Green buildings, also known as sustainable buildings or green construction are buildings that make use of environment-friendly and resource-efficient processes for their designing, construction, maintenance, renovation, and operation throughout their lifecycle. Such green building also ensure more environmentally-safe demolition procedures than conventional methods.

The popular materials that are used in making a green building include straw bales, grasscrete, rammed earth, hempcrete, bamboo, recycled plastic, and wood, among others. Mycelium, ferrock, ashcrete, and timbercrete are also used in the construction of green buildings. The primary aim underlying the green building construction is to define an approach that minimizes negative effects on the environment (air, water, and earth) as well as human health. The primary sources of green building materials are renewable sources (forests) and recycled materials (doors, old plumbing, recycled plastic, etc.)

Some of the major advantages that green buildings provide as compared to conventional buildings are efficient technology usage, easy maintenance, improved air quality, water and energy efficiency, and high return on investment. These building also ensure temperature moderation, waste reduction, water conservation, and improved physical and mental health of the inhabitants.

Green Building Materials Market Taxonomy

On the basis of product type, the global market is segmented into:

Interior Products

Exterior Products

Solar products

Others

On the basis of applications, the global market is segmented into:

Insulation

Framing

Roofing

Interior Finishing

Exterior Siding

Others

On the basis of end-user, the global market is segmented into:

Healthcare centers

R&D centers

Education

Public facilities

Residential

Others

On the basis of geography, the global market is segmented into:

North America U.S. Canada

Europe U.K. Germany Italy France Spain Russia Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific China India Japan ASEAN Australia South Korea Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Rest of Latin America

Middle East GCC Countries Israel Rest of Middle East

Africa Northern Africa Central Africa South Africa



Increasing health concerns among people, growing responsibility and concerns towards environment safety, and increasing demand for efficient energy usage is expected to drive growth of the green building materials market over the forecast period (2016–2024). A major spike has been witnessed in stress levels and related health problems among the global populace over the last couple of decades. Home and work environments majorly impact the wellbeing of an individual thus, resulting in an increased customer inclination towards aesthetically pleasing green buildings that look appealing, and at the same time help alleviate both physical and mental problems. This is a key factor fueling market growth. This trend is expected to gain further traction in the near future. However, higher initial costs, dearth of raw materials, time-consuming process of construction, and lack of skilled professionals impedes market growth. Basic construction materials used in green buildings, such as straw bales, grasscrete, rammed earth, hempcrete, bamboo, recycled plastic, and wood are not widely available across the globe. The process for using these materials in construction involves exorbitant expenditures and requires highly skilled workers, which makes the process of building green projects capital intensive.

Green Building Materials Market Outlook – Rising Concerns Regarding Environment Safety to Fuel Market Growth

The growing concern of environmental safety such as concerns regarding water wastage, inclination towards conservation of natural resources and protection of biodiversity fuels growth of the global green building materials market. Various dedicated regulatory bodies such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) have green building ratings, certification programs and have formed guidelines pertaining to green building construction. Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) is an environmental safety regulatory tool used by the United Nations for encouraging adoption of renewable materials in the construction sector. Another popular research institute dedicated towards sustainable development and environmental safety in India and South Asia is TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute).

Product innovation is one of the key strategies adopted by the leading players in the green building materials market. Manufacturers are focusing on adding solar thermal cladding and bio-plastics. In 2016, Gunlocke, a furniture manufacturing company introduced Myco Board, which is new ecofriendly product offering cost-effective and environment-friendly solutions for interior products. Some of the major companies operating in the global green building materials market are Alumasc Group Plc, AMVIC Building Systems, Binderholz GmbH, Bauder Ltd, BASF SE, and Interface.

Key Developments

Increasing research and development related to green building materials is expected to boost the market growth. For instance, in January 2019, researchers from RMIT University reported a practical solution for the utilization of the world’s excess biosolids in fired–clay bricks and found that recycling biosolids in fired–clay bricks would significantly reduce the carbon footprint of brick production.

In April 2019, researchers from Chongqing University reported the benefits of applying bamboo materials and presented an analysis on barriers affecting the effective application of bamboo materials in the Chinese green building construction sector.

In May 2019, researchers from State Key Laboratory of Green Building Materials, China Building Materials Academy, China, reported development of modified cement mortar by incorporating a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) with two kinds of dosing state, dry powdery SAP and swelled SAP, respectively.