Page 6 - Special Awards Issue 2016 Green Builder Magazine

Green Building NEWS

The latest on sustainability and renewable energy

ITC Extension Follows Record
Growth in Solar in 2015
The U.S. solar industry is poised to grow
CREDIT: SOLARCITY
nearly 15 percent this year.FTER LOOKING OVER the numbers from The Solar
growth over 2015. After the ITC extension announcement, the Solar
Foundation’s National Solar Job Census 2015, it’s no Energy Industry Association (SEIA) chimed in with more good news,
wonder Congress had the good sense to renew the estimating that it will spark the addition of 220,000 new solar jobs
over the next five years. If predictions hold, we will also be thanking
AInvestment Tax Credit. Here are just a few highlights the ITC for mitigating carbon emissions. By 2020, solar will provide
from the report: 3.5 percent of all U.S. electricity, and by 2021, solar generation will
Since 2014, one out of every 83 new jobs was created by solar offset more than 100 MMT of CO2 annually, with about 25 percent
industry. These account for 1.2 percent of all new jobs. attributable to the ITC extension.

Solar jobs continue to pay well, especially for solar designers and
those in marketing and sales.

Women now represent 24 percent of the solar workforce. While
the solar industry continues to reflect greater diversity than many
industry sectors, there is still work to be done in this area.

The report estimates that over the next 12 months, solar companies
expect to add a total of 30,000 new solar workers—a 14.7 percent

Bigger Homes Cancel Out Energy Gains
According to a report from Pew Research
CREDIT: PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Center, homes are more energy efficient,
Growing Again. After a noticeable dip during the 2008 Recession,
but those gains are being compromised average home size has been steadily rising.

by larger home sizes.HIS“BLOATING”TREND is being driven by new construction,

not additions to existing homes. The average new single-

T family house completed last year was 2,657 square feet. This
is 57 percent larger than the average home of the mid-1970s,
and significantly larger than the 2012 average of 1,864 square feet. While
there are several ways to look at the data, one is energy intensity, as
measured by the amount of energy to the total number of households.
This figure has not decreased much in the last 30 years, despite
significant gains in energy efficiency. The bottom line? Home size
should be an important part of the sustainable building conversation.

4 GREEN BUILDER Special Awards Issue 2016 www.greenbuildermedia.com