Incentives for Green Residential Construction

The objective of the study was to benchmark the relationship between municipal incentives and actual production of LEED certified multi-unit residential buildings in the US. The incentives include financial incentive, density bonus and administrative incentives provided for green projects by the local government institutions. The study conducted was based on the population of LEED certified multi-unit residential buildings in the U.S. A comparison of the regional project distribution with applicable municipal incentives enabled formulation of a correlation coefficient between the incentive and the number of LEED certified multi-unit residential projects developed in the US. Major finding from the study was that LEED certified multi-unit residential development was significantly higher in areas where incentives were made available to developers versus those where they were not. Density Bonus incentive, where available, was determined to be the main cause for higher production of LEED certified multi unit residential buildings in a state or county.