"Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition."
Design of buildings that use sustainable materials, reduce energy demand, and minimize their environmental impact.
Energy Efficiency: Energy efficiency involves designing buildings and systems that reduce energy consumption while minimizing the impact on the environment. This includes using energy-efficient appliances, lighting, and HVAC systems.
Water Conservation: Water conservation is the practice of designing buildings that use water efficiently and reduce water wastage. This includes using low-flow fixtures and harvesting rainwater for irrigation.
Indoor Air Quality: Indoor air quality refers to the quality of air inside a building. Poor air quality can lead to respiratory problems, allergies, and other health issues. Green building designs should aim to improve indoor air quality by using proper ventilation systems and using non-toxic building materials.
Sustainable Materials: The use of sustainable materials such as recycled materials, renewable materials, or materials that have a low environmental impact is a core principle of green building design.
Passive Solar Design: Passive solar design is the process of designing buildings to maximize the use of natural light and heat. This includes designing buildings with large windows that face the sun, using building materials that absorb and store heat, and using shading devices to prevent overheating.
Renewable Energy: Renewable energy is the use of energy sources that can be replenished, such as wind, solar, geothermal, or hydroelectric power. This is an important aspect of green building design as it reduces reliance on fossil fuels.
Building Envelope: The building envelope refers to the physical barrier that separates the inside of a building from the outside environment. A tight building envelope reduces air leakage, which can improve energy efficiency and indoor air quality.
Landscaping and Site Design: Landscaping and site design are important elements of green building design. This includes using native plants in landscaping to reduce the need for irrigation, designing buildings to maximize solar exposure, and designing buildings to reduce the impact on the local ecosystem.
Waste Reduction: Reducing waste generation and promoting recycling and reuse is an integral part of green building design. This includes promoting the use of eco-friendly building materials and designing buildings to maximize recycling and reuse.
Life Cycle Assessment: Life cycle assessment refers to the analysis of the environmental impact of a building or product throughout its entire life cycle, from extraction of raw materials to disposal. This is an essential tool to assess the sustainability of green building designs.
Passive Solar Design: A design strategy that maximizes the use of natural light and solar energy in a building. This design relies on the sun's presence to heat the space during the winter months and shade it during the summer months.
Zero-energy Building Design: A building that generates enough energy from renewable sources like solar panels, wind turbines to meet its energy requirements.
Biophilic Design: A design strategy that creates a connection between nature and the building's occupants. This design uses natural materials and elements like water to create a relaxing and comfortable environment.
Net-zero Energy Building Design: This design strategy aims to create buildings that use no energy from the grid. The building is self-sufficient and generates all the power it needs from renewable sources on site.
LEED Certified Building Design: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is a globally recognized standard for green building design. This aims to reduce waste, oil dependency, and CO2 emissions through sustainable design.
Green Roof Design: A design strategy that uses plants and vegetation to help insulate the building, creating a natural barrier to lower energy use.
Sustainable Materials Design: This design strategy uses eco-friendly materials like bamboo, repurposed wood, recycled metal, and more.
Water Conservation Design: A design strategy that focuses on reducing a building's water usage by incorporating low-flow fixtures, rainwater harvesting, water-efficient irrigation systems, etc.
Energy-efficient HVAC design: This design strategy uses advanced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to reduce energy usage and improve indoor air quality.
Daylighting Design: This design strategy aims to maximize natural light inside the building, thus reducing reliance on artificial lighting and improving energy efficiency.
Electric Vehicle Charging Station Design: This design strategy provides electric vehicle charging stations for building occupants, enabling them to charge their cars while at work or home.
Geothermal Design: A design strategy that uses geothermal heat pumps to heat and cool a building, significantly reducing energy consumption.
Biodegradable Material Design: This design strategy uses natural materials that can be composted at the end of their useful life, reducing waste and improving sustainability.
"This requires close cooperation of the contractor, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages."
"The common objective of green buildings is to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment."
"Green building also refers to saving resources to the maximum extent, including energy saving, land saving, water saving, material saving, etc., during the whole life cycle of the building."
"Other certificate systems that confirm the sustainability of buildings are the British BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) for buildings and large-scale developments or the DGNB System (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen e.V.) which benchmarks the sustainability performance of buildings, indoor environments and districts."
"The World Green Building Council is conducting research on the effects of green buildings on the health and productivity of their users."
"The World Green Building Council is working with the World Bank to promote Green Buildings in Emerging Markets through EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) Market Transformation Program and certification."
"There are also other tools such as Green Star in Australia, Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) used in the Middle East and the Green Building Index (GBI) predominantly used in Malaysia."
"Building information modeling (BIM) is a process involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of places."
"Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity"
"Natural building is a similar concept, usually on a smaller scale and focusing on the use of locally available natural materials."
"Sustainability may be defined as meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs."
"Although some green building programs don't address the issue of retrofitting existing homes, others do, especially through public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment."
"A 2009 report by the U.S. General Services Administration found 12 sustainably-designed buildings that cost less to operate and have excellent energy performance."
"Occupants were overall more satisfied with the building than those in typical commercial buildings."
"Reducing waste, pollution, and environmental degradation."
"Green building technology focuses on low consumption, high efficiency, economy, environmental protection, integration, and optimization."
"The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort."
"Green building refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition."
"Providing people with healthy, comfortable, and efficient use of space, and being in harmony with nature Buildings that live in harmony."