GREEN ENERGY BUILDINGS OVERVIEW

Green Buildings Overview

Green buildings conserve the earth's natural resources through the efficient and intelligent use of energy, materials, water, and the building site. They provide their occupants with comfortable surroundings and healthy indoor environments. When clean energy technologies are incorporated into green buildings, the environmental benefits are even greater.

What are green buildings and why are they important?

A green building is a building that has been constructed or renovated to incorporate design techniques, technologies, and materials that lessen its dependence on fossil fuels and minimize its overall negative environmental impact. Among these reduced impacts are minimal site disruption, lower water consumption, and fewer pollutants released during construction and occupation. Green buildings can be homes, offices, schools, hospitals, and other buildings.

The term “high-performance building” is often used when referring specifically to the energy efficiency and productivity benefits of a building, whereas “green building” refers to the broader environmental considerations of a building, including high-performance aspects. “Green building” will be used here to describe a building with minimal site disruption that is energy-, water-, and resource-efficient; and has good indoor air quality, natural lighting, and acoustics, among other benefits.

One of the greatest benefits of green buildings is their reduced use of electricity and energy, which helps reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. About one-third of all energy consumed in the U.S. is used for heating, cooling, lighting, and appliances in buildings.¹ An increase in the adoption of green building practices could potentially reduce this energy consumption significantly. While energy savings in individual green buildings vary widely, a set of Massachusetts projects shows green buildings using 30% less energy than buildings constructed to code.

Additionally, because green buildings are constructed with lower-toxicity materials than regular buildings, occupants of green buildings enjoy healthier indoor environments and higher productivity levels. For more information, see Benefits and Barriers.

How does the green building process work to achieve environmentally-friendly end-results?

Green buildings achieve the best results when they are developed through an integrated design and construction process that ideally begins in the pre-design phase when project goals are set. In this approach, all members of the building team are engaged in the green building elements of the project and work to maximize efficiency throughout different development phases. This integrated process can make a significant difference in the environmental and economic success of a green building project.

Green buildings use a variety of features to reduce their impacts on the environment. These features can broadly be categorized as follows:

Energy Efficiency: Building structures, mechanical and electric systems, heating, and lighting that use minimal energy while providing the same comfort levels as conventional energy systems.

Water Efficiency: Water fixtures, reuse techniques, and other measures that reduce water use while providing the service expected by occupants.

Site Use: Minimization of land used for a building, location near public transportation, erosion prevention, and other techniques that reduce impacts on surrounding land.

Material Use: Recycled, easily regenerated, or efficiently produced materials and building techniques that minimize the materials required for a building.

Indoor Environmental Quality: Use of non-toxic materials, good ventilation, daylighting, and other improvements to the indoor environment that increase occupants’ comfort and productivity.

See Green Building Process and Elements for more information on the integrated design process and elements of green buildings.

Why should people consider building green?

Building green has tangible financial, social, and environmental benefits. The upfront costs of green buildings have been coming down rapidly as more designers and builders gain experience with green design. While today’s upfront costs of building green remain slightly higher on average than standard building costs, these costs are offset by the building’s lifetime operating cost savings. The health and productivity benefits of green buildings for residents, students, and employees are more difficult to quantify financially, but numerous studies show that these benefits are important to consider and projections of cost savings are significant. Environmentally, green buildings reduce usage of their communities’ natural resources and decrease strain on the local energy and water infrastructure. For more information on green building considerations, see Benefits and Barriers.

Where can I find information on green buildings in Massachusetts?

There are a number of resources on Massachusetts green buildings, including Massachusetts Technology Collaborative programs, information from the state government, maps of green building locations in Massachusetts, and a listing of buildings that are certified through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system of the U.S. Green Building Council. For links to these resources and more, see Green Building in Massachusetts.

What can I do?

There are many ways to get involved in a green building project, whether you are an owner, community member, designer, engineer, or other building team member. To learn how to plan and design a green building, incorporate elements of green building into an existing building, or assess costs and benefits, visit the How to Get Involved section.

Source:
http://www.masstech.org/RenewableEnergy/small_renewables.htm