The opportunities for sustainable energy strategies are everywhere, beginning with the design of buildings, to construction processes, to insulation, the HVAC system, the lights, the water, the elevators, the power and cooling for technology, the heating and cooling for people.

FORBES: Every Company Is An Energy Company

But wander over to the corner of the studio and behold a large computer annex that looks almost like a trading floor--it's part of Gehry Technologies, a separate 60-employee company that oversees design and construction processes for Gehry and outside clients.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Other resource-efficient projects like New York's 4 Times Square office building, Atlanta's EarthCraft House and Village Habitat Design's cohousing conservation communities include such innovations as energy-efficient insulation, water and air filtration, or hydronic heating, aiming for healthy, nontoxic construction processes and buildings for humans and the environment.

CNN: Developer advocates 'spiritual' approach to building

The traditional construction processes require both technical skills to design the building with consideration to its size, site and function, and aesthetic sense to select the lumber for the construction materials, cut and shape the wood, and assemble and interlock the separate wooden pieces without using nails, creating the so-called joints that withstand a millennium.

UNESCO: Culture

However, both are now seriously threatened by deforestation and invasive practices, including intensive mining and logging, extensive livestock activity, water pollution, degradation of headwaters, unregulated processes of urban settlement, construction of roads, waterways and dams, drainage and diversion of rivers, burning of forests and illegal fishing and trade in wildlife.

UNESCO: Intangible Cultural Heritage

Timber is sold either for pulp used in paper processes or as saw-timber for construction.

WSJ: Wealthy Investors Discover Timberland

The top 20 economies on the list have implemented effective, yet streamlined procedures for regulatory processes such as starting a business and dealing with construction permits as well as strong legal protections of property rights.

FORBES: US Businesses Not Being Strangled By Regulation And Taxation, World Bank Says