Is it Easy Being Green?

Conventional versus Green Building

Oct 15, 2009 Amanda Jones

Green building is a holistic way of thinking. In every aspect of the word "green" now must take in account the environment, economy, and the society as a whole.

A shift in planning concerns, in the 1970s, recognized the need for more sustainable processes in development, construction and design practices. The conventional practice of construction, design and building management has had detrimental impacts on the environment resulting from high standards of living, suburban sprawl, and lack of growth controls, decentralization of communities, and other ineffective planning measures. The U.S. Green Building Council has recognized some of the effects of conventional practices, as conventional buildings:

• Produce a third of the carbon dioxide emissions
• Have increased transportation, sprawl, cultural, and historical impact
• Generate waste during construction, operation and demolition processes
• Account for 60% of all the raw materials used in the U.S., and 40% of non-industrial solid waste.
• Consume approximately 37% of the total global energy consumption, and 40% of raw materials used globally.
• Use building materials that require an extensive infrastructure in order to extract, process, and transport.

In a step forward from conventional practices, green building is the application of design, construction, management, and demolition practices that minimizes the impact of buildings on environmental, economic and social resources.

Benefits of Green Building

The U.S. Green Building Council outlines some of the benefits of green building as a practice that:

• Reduces the impact of natural resource consumption and habitat destruction.
• Lowers utility costs.
• Applies more efficient operating costs through the entire life-cycle of the building.
• Improves risk management.
• Decreases vacancies and improves business retention.
• Enhances indoor environment through restrictions on toxic building chemicals and materials.
• Minimizes strain on infrastructure through effective land use management.
• Cost-effective material recovery through construction, operational, and demolition recycling and reuse methods.
• Minimize the impact of extracting resources from distant regions and communities.
• Increase the availability of jobs that are related to the green building field, which may include: maintenance,installation, sustainability education and design careers.
• Utilize the materials, technologies, and service from business that are local.

Costs of Green Building

The practice of green building is a relatively new and innovative, and with anything newly discovered, so to speak, costs are associated with the practice. There are obviously many benefits to green design, but such benefits are not without costs. Some costs of green building, include:

• The initial costs and operating costs can vary for innovative technologies.
• Costing and rating of materials are not effectively determined by the performance during the entire life cycle.
• Energy efficient measures such as lighting and other passive systems are dependent on site location.
• Additional time is required for crew to sort construction and demolition materials to be recycled.
• The longer learning process for professionals could become a result from the lack of available information on green building design, management, and technologies.
• Developers, architects, and other designers may be unaware of how to apply or keep up to date with green technologies.
• Significant cost may be spent on the design and construction process, which includes educating the public on relatively new green practices.
• Nation-wide rating systems do not give consideration to climactic and regional difference, which may make it difficult to apply green initiatives.
• Cities that are trying to apply green building regulations can find resistance due to the lack of public understanding of “green” issues.

Green building is not just the application of technologies and materials. The most effective technology in green building is change in individual behavior that is sensitive to local, regional, and global impact. Improving the environment means changing the way people go about their day-to-day routine. Giving people an incentive to be more environmentally conscience can help reduce the footprint left on the Earth.

References:

The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Building. California Sustainable Task Force. 2003. P12.

The copyright of the article Is it Easy Being Green? in Environmentalism is owned by Amanda Jones . Permission to republish Is it Easy Being Green? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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