David Gottfried

Founder of the US Green Building Council

Basics
B.S. in Engineering and Resource Management, Stanford; real-estate development executive; founding Chairman of ASTM's Green Building Committee; founder and first President of the U.S. Green Building Council; founder of the World Building Council; President, WorldBuild Technologies..

Awards

Environmental Enterprise Award from Acterra Business Environmental Network; one of ENR Magazine's top 25 industry newsmakers in 2005; Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.

Favorite Books and Resources

Natural Capital, by Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken
Ecology of Commerce, by Paul Hawken
Design for Life, by Sim Van Der Ryn
The Sustainability Revolution, by Ardres Edwards.
The Green Biz website at GreenBiz.com

Publications

Greed To Green: The Transformation of an Industry and A Life (2004)

Q&A

What started you on the path toward sustainability?

I always wanted to make a difference in the world, and was convinced that greening the building industry provided an incredible opportunity. I was propelled by the enormous waste generated by the property industry and its lack of regard for the key elements that sustain life: fresh air, ongoing resources, and health. I wanted to dedicate my career to "truth-based" work consistent with natural principles.

Who inspired you?

David Brower was a mentor. I admired his strength, organizational creations, humility and commitment to CPR for the Earth: conservation, preservation, and restoration. People who are equally committed to the journey of transformation inspire me daily. When my flame is low, their passion and hope encourage me to keep climbing.

What symbolizes the success of the movement?

Our first Greenbuild conference was in Austin in 2002 and about 5,000 people showed up. In 2005 in Atlanta, it drew 10,000. Each year there are thousands more joining the cause, including some who previously were non-believers.

What causes you to be hopeful about the future?

I have been fortunate enough to see incredible change since the first days of green building in 1990. It has gone from a tiny niche that mainstream players quickly dismissed, to a tidal wave of thousands of global supporters.

I am now working with the Chinese Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Science and Technology to create the China Green Building Council. After learning that China plans to build about 400 billion square feet in the next 30 years, I shiver at the potential ecological impact of the greening efforts. When I first invented the concept for a green building council, I never imagined I'd see the model adopted overseas. It's now in use in India, Japan, Australia, and China.

What causes you the most worry?

I'm afraid that we won't turn the ship fast enough. Each year our collective impact and the associated damage increases. There are so many people and most of them want what we have. The world can't afford this. If everyone drives a Prius hybrid, we'll still sink. As well as we're doing, we have only just begun.

What advice do you give young people who want to make a difference in the world?

Take an interdisciplinary approach to your studies, with a heavy dose of business and finance as well as ecology and science courses.
Learn to be a systems and independent thinker. Everything is interrelated, and what we've got mostly isn't working.
Keep your optimism and playful creativity. Somehow we lose this along the way, and agree to stand in the long line that doesn't really yield gold at the front.
Have the confidence to get out of the line of status quo and invent new ways that are based in natural principles and can truly guide us towards restoration and regeneration.

Unfortunately, this hero's path is not always supported and can often be a lonely journey. And yet as the thousands of my green building council colleagues and I have learned, it is a journey of the deepest level of fulfillment and contribution.

In your experience, what role has technology played in the development of green design and green building to date?

Energy modeling software and day lighting tools have contributed enormously towards global warming mitigation. The U.S. Green Building Council has just released LEED Online, which has the promise of significantly streamlining the cost of documentation and certification. Manufacturers have been introducing more efficient and better performing products each year; a revolution is underway in developing green products and systems. We are also seeing big changes in the definition of what is green, including analytical standards and rating tools.

How can technology play a bigger role?

It is a critical tool and enabler to the green revolution and ecological transformation. It can guide us, teach us, measure our performance, and show us where we need to go. Information is at the heart of best practice. I think we are only just starting to harness the potential of software. To date, CAD systems have been mostly about designing buildings more efficiently. There's tremendous potential to use technology to actually design better buildings.