What Makes a Building Green ?

At Freshome we’ve talked a whole lot about about green homes and buildings. And while we all know that you just do not forget that “green” means environmentally friendly – we needed that can assist you better understand what it really means for a building to be green. Inside the paragraphs below we break down for you what a building have to have to be “green.” We transcend talking in regards to the raw, eco-friendly materials used for building, reminiscent of cork, bamboo, brick, reclaimed wood and granite.

What makes a building “green?”

A building it is green is usually known as being sustainable, or environmentally friendly. Which means that the design, construction and materials used for construction employ and incorporate an array of strategies that, together, make the building more energy efficient, healthier and don’t deplete natural resources. The usage of sustainable materials is vital in building construction. But here’s only one aspect of the whole process.

These materials need to be utilized in one of these manner that a building’s maintenance and prices are reduced. These materials will aid in energy conservation and improve occupant health and productivity. Greater design flexibility may end up to boot.

The description of a “green” building:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) best describes green building as “the practice of constructing healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance and demolition.” We were rather surprised to be told that during the us there isn’t a singular comprehensive federal green program. LEED has become the same old inside the US, and there are others including The fairway Building Initiative and The Architecture 2030 Initiative, both whom have their very own practices and requirements.

The federal government offers tax breaks for those replacing older, low-efficiency appliances with new more energy-friendly models. Individually, state by state, new programs are being implemented. California appears to be leading this movement as its governor recently signed an executive order mandating that each one new and renovated facilities should have a silver LEED or higher.

What is LEED?

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environment Design. It has set the ordinary for today’s new building criteria – construction and design. It’s the building tool that addresses the purposes of the whole building and life-cycle from initial conception and design to maintenance.

Europe is in advance of the usa in sustainable building:

Europe, especially Germany and the Netherlands, and Asia, especially Japan, are considerably more advanced in sustainable building than the usa is. For instance, the Miho Museu in Kyoto, Japan (designed by Chinese architect IM Pei) was built with 80% of the structure underground with the intention to preserve the natural landscape. It’s traditional for Asian buildings to be designed with the land in mind.

 The usa joins forces with International forces

On July 16, 2013 The US Green Buildings Council issued an announcement announcing that the realm Group Bank and The arena Green Building Committee “will collaborate and rapidly scale up the development of green buildings to emerging markets.” This new partnership reveals a mutual commitment to “playing a leadership role in transforming the built environment and mitigating climate change.” World Group Bank will connect its network of green building councils to IFC’s investment and advisory program with the intention of exposing solutions to cut back energy, water and material usage bt 20%.

Furthermore this partnership “will deal with urbanizing countries with surging population growth that should build sustainably.” Emphasis would be made to prevent emissions growth, bolster energy and minimize resource depletion. The built environment is predicted to double by 2050 with China alone adding a possible 53 billion square feet – approximately the dimensions of the overall building stock of Latin America!

In short, Green Materials will offer:

Specific benefits to owners and occupants inclusive of but will not be limited to:
Reduced maintenance/replacement
Energy savings
Improved occupant health

Green materials are composed of renewable resources and so they must:
Resource efficiency
Improve air quality
Be energy efficient
Conserve water, and
Be affordable.

Green materials are:
Made up of recycled content
Contain natural, plentiful or renewable content
Locally available
Salvaged or refurbished or remanufactured
Reusable or recycled
Durable – The must last more than their conventional counterparts.

Worldwide building and construction activities consume 3 billion loads of raw (unprocessed) material which equals 40% of total building usage.