About five years ago when we were wrestling with the phenomenal growth of LEED, I came across a book by Geoffrey Moore that changed my life. Entitled "Crossing the Chasm," Moore's book introduced me to the concept of market composition and segmentation . . . it also scared me to death. Chasm woke me to the fact that the 100 percent to 200 percent annual growth we were seeing in LEED at that time was nothing compared to the frenzy that awaited us if we "got it right." You see, 100 percent growth against a small number is still a small number, but 50 percent growth against a big number is a big number indeed.

Moore argues that the Innovators and the Early Adopters are fairly forgiving folks compared to the Early Majority segment of the market. The titular so-called chasm refers to the performance and expectation gap between products that succeed in the Early Adopter market compared with products that exceed in the Early Majority market. Innovators and Early Adopters are willing to put up with quirks and foibles of products that the Early Majority will not tolerate. As green buildings penetrate the Early Majority market, expectations of performance and cost are becoming quite high.

In order for green to succeed, any gaps or holes in products' and buildings' performance must be plugged. And this is what strikes me about this week's crop of stories.

Consistent with the USGBC's commitment to providing excellent service -- for those smugly snarking, consider for one moment that in the year 2000 only about 2,000,000 square feet entered the LEED system and in 2008 LEED had 2 BILLION square feet come in, and then ask yourself when was the last time you handled a thousand-fold increase in anything with grace -- the organization is beginning an intensive dialogue with users of the system to determine how it can be improved from an operational perspective. So, while LEED is firmly into the Early Majority market in the United States, 2 billion square feet represents less than 5 percent of the global market (perhaps a bit more now given the downturn). (Disclosure: I am a USGBC board member.)

Following up on last week's discussion about innovations on the materials front, UL Environment is helping plug an important hole in the field of independent verification of environmental claims in products and materials. It's also nice to see the progress that Aramark's Green Thread program is making in eliminating food and solid waste from college campus dining hall operations. It appears that eliminating the use of trays and cafeterias acts as something like a gastric band in reducing food consumption and waste by up to 30 percent. Goodbye Freshman 10!

Serious Materials is plugging holes literally and figuratively on ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" donating its high R-Value SeriousWindows for a home and a community center in the Washington, D.C. area. (Disclosure: I'm an unpaid advisor to Serious Materials.) One can only hope that the new DOE cleantech grants will help spur the creation of dozens of companies such as Serious Materials. It's the only way this country will stay competitive into the 21st century. Note to Washington, D.C.: $37 million is a budget figure worthy of Luxembourg, not the United States.

The winner in this week's "Look-Grandpa-I-picked-up-the-$20-bill-you-said-was-fake-but-it's-real!" contest, is TXU Energy for saving a $100,000 a year by making good use of a "redundant" air-conditioning unit to serve an equipment room that was driving the air-conditioning of the whole building, even when not occupied. Imagine if this building had been well-designed in the first place with proper zoning and controls and staged, variable speed compressors and fans, etc. Runner-up is Andersen Windows for cleaning up its factory floor and using the sawdust waste from frame fabrication and using it to make new window frames. What I find interesting about this last case is that it makes more financial sense to take the sawdust and put it into a window frame to increase its recycled content than to burn it to generate power to run the factory like they were doing before.

I'll close this week with another no-good-deed-goes-unpunished example from Beijing where Coca-Cola and PepsiCo both ended up on a "name and shame" list of top water polluters for the sin of complying with Chinese regulations. Kind of reminds me of what architect Randy Croxton used to say: "Meeting minimum standards means that you did it any worse it would be illegal." Let's hope that instead of hiding behind inadequate regulations, these two global leaders step up and show what's possible by "plugging the holes" in their effluent stream.

Reminder: August 31 is the nominations deadline for Johnson Controls' second annual BELL (Building Efficiency Lifetime Leadership) Award, which will be announced at this year's Greenbuild, November 10-13 in Phoenix. 

Rob Watson
Executive Editor, GreenerBuildings.com
You can reach Rob at rob.watson@greenerworldmedia.com or follow him on Twitter @KilrWat.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature identify 16 initiatives or tools, driven by business leaders, civil society and governments, which have emerged since 2006.

Majora Carter will share her inspirational story of developing green jobs in the Bronx with San Francisco’s interior design, architecture, and urban planning communities. Tickets are still available for Carter’s address at the annual Leaders Breakfast hosted by the Northern California Chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA-NC, www.iida-nc.org).