What is Green Building?

Green Building is the design and construction of buildings giving careful consideration to three main elements: healthy indoor environment, maximum energy efficiency and conservative, thoughtful use of natural resources.

Who says it’s a green building? Is there a certification process?

There are several ways to denote a building’s “greenness.” In the US, and now world wide, green buildings are certified through an independent third party, the US Green Building Council’s program, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®). For more information on LEED® and the USGBC visit http://www.usgbc.org

Under the LEED® certification program green building design focuses on five main categories

1) Sustainable Sites - The Sustainable Sites category encourages good stewardship of the land, taking care to minimize adverse project impacts on surrounding areas during and after construction. This category requires the building owner to consider appropriate site selection, urban redevelopment, and brownfield development. It also encourages the use of alternative transportation to the facility, reducing site disturbance, and storm water management. Credit is also given to projects that achieve a reduced heat island effect and reduce light pollution.

2) Water Efficiency - The Water Efficiency category encourages the thoughtful use of water. Credit is given to building and landscape designs that reduce the use of potable water for irrigation and waste water. Credit is given for a total reduction in potable water use through various water conservation strategies in the building.

3) Energy and Atmosphere - The Energy and Atmosphere category requires that the building undergo fundamental commissioning to insure that the building systems are operating in the way they were designed to operate. This category also requires that the building achieve a minimum energy performance, and that it eliminate the use of CFC-based (Chlorinated Fluorocarbon) refrigerants in new building heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigerating. Credit is given for projects that further optimize energy performance, use renewable energy generated onsite, and purchase green power from a utility company. Additional credits are given for more extensive commissioning and long term continuous measurement and verification of building performance.

4) Materials and Resources - The Materials and Resources category requires that collection and storage of recyclables is provided for in building design and operations. This category also encourages the use of recycled materials, locally manufactured environmentally responsible materials and certified wood. Credit is given to projects that can re-use a portion of the existing building on the site and to projects that implement a construction waste management plan.

5) Indoor Environmental Quality - The Indoor Environmental Quality category seeks to ensure that green buildings have optimal lighting, thermal comfort and healthy indoor air quality for their occupants. The category requires that the building meets a minimum IAQ performance standard, and controls environmental tobacco smoke. Credits are given for carbon dioxide monitoring, increased ventilation effectiveness, indoor air quality management during and after construction, the use of low emitting materials, coatings, paints and finishes and allowing occupants to control the systems in their personal workspace.

To print the above text as well as additional information such as "Why Build Green," and "Green Building - Surprising Facts, " Click Here.

What is Green Building / Why Build Green / Green Building Surprising Facts / Economic Benefits / Costs of Going Green / Online Reports / Shades of Green / Energy Efficiency / Energy Modeling / Green Materials / Links / LEED Certification /