Green Building Primer (A Four Part Series) - Part II

Cross-posted from my site. Enjoy.

Part II - Basic principles of green building

So… what are the basic elements or principles of green building?

Wikipedia sums it up nicely - Green building is the practice of:

1. increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use and harvest energy, water, and materials, and

2. reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.

Green building is also sometimes known as "sustainable building" or "environmental building". The practice can lead to benefits including reduced operating costs (by using less energy and water), improved public and occupant health (due to improved indoor air quality), and reduced environmental impacts (for example, by lessening storm water runoff and the heat island effect).

Green building is an essential component of the related concepts of sustainable design, sustainable development and general sustainability.

Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and its surrounding (natural or built) environment. The appearance and style of sustainable homes and buildings can be nearly indistinguishable from their less sustainable counter-parts.

Green design often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e.g., using sunlight through passive solar techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs and rain gardens. (Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_building)

To be continued...