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Despite a tough macroeconomic climate, the green building industry continues on a solid growth trajectory. Everybody trying to predict what 2012 will bring, and we have been looking to the industry’s thought leaders for indications of what is ahead. Jerry Yudelson of Yudelson Associates put together a great list of mega trends likely to impact the industry in 2012. Here’s a quick overview of his most interesting predictions, but check out his full blog post for all the details on his thoughts.

1. Retrofitting existing buildings will continue to see growth in the US, with LEED for Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance seeing even more growth.
2. Water will grow in importance as building owners recognize the need to collect urban rainwater and conserve other water supplies.
3. Net zero buildings will continue to grow as a way of differentiating extreme green projects from those with LEED or ENERGY STAR certifications.
4. Transparency of building performance will grow in importance, as well as the need for modeling to better reflect actual building energy consumption.
5. New green building projects in the US will rebound in 2012 with help from Obama’s push to meet LEED Gold for all federal projects.
6. Internationally, we’ll see continued rapid growth in China and other fast-growing economies, with many countries establishing their own green building standards such as Estidama in the UAE.
7. The cloud will be the platform on which building energy and water consumption will be controlled as software is developed for managers to track and tweak building automation systems.
8. Solar energy will see growth continue in 2012 as governments establish renewable power standards and third-party financing partnerships increase in popularity.

Lots of exciting things ahead of us!