The U.S. Green Building Council’s definition of Green is “a high performing home that’s energy and water efficient, has good indoor air quality, uses environmentally sustainable materials and also uses the building or site in a sustainable manner.”
Now that we all understand the definition of green building, let’s take a closer look at a few elements which will comprise the term green building. There are different degrees of green building that offer some challenges as well. For instance, green building in a remodel condition would differ from a newly constructed home. Depending on what part of the construction process is being discussed we will have many opportunities to implement the green factor. From new building materials to new innovative methods, we can save money and make building healthier to build and occupy. The most overlooked green building design element is known as operations and maintenance practices. This would typically occur after the remodel or construction of the project. When building one must consider the impact that O&M practices have on both the owner’s bottom line and the tenants needs as well. Implementing a good O&M program is typically easy, and does not need to be a huge budget issue either. Companies are seeing a 5-20% energy savings when implementing a best-practice O&M program. Basically these programs are educating the facilities employees/tenants to best utilize the energy usage by making better decisions throughout the day. By changing their daily habits and recognizing these people for their efforts, it is possible to sustain these savings for the long term. Green building design takes into consideration a vast amount of architectural elements. A lot of which are case by case design strategies which must be carefully planned out as not to miss a potential key savings or environmental benefit. There are a lot of great resources out there to better assist your green building design strategy! So do your homework, and when possible make it a point to stay GREEN! For more information on this and many more great articles please visit us at: http://www.AvailableOnTheWEB.com, thanks for your time and have a GREAT time!
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