Real Estate Forum's

Nearly 87% of the 251 professionals that responded to the survey said that greening their portfolios is a priority for their business, up from 81.5% last year. Almost 81% said that they have allocated funds for green programs in their companies, an increase from just under 64% in 2007.

And this is just the beginning, said Mark Heisterkamp, the USGBC's director of commercial real estate, at a press conference yesterday, citing survey data that says only a small amount of firms' portfolios are LEED certified. "There are still many, many companies that are just getting their feet wet," he said. "This data tells us a lot of people are thinking about it."

Another survey featured yesterday at Greenbuild was put out by online facilities-management publication FMLink, BOMA, USGBC and the Association for Facility Engineers. It found that more building managers are pushing to control their buildings' energy use.