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More than 22,000 green building professionals from across the United States attended Greenbuild this past week in Chicago, an increase in attendance of 10,000 compared to last year in Denver, according to officials from the U.S. Green Building Council, the show’s sponsor.

The show’s expansion reflects the growth of the green building market. According to the USGBC, the U.S. market in green building products and services was more than $7 billion in 2005 and is now nearing $12 billion in 2007.

S. Richard Fedrizzi, president of USGBC, spoke Nov. 9 to the Greenbuild audience of his organization’s “slow build” during the past decade before it became clear that its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building certification program had reached the tipping point. “We started with a staff of three, using cardboard boxes as desks,” Fedrizzi said.

Factors feeding LEED-certified green building Growing momentum from already-completed LEED-certified projects that encourage others New streamlined LEED programs for existing buildings and new homes Tougher energy codes that mandate energy efficiency in buildings and products New technologies that new enable energy and environmental performance improvements Unprecedented cooperation between construction, financial and government forces driving energy-efficient projects Global trends that change attitudes: global warming and the need to replace expensive, dirty fossil fuels with cleaner alternative energy in buildings New coalitions and economics favoring energy conservation “It no longer costs more to build green.” -- S. Richard Fedrizzi, president, USGBC

Today, its success is a foregone conclusion, with hundreds of LEED-certified buildings and more recently, homes, across the U.S.

Green architects, engineers, contractors, building owners and government officials huddled together at Chicago’s “newest and greenest” West Hall addition to the sprawling McCormick Place exhibition complex, to sing the praises and proclaim the now-apparent triumph of the U.S. environmental design and construction movement.

Chicago was a particularly apt venue for the gathering greens, as the Windy City boasts more LEED certified public and commercial buildings than any other, according Richard M. Daley, mayor of the host city, who spoke at the conference-ending plenary on Nov. 9. Daley joined a panel of four other “green mayors” in detailing their respective cities’ environmental programs.

Fenestration product advances and speakers enriched the Greenbuild experience.

Walking Greenbuild’s show floor not only revealed product advancements in windows, doors, skylights and other glazing systems, but many controls, shades, screens and louvers that enhance daylight quality and natural ventilation. Look for a Greenbuild report in the January issue of Glass Magazine. For information on Greenbuild 2007 and next year’s convention in Boston, go to www.USGBC.org

—By David H. Martin, principal with Lenzi Martin Marketing, Oak Park, Ill.

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