By Lena Babaeva 

Builders are getting behind the sustainability movement.  According to studies, homebuyers, real estate executives and others are realizing that building green may have great benefits in energy savings.   For example:

• 70 percent of homebuyers are more or much more inclined to buy a green home over a conventional home in a down housing market, according to McGraw-Hill Construction's 2008 SmartMarket Report, "The Green Home Consumer."
• More than 80 percent of commercial building owners have allocated funds to green initiatives this year, according to "2008 Green Survey: Existing Buildings," a survey jointly funded by Incisive Media's Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
• The Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in a September 2008 study, found that a national green economic recovery program investing $100 billion over 10 years in six infrastructure areas would create 2 million new jobs.  

As builders are becoming more educated about LEED certification and other certification programs to be more energy efficient, hopefully that will drive down prices for such certifications.