USGBC released its LEED in Motion: Hospitality report, which shows that nearly 134 million square feet of hotel space around the world is currently LEED certified, with opportunities for growth in green building in coming years. Given that hotels, which consume natural resources at a high rate, occupy five billion square feet of space in the U.S. alone, there is an large opportunity for the hospitality industry to transform the built environment by adopting sustainable LEED practices.
“Across industries we are seeing an increase in consumer demand toward sustainability practices, and no industry is better poised to meet these demands than hospitality,” says Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair of USGBC. “This growing sector is rapidly adopting green buildings because owners and developers want to enhance their triple bottom line—people, planet, and profit. LEED is a transformative tool that positively impacts the quality of our built space by creating a healthier, more sustainable environment that saves money and resources.”
Currently, there are more than 2,070 hotels around the world participating in LEED, representing 1.1 billion square feet. Of that, there are nearly 400 LEED-certified hotels comprising nearly 134 million square feet of space.
According to a recent study by McGraw Hill Construction, green construction in the hospitality industry increased by 50 percent from 2011 to 2013, and represents 25 percent of all building in the sector. USGBC’s recent Green Building Economic Impact study also found that across industries, green construction is outpacing that of traditional construction, and is poised to create more than 3.3 million U.S. jobs, and $190.3 billion in labor earnings by 2018.
LEED in Motion: Hospitality highlights how LEED practices and strategies are flexible, easy to implement, generate impressive results, and can be integrated throughout a building’s life cycle. Incorporating LEED includes sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.
