What is a green building?

There is increasing interest in the Green Building market. A green building is a structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green buildings are designed to meet certain objectives such as using energy, water and other resources more efficiently and reducing the overall impact on the environment. In addition, a goal of green building design is to create a healthier environment for occupants and improving employee productivity.

Specific items that may be used to achieve a green building designation include:

• Water use reduction
• Energy use reduction
• Site on a mass transit line/bike racks available
• Low VOC emission paints and carpet
• Vegetative green roofs

These buildings may be LEED certified to Silver, Gold or Platinum Levels (LEED stands for Leader in Energy and Environmental Design.) The certification levels are based on a point system, with some buildings being more green than others. There are other certification systems as well, such as Green Globes of the Green Building Initiative, Portfolio Manager and Target Finder of the US-EPA.

Building green is an environmentally sensitive thing to do. With resources in limited supply and the climate becoming changeable, it is wise to be involved in building green. There are many benefits to the environment from building green. Some of these are: energy efficiency, water reclamation and reuse, use of recycled building materials, reuse of existing formerly contaminated sites rather than building new buildings on virgin sites. The list is long and many of these are not only good for the environment, but, are cost effective over the long-term life of a building and site.

For the Contractor

Contractors, architects and designers need to be careful about how they present the project to a customer. You do not want to make promises you cannot keep. Here are a few things to consider:

• Building to a LEED Certification Level. You may find yourself a point or two short of a target level. Failure to meet a certain certification has been the basis of lawsuits.
• Guarantee of Energy Savings. If the guaranteed savings does not come true, and it can be hard to prove or disprove, the customer can sue for failure to meet expectations.
• Indoor Air Quality. There is a lot of expectation about improved air quality inside a green building. That may be the case, but there is no information documenting that is true.
• Value Engineering in the Negative Sense. If a customer cannot afford the preferred product and a product of lesser quality than needed is substituted, a caution flag should be raised. You may be expected to fix it with the more costly, specified product for free.
• Using Sustainable and Recycled Product. Many new products entering the market that come from sustainable forests or recycled materials are expensive and may not perform as well. Be cautious regarding the use of a product and if, unfamiliar with it, obtain technical information sheets and warrant information to ensure correct installation.
• Green Roofs and Living Walls. While these may appear to be simple in function and beauty, they are extremely complex and have avariety of issues and concerns.