Jerry Yudelson, founder of Yudelson Associates, a leading international firm in sustainability planning and green building, is widely acknowledged as a leading expert on green building and green development and is the author of eight green building books, including The Green Building Revolution.

According to Yudelson, the focus of green building will begin to switch from new buildings to greening existing buildings. “The fastest growing LEED rating system in 2008 was the LEED for Existing Buildings program, and I expect this trend to continue in 2009.”

Regarding new buildings, in his book, Yudelson famously stated, “If your next project is not a green building, one that’s certified by a national third-party rating system, it will be functionally outdated the day it’s completed and very likely to under-perform the market as time passes.” This sentiment was echoed by Richard Cook, a prominent architect in New York City, who says, “In five years, it will be clear that buildings not reaching the highest standard of sustainability will become obsolete.”

We contend that new buildings will benefit tremendously from the integration of Beyond Green IT^TM at the time of construction because this can save as much as 40% when compared to the cost of installing legacy IT. Additionally, the monthly IT energy savings can be as much as 80%. These same incentives also apply to energy efficiency driven building retrofits. It’s just common green dollars and sense.