According to McGraw-Hill Construction's Green Building Smart Market Report 2006, by 2010, approximately 10% of commercial construction starts are expected to be green. Additionally, the company's 2008 report entitled Key Trends in the European and U.S. Construction Marketplace, predicted that by that same year, the value of green building construction will increase to $60 billion.
U.S. Green Building Council statistics show that every business day, $464 million worth of construction projects register with the organization's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. As of November 2008, more than 4.2 billion s/f of commercial building space is involved with the LEED certification systems. Green building and LEED are definitely the wave of the future.
Whether you are new to the world of green building and the LEED rating system and need on-hand assistance or have years of experience under your belt and have a specific question or issue you need addressed, the Green Doctor program—a new service offered by The Green Roundtable (GRT)—provides clients with instant access to a staff of LEED AP green building consultants. GRT, a non-profit green building education, policy advocacy, and technical assistance organization, works with building professionals and the general public to build clients' internal capacity and affect change in the marketplace. The organization's technical assistance team provides customized services ranging from corporate and institutional sustainability training to integrated design facilitation and green project management to LEED coordination and administration, in addition to a variety of other services.
The Green Doctor program expands GRT's portfolio of services by offering clients on-call assistance with only a two-hour minimum. GRT's Green Doctor service is designed to meet the specific needs of the various green building sectors by providing customized responses to a variety of green building and LEED questions and offering strategic assistance on green building projects. LEED Doctor provides assistance on LEED-related questions and issues; Green House Doctor is designed for the residential market; and Green Building Doctor handles all other questions related to green building strategies and technologies. GRT's green building consultants can answer questions, conduct research, perform pre-feasibility analyses and provide coaching on strategy and implementation.
GRT staff has experience assisting clients throughout the entire lifecycle of projects, from the earliest stages of planning, team-building and sustainability goal-setting through the final stages of construction and can provide clients with the knowledge, resources and technical assistance necessary to create a truly green project. Whether you need to explore innovative ways to reduce the energy needs of your project or need someone to help you complete a LEED credit template, GRT's staff can provide assistance tailored specifically to your needs. To schedule a consultation with one of GRT's Green Doctors, please call (617) 374-3740 x114 or visit http://greenroundtable.org/tech.html for more information.

Dee Spiro is a project associate at The Green Roundtable, Boston, Mass.