Costs and benefits of green buildings - A chart-filled excerpt from the terrific book, "Greening Our Built World: Costs, Benefits, and Strategies"

Recent surveys find that concern over first costs remains the primary barrier to green building. For example, Global Green Building Trends study, released in 2008, reports that of the over 700 construction professionals who responded to the survey, 80% cited "higher first costs" as an obstacle to green building.

Green buildings—designed to use fewer resources and to support the health of their inhabitants—are commonly viewed as more expensive to build than conventional buildings. For example, ...