30% of raw materials use
30% of waste output / 136 million tons annually
12% of potable water consumption
(www.usgbc.org)
Construction and demolition waste accounts for 25% of municipal solid waste
in the U.S. (Building Design and Construction, November 2006)
Some people estimate that 25% of
your energy bill is phantom power - [energy consumed by] all of those
appliances that are on, even when they’re off. One suggestion is [to] simply
[purchase] a power strip that can be turned off and on. [This] could cut
your energy bill and save you ... up to 25%. (www.marshill.org, July 2007
Week 444)
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