As we face the reality of climate change, habitat destruction and sick buildings, Green Building and Sustainable Design have become the buzzwords of the decade. The LEED® Green Building Rating System is reaching a broad audience and gaining acceptance. As members of the U.S. Green Building Council, and pioneers in the LEED process, we support it wholeheartedly, but LEED is only the tip of the iceberg.
While green buildings save energy, water and natural resources, they also have a measurable impact on the health and well-being of the occupants. Green buildings and green building components such as daylighting, natural ventilation and improved indoor air quality affect worker absenteeism, students’ test scores and employee satisfaction. Recent studies indicate up to a 3% increase in productivity in green office buildings. This coupled with lower operating costs from saved energy mean that green buildings contribute positively to the bottom line.
Some banks and other lending institutions are now offering more favorable short and long term financing for green buildings, and the insurance industry is developing products that recognize the lower risk presented by buildings that protect the environment and the occupants.
The creation of environmentally sustainable or green design is necessarily an iterative process involving the entire project team. No single team member has all the answers (or even all the questions), but together, through a process of integrated design, the issues and hurdles can be identified and overcome. By using such tools as Life Cycle Assessment, energy modeling and building modeling to look at the selection of materials and systems and their interactions, we can gauge their impact on the life cycle and environmental footprint of the entire project throughout the design process. Whole building and whole system design has been proven to have a major impact on improving the performance of the completed project.