According to the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), “A green building is one which uses less water, optimises energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building.”
You can’t make a building green just by building a lawn around it, or by installing solar water heaters, or by using efficient lighting technologies such as CFLs (compact fluorescent lights). The design, the building materials used, the possibilities of using recycled water, and waste, adding ‘green roofs’, ensuring proper ventilation and a host of other things have to be considered. The process, in fact, begins when you choose the site for the building.
1. The Right Site
Typically, green buildings are properly sited even before the actual blue plan is drawn. Ideally, the building will not be constructed in any sensitive habitats like wetlands, groundwater recharge zones or old growth forests. Many new green buildings are purposely built over former brown fields (polluted industrial areas) that have been reclaimed.
Buildings that are sited near major bus, train and subway lines encourage use of public transit. And buildings with smaller building and parking lot footprints tend to be more energy-efficient while leaving more room for landscaping — ideally, landscaping that uses non-invasive native plants, some of which can provide food for humans and wildlife alike.
2. Minimal Energy Use
Energy efficiency is a key component of green buildings, making energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal increasingly important. Heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) are usually a building’s biggest energy costs, so simple practices like moderating summer thermostat settings makes a real difference.
Using good-quality, insulating windows is as important as window placement; windows in the right places allow daylight to reduce lighting use while providing solar warmth in cool weather. Landscaping also saves energy through smart placement of shade trees and “green roofs” where plant beds provide insulation against the summer heat and reduce storm runoff.
3. Material Wealth in Green Buildings
It seems that every day, some innovative, new sustainable building material for green buildings is introduced. Some are recycled, recyclable, or brought back into use from architectural salvage companies. Others are local materials — including those, like adobe, rock and gravel, that can be harvested from the building site itself. Most of these contain few or no toxic substances or finishes, and many, such as bamboo, straw bales, cork, and recycled denim insulation, come from sustainable or low-impact sources.
4. Breathing Easy
A lot of us find scent of fresh paint irritating, which at times makes us feel uncomfortable but there are many other indoor air pollutants that can be even more harmful. The EPA estimates that indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from some paints, carpets, synthetic fabrics and adhesives are a known health hazard, contributing to the malaise known as sick building syndrome. Proper use of HVAC can help, as can one obvious — windows that open to let fresh air in and bad air out.
5. Water-Wise Green Buildings
Some smart uses of water in green buildings are obvious — low-flow toilets, sinks and showers — but others are still being introduced in some municipalities, like the reuse of graywater (non-septic water from sinks and showers) to flush toilets and irrigate landscaping. In some green buildings rainwater harvesting has caught on big time, rainwater is collected to cool the building and is also incorporated into natural water features on the site.
6. Waste Not
Some of the greenest buildings aren’t new at all — they’re older buildings that have been adapted for reuse. Adaptive building reuse, like turning an old warehouse into housing, is just one example of how smart design can reduce the waste stream from construction, as well as the waste generated during building occupancy. More efficient building processes, like prefab buildings, also reduce the amount of waste generated by building demolition, construction and renovation.
7. Amenities and Management
The very best green design and construction ideas don’t mean much if the occupants of a building turn a blind eye to sustainable practices. For example, recycling and turning off lights when not in use requires ongoing participation from a building’s occupants and management. And the amenities that are incorporated into sustainable buildings, like showers and bike racks, can help to make a good building great
