Page 261 - BWA FEB 2013

February 2013 | Business World Magazine | 261
nomic and environmental benefits. Despite
the tumultuous era of economic downturn,
Platt says the USGBC has been at the center
of an “oasis of good news.” Green building
is on the rise, he says, because it saves people
money, saves energy, and helps local econo-
mies. Hundreds of local governments have
enacted various policies to promote green
building, and LEED is now being used in
more than 130 countries.
“It feels like we’ve been riding a wave
of engagement with the issues, not only in
terms of building, but a wave of corporate
responsibility and bipartisan support... we’ve
seen a very positive evolution and there’s a lot
of excitement as we look toward the future,”
says Platt.
As he considers the future, Platt says he
anticipates USGBC will find more opportu-
nities to help buildings lead on performance
and health. To put the former in proper con-
text, Platt explains that in the past, the US-
GBC primarily served to encourage green
building practices. As those practices have
been so exceedingly embraced, the USGBC
is now in a position to provide greater in-
sight into the benefits of green building. In
the beginning, when such practices had yet
to be widely adopted, the USGBC could
only provide, what was essentially, theoreti-
cal evidence of the cost-savings, efficiencies
and environmentally-sensitive qualities they
were espousing in this building technique.
Of course, over time, projects became the
proof that demonstrated the benefits, and
the full measure of such evidence is posing a
new opportunity for the USGBC to deepen
its reach.
“Our standards have been around for
twelve years now, and in the past, we were
there when a building was about to be built,
or just built. What we didn’t have yet was
Roger Platt - Senior Vice President