McGraw-Hill Construction, one of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), just released its market research findings on green building in the education sector and guess what? It's the fastest growing green building sector. Of all the construction sectors, education is the largest with an estimated $53 Billion for 2007, which happens to include construction for K-12 and university levels. This is a good thing, especially if green building benefits trickle-down into other construction sectors. As green materials start to get hot, production and innovation will increase, so this is a win-win situation for the industry.

Why is green building getting such traction in the education sector?

1. Opportunity for improved health and well-being
2. Operational cost decreases and other fiscal advantages such as energy cost savings

While the market research findings also discovered that higher first costs are the primary challenge to building green, many green building owners are starting to realize greater benefits through operational cost decreases. Pictured above is the J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering Building at Southern Methodist University, constructed by Turner Construction.