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Understanding
Green Building
Green
building constructs homes and buildings that have the
highest degree of energy efficiency.
This includes homes and office buildings, which
uses less energy to heat and cool and that also reduce
the impact they have on both the environment as well as
on human health through designing or remodeling
buildings, making them environmentally friendly in every
aspect of the building from it’s design, construction,
maintenance, and when the time comes—it’s removal.
Green
building is referred to as sustainable building or
environmental building.
However it is important to know that there are
slight differences in the definitions. The practice of
green building often times has benefits such as reduced
operating costs due to increased productivity, reduced
energy and water usage, increased indoor air quality
which improves public and occupant health.
In addition, green building also has a reduced
environmental impact such as reducing the heat island
effect.
When
a building is “Green Designed,” this often means
that when designing the building an emphasis was placed
on using as many renewable resources as possible, such
as taking advantage of sunlight by means of passive and
active solar lighting, as well as photovoltaic
techniques. In
addition many times plants and trees are used to reduce
rainwater run-off. Other techniques used to reduce
rainwater run-off may include using packed gravel
instead of concrete or asphalt or parking lots.
Another benefit of using packed gravel instead of
concrete or asphalt is that the packed gravel does not
contribute to the heat island effect.
In
the June issue of the Harvard Business Review, the
editors dedicated a substantial space to green building,
stating that it is an established mainstream building
practice. Therefore,
if you are considering building a new home or office
building, then consider green building.
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