Green and sustainable design techniques are quickly becoming a mainstay in the construction industry. What might have been a pipe dream 15 years ago is now reality for architects and engineers. Although the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards still lead much of this revolution, green building work also is pushing into new boundaries beyond LEED standards.
The growing market for green design can be seen in the results of ENR's Top 100 Green Design Firms list. As a group, the Top 100 generated $4.73 billion in design revenue in 2013 from projects registered with and actively seeking certification from third-party ratings groups under objective sustainable-design standards, such as the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED standards. For the group, this revenue is a 13.3% increase from the $4.18 billion in 2012.