
A Greener Landscape on the Horizon

Public and private sector entities are increasingly concerned with the energy costs associated with the built environment. These costs, including extraction and production of materials as well as construction, maintenance and eventual disposal, constitute a sizeable chunk of the energy consumption of most developed countries. In these countries, the U.S. included, forty percent or more of all the materials extracted annually end up in the built environment. Similarly, thirty percent of all primary energy consumption in the U.S. (even more in other areas such as Europe) can be attributed to the built environment.