There is little doubt that the U.S. Green Building Council (the “Council”) and its established Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, green building certification program have had a major impact on the United States construction industry’s acceptance of, and move to, “green” construction. In fact, the LEED program has arguably been the single greatest driving force in the rise of green construction since the Council’s founding in 1993. Two decades ago, the construction industry’s widely accepted model building codes rarely addressed environmentally sustainable, green construction. Since that time, the LEED program has pushed owners, both public and private, to embrace—and in many instances encourage or require—energy efficient design and construction.

As with any new development, the rise in green construction projects has generated substantial investment and advances in green construction, thereby reducing prices and making environmentally friendly construction even more attractive to owners and developers. In turn, the popularity of green construction has continued to grow to a level that construction industry’s stakeholders have undertaken the process of developing building codes that specifically incorporate green building principles. One such code is the International Green Construction Code, or IgCC, which is beginning to attain mainstream acceptance from major public owners.