What is a “Green” Building?

Does going green make economic sense?

Green Building is all about the complete building life cycle; it is also regarded as sustainable building or environmental building. The term “Green Building” is often used in combination with “high-performance building”, “sustainable design” and “preserving precious resources”.

Importance of Green Building

The related concepts of sustainable development and sustainability are integral to green building. Effective green building can lead to

1. Reduced operating costs by increasing productivity and using less energy and water

2. Improved public and occupant health due to improved indoor air quality

3. Reduced environmental impacts by, for example,reducing storm water runoff  and the heating effect.

Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and it’s surrounding of natural and built environment. The appearance and style of sustainable homes and buildings can be nearly indistinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.

Materials

Sustainable design is about finding that balance between high-quality construction and low environmental impact. A lighter footprint means a longer-lasting planet, which is a win for the builder, client, and environment. Green building is a goal and a process. Viewing sustainable building as a process is important, because green-building success isn’t just a matter of building with green materials. Green building combines both materials and processes to maximize efficiency, durability and savings.

Life Cycle Assessment

Making smarter decisions at the start can save time, money and frustration later on. Conducting life cycle assessments give you valuable planning and purchasing insights based on the anticipated lifetime impact or expense of a product or process.

The dramatic, 647,000-square-foot PNC Firstside Center in downtown Pittsburgh boasts a magnificent facade of curving glass, steel, and stone overlooking the Monongahela River. The winner of several design awards, the building rises from a large plaza graced with waterfalls and fountains. Its airy, light-filled interior has 11-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, an atrium, an open floor plan, and all the latest building system technologies, including individual climate controls. What most observers don’t realize is that this is a “green,” or environmentally and economically sustainable, workplace—and that it costs 20% less per square foot to operate than its comparably sized “standard” sister building in Philadelphia.