VANCOUVER, — Green building practices could cut greenhouse gases in North America more effectively than any other action, according to research from Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The three-nation Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) says buildings in North America release about 35 percent of the continent's total carbon dioxide, but with widespread adoption of green building measures, that amount can be drastically reduced quickly and cheaply. The report also looks at other environmental benefits to green building and its potential to improve worker health and productivity.

The report by the Secretariat of the CEC, Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges, recommends a number of incentives to support green building, help builders overcome the occasional additional costs green building brings and convince developers to choose green building practices even when the long-term savings will go to the building owner or tenants. Although green building has been growing in adoption, it only represents two percent of the new non-residential building market and .3 percent of residential building.

The authors encourage targets for the amount of carbon-neutral or net-zero-energy buildings, ongoing and new support for green building, national task forces, a North American set of principles and tools, and further research and development of practices. Along with recommendations, the report gives an overview of green building and its history, examples of proven green building methods, current consumption of resources by buildings in all three countries and other barriers such as lack or workforce.

The CEC was established to implement the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, the environmental side accord to NAFTA.