Green Building Books & Resources
Jerry Yudelson has written more green building books than anyone. Each book presents case studies, anecdotes and concrete facts that offer inspiration and encouragement for any green building initiatives. Jerry's first three books virtually invented the field of green building marketing, and the next five continue to expand the reach of the green building message.
From developers and government officials to corporate decision-makers and educational leaders, each of the titles below addresses a specific needs in the green building industry. Please use the links below to learn more, and when you find the best green building book for you, click on the link to find the best place to order it.
Green Building Books
The World’s Greenest Buildings: Promise vs. Performance in Sustainable DesignJerry’s new book (published January 2013) provides the very first large-scale study comparing building performance data worldwide from the highest-rated large green buildings of the past 10 years, using actual energy and water operating data from 57 projects in 18 countries. It offers architects, engineers and project developers a new way to understand how high-performance buildings can be designed and constructed. More Information | back to list |
Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water CrisisIn his newest book, Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water Crisis, Jerry Yudelsons shows the best ways to manage scarce water resources and handle upcoming urban water crises. Featuring original interviews with more than 25 water researchers and industry experts, this book explains water issues and proposes solutions for homes, buildings, facilities and schools. More Information | back to list |
Sustainable Retail Development: New Success StrategiesSustainable Retail Development: New Success Strategies addresses the emerging issue of green retail buildings and retail development that will grow significantly in importance over the next half-decade, a trend seen throughout the developed world. More Information | back to list |
Greening Existing BuildingsIn Greening Existing Buildings, Jerry tackles the question of the day: how to upgrade the performance of the large stock of existing buildings, to meet the latest green building standards.This authoritative book analyzes all of the LEED for Existing Buildings Platinum projects, features more than 25 interviews with leading practitioners, more than 20 specific building upgrade case studies and numerous tables, charts and illustrations. It’s truly a “how to” book for greening anyone’s building. More Information | back to list |
Green Building Trends: EuropeIn clear, jargon-free prose, Yudelson provides profiles of progress in the journey towards sustainability, describes the current regulatory and business climates, and predicts what the near future may bring. He also provides a primer on new technologies, systems, and regulatory approaches in Western Europe that can be adopted in North America. These systems and approaches include building-integrated solar technologies, radiant heating and cooling systems, dynamic facades that provide natural ventilation, zero-net-energy homes built like Thermos bottles, and strict government timetables for achieving zero-carbon buildings. More Information | back to list |
 Green Building Through Integrated DesignWritten by one of the foremost experts in the green building community, this November 2008 book provides a detailed overview of how to organize the entire green building process - from concept, design, and construction through certification and operations, to deliver high-performance green buildings on conventional budgets.More Information | back to list |
 Choosing Green: Drawing from the expertise of dozens of homebuilders, homebuyers, government officials and green home experts, Choosing Green deftly helps you consider everything you'd want to know to buy a new green home, with easy-to-use tables, charts, maps, score sheets and checklists.
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 Green Building A to Z: Understanding the Language of Green BuildingThe first book for anyone interested in understanding green buildings and technology. Entertaining and concise definitions of 108 key terms.More Information | back to list |
 The Green Building RevolutionThe first chronicle and spirited manifesto of the green building movement that is changing the practices of architecture, engineering, development and building management.
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 Marketing Green Buildings Services: A complete reference for principals, senior associates and marketing directors at architectural, engineering and construction firms.
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 Developing Green: Strategies For SuccessA primer for developers on making the business case for green buildings, with a focus on commercial office and mixed-use projects. Includes CD of case studies.More Information | back to list |
 Marketing Green Buildings: This resource updates and expands the subject of green building marketing to cover Energy Star projects and the LEED-EB and LEED-CI rating systems.
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 The Insider's Guide The strategies, data, tools and techniques you need to succeed at marketing green buildings, products, and sustainable design and construction services.
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Free Resources
BlueTech Forum 2012 - The Water Technology Opportunity in Green Buildings, Jerry Yudelson
Advances in water technology used to reduce building water consumption offer new business opportunities for selling packaged graywater, blackwater and rainwater reclaim systems, technologies and management/monitoring systems to building owners, especially those committed to green building projects. In this presentation, Jerry Yudelson, the most published author chronicling the green building movement worldwide, will profile some of these opportunities for corporate investment and entrepreneurial potential.
Our New YouTube Water Conservation Video Series: “Water Wars”
Jerry has developed a series of videos describing the danger of upcoming water wars throughout the world, and showing you what you can do with personal water conservation actions through sustainable green building design.
Read the blog post with links to the videos
Go directly to the "Water Wars" YouTube playlist
Free Article Makes Case for Green Building Restorations
In this free download, green building and sustainability consultant, Jerry Yudelson makes the case that the restoration of older buildings using established green building practices offers a simple, yet extremely practical solution to an important environment problem: What’s the right approach to older buildings?
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Analyzing the Business Case for Net Zero Buildings
Jerry’s new article, “Analyzing the Business Case for Net Zero Buildings,” takes this emerging trend in green building design and provides a clear rationale for why going to net-zero buildings makes good business sense. This is taken from Building Design & Construction magazine’s 2011 White Paper, Zero and Net-Zero Energy Buildings and Homes, published in April 2011.
Download this article (PDF 1.5MB)
Pyramid of New Water Sources
A conceptual breakthrough for thinking about how to meet our future water needs. Check out the Pyramid of New Water Sources, Jerry Yudelson’s new tool to show future water supply sources. The pyramid ranks water conservation and water reuse ideas in order of cost and complexity. Take a look at this great new chart and download it for your own use.
Download the Pyramid of New Water Sources (PDF 220KB)
UN Environmental Programme Publishes Jerry’s Article on How Water Use Affects Climate Change
In this piece, found on pages 92-95 of the 2010 edition of Climate Action, published by UNEP partner, Climate Action Programme, I make a compelling case for the greenhouse gas reduction benefits of urban water conservation. In fact, in my recent book, Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water Crisis, I show that water conservation is the cheapest form of energy conservation!
Download this article (PDF 220KB)
If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green
The worldwide discussion of anthropogenic climate change has accelerated since 2006, and many decision makers have become aware of the significant contribution of buildings to global carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. Since energy use is the source of about 70% of GHG emissions and buildings represent 40-48% of the total energy use, then controlling building energy use and GHG emissions represents about 30% of the problem. In fact, a 2007 study by McKinsey (www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/greenhousegas.asp) showed that controlling building energy use is the only method of reducing GHG emissions that is currently cost-effective—or is likely to be so in the future.
Read the full article at Building Design & Construction
Water and Sustainability
Sustainability is the watchword of our times, the strongest social and political movement in decades. We can expect that the pace of global warming will accelerate, as most forecasts show increasing use of fossil fuels over the next decade or two. Despite the best efforts of government, industry and individuals, fossil fuel use is just too ingrained in our technology and behavior to undergo rapid deceleration. Today’s carbon emissions will stay in the atmosphere for a long time, so we’re going to have to live with the consequences of our fossil fuel use for many decades.
Read the full article at Environmental Design & Construction
Green Water: New Opportunities to Save Money and Enhance Image By Cutting Retail Water Use
The retail industry faces new challenges on how to cut water use both inside and outside of buildings. This article explains why retailers and developers should develop a business case for proactive water system management, looking for opportunities in green-building labeling and operating-cost savings. New technologies for stormwater management and water efficiency are analyzed that offer considerable promise for the retail sector.
Download this report (PDF 120KB)
Green Building Trends in Higher Education
There are more than 3,000 LEED projects on U.S. college and university campuses today. This white paper is the first comprehensive investigation of the green building trend in higher education. The paper reviews both LEED statistics and green building criteria used in the growing number of campus sustainability rating and ranking systems. On average, between 2002 and 2009, buildings on college and university campuses accounted for 15% of all LEED project registrations. LEED EBOM registrations have become increasingly popular over the past several years. This is a promising change for the better, as almost all of the building stock on college campuses already exists in any given two to five-year period. Reducing the impacts of existing buildings is critical to meeting carbon
emission reduction and green building goals.
Download this report (PDF 525KB)
20 Questions with Jerry Yudelson
For the magazine, HVACR Business, aimed at mechanical contractors, Jerry Yudelson answered some rather personal questions about sustainability and personal practices.
Download this report (PDF 100KB)
Corporate Sustainability Management:
Best Practices
Sustainable business practices can open up new markets and improve a company’s reputation. In this way, leaders in corporate sustainability are securing a unique competitive advantage. In fact, a recent article in Harvard Business Review claimed, “in the future, only companies that make sustainability a goal will achieve competitive advantage. Even the Great Recession has not slowed down the push for sustainability in most companies. A recent survey found that more than 75 percent of respondents had kept their commitments to corporate sustainability during the downturn.
Yudelson Associates developed a simple and straightforward approach to sustainability planning through numerous consulting projects with trade groups, manufacturers, development firms, and universities. In this white paper, we present some generalized examples and provide a few resources. However, for our clients, sustainability planning and implementation services are always tailored to meet each organization’s unique needs. In our view, there are five key steps for establishing a corporate sustainability program: setting the vision; staffing the effort, establishing metrics to measure progress, implementing strategic initiatives, and communicating the results to all stakeholders.
Download this report (PDF 230KB)
Campus Sustainability Benchmarking
Research director Jaimie Galayda led our project team to support a campus sustainability master-planning project for The Ohio State University, one of America's largest. To allow campuses to benchmark themselves against similar institutions, Yudelson Associates developed a rigorous method for selecting an applicable group of sustainability peers and distilled vast amounts of sustainability information available on the web into useful benchmarks.
Download this report (PDF 230KB)
Water Efficiency Technologies for Mechanical Contractors: New Business Opportunities
Yudelson Associates' report, "New Water Technologies for Mechanical Contractors," highlights changes in water conservation practices that are creating unprecedented opportunities to reduce water use in cities by 305 or more.
Download this report (PDF 990KB)
Trend Watch: Oro Valley Receives LEED-CS
Silver Certification
For the first time in Arizona history, a major retail project is delivering green for the state. Vestar Development
Co.’s Oro Valley Marketplace has earned Silver LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council,
marking it the first retail project in the state to earn the designation, and one of the first in the Southwest.
Download this Trend Report (PDF 140KB)
The Business Case for Green Buildings
In his article for the Union Real Estate Investment AG, Hamburg, Germany, Jerry Yudelson demonstrates how the business case for green buildings rests on five legs: economics, risk management, marketing, government relations and employee relations. Most people look only at the economic benefit of savings on energy costs, neglecting the mounting evidence that green buildings return higher rents, offer faster letting, secure greater occupancy and generate higher resale value. In an economic environment where quality is foremost, green buildings offer higher quality at modest additional cost.
Download the Business Case for Green Buildings (PDF 140KB)
LEEDing Retail to Greener Pastures
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will soon launch two new LEED rating systems for the retail sector covering both commercial interiors and new construction/major renovations. Categories for concern are broader than just energy saving and carbon mitigation, and the scoring system recognizes the unique characteristics of retail sector buildings.
In this just published research report, Jerry Yudelson lays out how to take advantage of the forthcoming release of the new LEED for Retail rating system, including both new construction and tenant improvements.
Download this report (PDF 170KB)
Green Jobs White Paper
Because of the Obama stimulus package, green jobs are getting lots of buzz in the news. But there’s a variety of ways to define this complex subject, and Jerry Yudelson offers important insights. For example, he explains which green jobs will make the biggest difference in terms of their benefits for both the economy and the environment.
Download the Green Jobs White Paper (PDF 380KB)
