Increasing the efficiency of buildings and their use of energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.
What to consider when designing a Green Building:
– The ideal site would be a Brownfield: abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations.
– Conserve water and energy: limit the amount of resources required to operate a building. Installing a self-supporting filtration unit.
– Recycle construction materials: using recycle construction materials limits the amount of resources that must be disturbed. Obtaining locally or manufactured locally reduces the energy in shipping and transporting of these materials.
– Indoor air quality: limit the amount of materials in the building that contain Volatile Organic Compounds(VOC): Compounds that evaporate easily at room temperature and often have a sharp smell. They can come from many products, such as office equipment, adhesives, carpeting, upholstery, paints, solvents, and cleaning products.
– Beneficial Lanscaping: using different landscaping techniques to achieve a variety of benefits (e.g., decrease of maintenance costs, reduction of stormwater runoff, beautification of the landscape, preservation of endangered species) and using plants that require little or no pesticides etc.
