(Emagazine.com) As many as one in every five new homes and a quarter of municipal buildings and office towers are expected to qualify as green buildings two years from now. But what does that really mean?

There is no single standard. Instead, a broad array of organizations has emerged to certify the sustainability of everything from component parts (such as windows and rain gutters) to entire houses and offices. Right now, there is intense competition between these green building logo programs to determine which will gain market preeminence.

The stakes are high not just for the countrys environmental future, but for the construction industry, also. Green building, which represented just 2% of the construction market in 2005, will comprise as much as 20% of the residential construction starts and 25% of commercial starts by 2013, according to McGraw-Hill Constructions Green Outlook 2009 market intelligence report. By then, green building will be worth between $93 billion and $140 billion a year, estimates McGraw-Hill.

(GlobeSt.com) There is an unprecedented amount of legislation pending in Congress that addresses energy efficiency or green building, according to Roger Platt, USGBCs senior vice president of global policy and law. These bills, twenty or so all together in the House or Senate--including legislation that is pending introduction, would have been unthinkable ten years ago, Platt tells GlobeSt.com. "I cant imagine having celebrated three or even five pieces of legislation much less ten," he says.

In the span of a decade, however, there has been a sea-change in legislators attitude towards green building. "It has become very much a bi-partisan issue," Platt says. "The last Administration was also committed to have the federal government lead by example in this area. This Administration has been very vocal about it too. The Energy Secretary, even the President, refers to green building as an important policy goal."

The stimulus bill, passed a year ago, was the largest piece of legislation passed in this area, providing some $23 billion for energy efficiency or other green building expenditures, he notes.

(Sustainable Forestry Initiative) On February 22, 2010, the US Green Building Council released for public comment a 3rd round of draft benchmarks to evaluate forest certification programs. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) continues to urge the USGBC to end a forest certification policy that discriminates against North American forests and against most of the independent forest certification standards used in the United States and Canada.

As currently drafted, the USGBC's complex benchmark system may result in the continued exclusion of independent forest certification standards used in North America, including SFI, the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), the Canadian Standards Association's Sustainable Forest Management Standard (CSA), and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC).

During the September 2009 comment period, the USGBC put forward 80 individual benchmarks in its second draft; SFI submitted comments on a significant number of these benchmarks. In the current and third draft, only five of the benchmarks are up for review, which suggests only five of the benchmarks were changed. The other 75 are not available for comment, and the USGBC has not provided any rationale for why it has not addressed the proposed changes to these benchmarks, instead providing casual responses such as "the requirements were deemed appropriate."

(MSN Real Estate) The focus of the U.S. real-estate market lately has been the number of foreclosures and people trying to purchase cheap housing. But Brian Wesbury, chief economist at First Trust Advisors, says that if Americans dont start focusing on building new houses, the market will have a much bigger problem on its hands.

We need one and a half million houses per year just to keep up with population growth, Wesbury said in an interview with Steve Forbes. And then if you throw in, you know, fires and tear-downs and just worn-out properties, we need 1.6 million or more per year. Right now, were down to about six and a half, seven months inventory whether you look at new homes or existing homes.

Privately owned housing starts in December 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development . This is 4% less than where it was in November, which had 580,000 housing starts.

ASSOCIATIONS
The Oklahoma Lumbermens Association (OLA) is the latest regional lumber/building material association to endorse the Certified Green Dealer Program, the only training and certification program created specifically for lumber/building material dealers. Of the 20 Associations serving LBM dealers in the U.S., OLA is the 13th to sign on in support of the program.

After three years of discussions, the Wisconsin Retail Lumber Association (WRLA) and Northwestern Lumber Association (NLA) agreed in early February to merge their organizations. As part of the agreement, NLA will manage WRLA members services and programs, but WRLA will maintain a separate board and convention, and will continue its work on state legislative issues as well as have national representation.

A new education foundation has also been established, Wisconsin Lumber Dealers Education Foundation, as a result of this merger with the reserve funds raised over the years by WRLA. A board will manage the funds and issue more scholarships than in the past. The purpose of the scholarships is to prepare students for this industry and support the employees who are currently working in member firms. Transitional work will begin this summer and the merger will be completed January 1, 2011.

UPCOMING ASSOCIATION EVENTS
Michigan Lumber & Building Materials Association's Pro Building Showcase. March 3 and 4, Mt. Pleasant, Mich. www.mlbma.org or 517.394.5225

Iowa Lumber Convention, March 4-5, Coralville, Iowa. www.nlassn.org or 763.544.6822.

Nebraska Lumber Dealers Convention, March 10-11, La Vista, Neb. www.nlassn.org or 763.544.6822.

Mountain States Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association Products Expo, March 11-12, Denver, Colo., www.mslbmda.org or 800.365.0919

NLBMDA 2010 Spring Meeting & Legislative Conference, March 15-17, Washington, D.C. www.dealer.org or 202.367.1169

Kentucky Building Material Association 105th Annual Convention & Product Expo, April 21-23, Lexington, Ky. www.kbma.net or 502.245.6730

Lumbermen's Association of Texas & Louisiana 124th Annual Convention, April 8-10, San Antonio, Texas. www.LAT.org or 512.472.1194

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