India and China Lead Green Building Revolution
The idea of Green Building is attributed to the United States. It is rather ironic then to discover that India and China are leading the green building revolution.
The U.S. Green Building Council is considered the foremost group in the world when it comes to the promotion, standardization and certification of green building concepts. The companies certification awards are much sought after from New York City to Tokyo to New Dehli to Beijing. One would logically think the United States is thus the leader in green building. Not exactly.
The green building movement is strong in the United States. It is also very strong in India and China as well as other developing economies. What is clear, however, is India and China are ahead of the United States in this arena and their lead stands to only grow more in the future. The issue is not innovation, talent or anything of that sort. Instead, it has to do with the politics of the movements in each country.
The green building revolution is primarily a private one in the United States. Put another way, the government has little involvement. There is no federal standard that incorporates the concept. There are few state standards either. The only time one tends to find any green building concepts set in stone as part of the building code is on the local governmental level. California cities and communities have them. On the east coast, New York City is far and away the most assertive. The presence of green building in the rest of the country is spotty at best.
In India and China, the perspective is entirely different. The federal governments are fully engaged in the green building movement. This is leading to both regional and local standards as well. This creates an equal landscape for developers and builders wherein green building moves from a conceptual idea to one that is favored inherently in the political landscape. That is when a movement starts to really become a permanent part of the construction fabric.
The United States was once considered the most innovative country in the world. In many ways, we still are. In others, we are not even close anymore and that is a tragedy. One can only hope that we take corrective action to avoid this becoming the case with the green building movement.