Green Building Basics
A green building is a high quality, high performance, healthy and environmentally-friendly building. To go further, a green 
building is a sustainable building that addresses the needs of its occupants without jeopardizing the ability of future generation to meet their foreseeable needs.
While every step towards green development is clearly a good step, for a building to be truly sustainable, it must be comprehensibly green. The building must be planned, designed, constructed and maintained in such a manner as to address the following:
- sustainable land development and site planning
- occupant health and safety
- energy efficiency
- environmentally-sound material and resource use
- water conservation
- building durability and maintenance
- ability to support environmentally-responsible life style of occupants
Sustainable Land Development and Site Planning
Sustainable land development addresses the relationship between the building and the actual property on which it is located. The site on which the building will sit is selected in a socially and environmentally responsible way. Sustainable site selection chooses development locations that will encourage the reduction of vehicle transportation by providing access to public transportation, existing infrastructure and access to open space and community resources, such as grocery stores, schools, places of work, and post offices. Special consideration is taken to not build on environmentally sensitive sites, such as wet lands, flood plains, prime agricultural lands and areas of endangered habitat. It also considers the value of building on pre-developed sites such as urban in-fills and brownfield sites in high density areas.
Sustainable site planning is accomplished through design and construction practices that minimize the project’s impact on the site. Special care is taken to preserve existing foliage and limit site compaction to necessary areas. Erosion controls are implemented to reduce the detrimental effects of soil loss and downstream sedimentation.
Measures are taken to reduce the phenomenon of local heat island effects, caused by increase surface areas of concrete, asphalt and other dark and heat adsorbent surfaces. This effect can be reduced by vegetative cover, green roofs and light colored, highly reflective materials.
Surface water is managed so that as much water as possible, often 100%, can be reabsorbed into the earth. Surface water management prevents water from running off the site at destructive rates or being carried away by the storm drain system and therefore avoids carrying sediment, toxins, and other particulate to our oceans, bays, and other bodies of water.
The vegetation on site is designed and managed to include climate appropriate, native, non-invasive plants. This helps to reduce irrigation demands and supports the natural local ecosystem. Additionally, non-toxic pest control strategies are employed.
Water Conservation
Green buildings are water efficient buildings. High efficient fixtures and appliances conserve water indoors while high efficient irrigation systems coupled with climate adapted landscape designs conserve water outdoors. The use of rainwater harvesting, municipal recycled water systems and gray water systems further conserve water.
Occupant Health and Comfort
Often the most notable aspect of increased occupant health and safety in a green building is the improved indoor air quality. In the U.S. we spend an average of 90% (as reported by the Environmental Protection Agency) of our time indoors. Through enhanced ventilation techniques, green buildings supply the necessary levels of fresh air to the occupants. Proper ventilation of combustion appliances minimizes the occupant’s exposure to combustion gases, such as carbon monoxide. Properly designed and installed space heating and cooling systems improve the comfort of occupants, as well as reduce energy consumption.
The indoor air quality is preserved through various construction techniques, such as; the use of non-toxic building materials, finishes and furnishings to reduce airborne contaminants from off-gassing, managing indoor moisture to prevent the presence of mold, preventing contamination of the duct system during construction, installing walk-off mats that trap contaminants before entering the building, and decreasing occupant exposure to radon gas and other soil contaminants. 
Energy Efficiency
Improved energy performance lowers both the carbon footprint of a building and the cost of utilities for the owner and/or occupant. Energy performance is achieved by properly insulating and air sealing the building’s envelope and properly designing and installing high-efficiency systems and equipment. A building’s thermal performance is often achieved by using techniques such as; passive solar design, reduction of air leakage through air sealing, installations of high performance windows and high-performing insulation.
Efficient heating, cooling and hot water distribution systems play a major role in reducing energy consumption, as due common appliances, and indoor and outdoor lighting. Finally, the use of renewable energy can greatly reduce a building’s needs for conventional power supply.
Sustainable Material and Resource Use
Environmentally preferable finish materials can be the most visible feature of a green building. Green buildings are constructed with materials that are rapidly renewable, contain recycled content, are harvested, manufactured, and distributed as close to the building’s proximity as possible, and are non-toxic and low emitting. Sustainable material and resource use also means designing buildings to use less whenever possible. For example, advanced framing measures can drastically reduce (by 25-30%) the need for framing materials, commonly wood. Off-site fabrication is another example of a strategy that can greatly reduce waste and inefficiency that often occurs when building components are constructed on the job site.
A key element of green buildings is enhanced construction waste management. Through identifying local opportunities to divert construction waste from the landfills, finding ways to reuse waste on-site and recycling whenever possible, the amount of construction waste can be greatly reduced.
Building Durability
Durability is a key aspect of sustainability. A durable building will have a longer lifecycle, which makes the initial financial and material investment put into the building a more fruitful investment. A durable building also requires less maintenance. This not only conserves money for the occupants and/or owners, but it also preserves natural resources.
Enhanced durability is accomplished by identifying durability issues early on in the design process, developing specific measures to mitigate the identified risks and employing the measures properly in the construction phase.
Ability to Support Environmentally-Responsible Lifestyle of Occupants
All of the above contribute to the sustainability of a building, but how occupants use and/or live within a building has a significant impact on the building’s lifecycle and environmental impact.
Green buildings are designed and constructed to support environmental-responsible behavior. This includes recycling and composting, practicing resource conservation, preserving one’s belongings, using spaces effectively, taking part in community activity and connectivity, utilizing alternative modes of transportation (including walking and biking), and spending time outdoors.
Green buildings also provide for easy maintenance of the building’s systems, components and indoor and outdoor spaces as well as a general care and respect for the building and site as a whole.
Buildings that are designed and a constructed in a thoughtful and effective manner can greatly support all of these activities, enhancing the occupant’s quality of life and decreasing environmental impact.
