"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."
Homes and commercial buildings designed to minimize the negative impact on the environment and maximize energy efficiency, health, and productivity.
Sustainable Design: This encompasses the principles, strategies, and technologies involved in creating environmentally friendly buildings that reduce their impact on the environment.
Energy efficiency: This involves using various techniques and technologies to reduce energy consumption and the carbon footprint of a building.
Water conservation: This includes the collection, treatment, and conservation of water to reduce water use in buildings.
Material selection: This involves choosing materials and products that have a low environmental impact, are made from renewable resources, and can be recycled or reused.
Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ): This includes air quality, lighting and acoustics, thermal comfort, and other factors that affect the health and well-being of building occupants.
Building Automation Systems: This comprises various technologies used to optimize building performance such as smart thermostats and occupancy sensors.
Renewable Energy: This encompasses technologies and sources of energy that are replenished naturally such as solar or wind energy.
Green Roof and Walls: This involves using vegetation to cover roofs and walls of buildings to insulate and absorb rainwater, reduce the heat island effect, and provide a habitat for wildlife.
Net Zero Energy Buildings: This involves buildings designed to generate as much energy as they consume over a year.
Life Cycle Assessment: This is a methodology that evaluates the environmental impacts over the entire life cycle of the building from the extraction of raw materials to the end-of-life disposal.
Passive House Design: This involves using super-insulated walls, windows and doors, and other techniques to minimize energy consumption.
Building Codes and Standards: This involves government regulations and criteria for green building design, construction, and operation.
Building Information Modeling (BIM): This involves the use of digital software to design, build, and manage buildings.
Green Certification: This includes various certification programs such as LEED, which sets standards for environmentally sustainable buildings.
Zero Energy Buildings: These buildings generate as much energy as they consume on an annual basis, usually through the use of renewable energy technologies.
Passive Houses: A passive house incorporates many design elements that reduce the need for heating and cooling. They are highly insulated, airtight and require very little energy to maintain a comfortable temperature.
Green Roof Buildings: These buildings incorporate green spaces on their roofs, which help to reduce the energy consumption of the building and provide green space for people and wildlife.
LEED Certified Buildings: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a certification system that recognizes buildings that have achieved high levels of sustainability in terms of design, construction, and operation.
Living Buildings: These buildings are designed to be regenerative, self-sufficient and adapt to their environment. They are net-zero energy, net-zero water, and carbon-neutral.
Biophilic Buildings: Biophilic buildings are designed to reconnect people with nature. They incorporate natural elements such as building materials, green spaces, and natural light to create a positive and healthy environment for building occupants.
Sustainable Communities: Sustainable communities are comprised of green buildings, sustainable transportation, renewable energy, and water and waste management systems that create a regenerative and self-sufficient community.
Micro-houses/Tiny Homes: These are small, affordable, and energy-efficient homes that often utilize renewable materials and design elements to reduce their environmental impact.
Earthships: These are self-sufficient homes made from recycled materials such as tires and bottles, and powered by solar and wind energy.
Net Zero Buildings: A Net Zero Building is a structure that produces as much energy as it consumes on an annual basis.
Smart Buildings: A smart building is a building that uses advanced technology to optimize energy use, automate building controls, and improve the overall efficiency of the building.
"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."