What is Green Building?

(via EngineersGarage.com)

Since its conception in the 1990s, the practice of Green Building has grown and diversified with the increasing popularity of the environmental movement. Different practitioners would carry their own various definition to what Green Building was, with varying levels of extremity. For example, some may only see real green building in extreme cases; ones that result in buildings that make little to no impact on the environment. Others,  may put little weight on the definition and only use the term as a vague marketing tool. The ambiguity of the meaning begs the question of ‘how does one characterize Green Building, exactly?’

According to the Building Design and Construction: White Papers on Sustainability Report (2003), the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (and United States Environmental Protection Agency) defines ‘Green Building’ as the following:

“the practice of 1) increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use energy, water, and materials, and

2) reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.”

In many cases, Green Building is used interchangeably with Sustainable Building or High Performance Building even though the terms are fundamentally different.

GREEN is a term that refers to anything that is made more environmentally friendly than the standard. It is a relative term, and functions mostly as a means of comparison (i.e. This is greener than that.)

SUSTAINABLE is more of a description of a goal. For something to be sustainable, they have preservation for the future as the priority. This means long-lasting plans for small environmental footprints that have as minimal impact to the functioning of future human activities or the environment as possible.

HIGH PERFORMANCE, conversely, prioritizes the present by paying more attention to efficiency and cost effectiveness. This term focuses on optimizing performance and ensuring that nothing is wasted.

Generally Green Building is used as an umbrella term to encompass all three of these attributes.

Reference:

http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Resources/BDCWhitePaperR2.pdf

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40147.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/faqs.htm

• Navigation

  • What is Green Building?
  • Goals + Guidelines
    • — Site Design and Planning
    • — Material and Product Selection
    • — Construction and Demolition Waste Management
    • — Energy and Atmosphere
    • –Water Management
    • — Indoor Environment
  • History
    • — Overview
    • — Timeline
  • Pricing
    • — Apartments
    • — Condos
  • LEED
  • Case Studies
    • — Forest House Apartments
    • — The Visionaire
  • Government Involvement
    • — Beneficial Policies
    • — Building codes
    • — Detriments: Zoning Laws

• Search

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• Reference

  • 1. NYC Department of Sanitation
  • 2. Green Home NYC
  • 3. NYC Rent Guidelines Board
  • 4. Issues in Green Building and the Federal Response
  • 5. White Paper on Sustainability
  • 6. Environmental Protection Agency

• About this Project

  

  This project aims to inform and educate about green building in New York City. We introduce the formal definition of a green building and the goals and guidelines set forth by The Bureau of of Waste Prevention, Reuse, and Recycling of the NYC Department of Sanitation. LEED is also discussed as it is the foremost authority on rating green building effectiveness.

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  In order to attain a greater understanding of the topic at hand, we conducted case studies of two drastically different green buildings within New York City: The Visionaire and The Forest House Apartments. Each shows a contrasting side of green building pricing, but are prime examples of innovative green design.
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  The project also encompasses the government's role in green building. Its policies, building codes, zoning laws and tax breaks have helped shape green building, for better and for worse. We assert that in order for green building to continue to rise, the government must take an active role in encouraging its implementation.