LGC: Waste Prevention : Green Building

Some aspects of conventional construction are detrimental to human health and ecological well being. Scientists have identified 1,500 bacterial and chemical air pollutants that off-gas into our working and living environments. In the United States, construction debris constitutes 35 percent of the solid waste in land fills; the cement industry contributes between five and eight percent of greenhouse gases to the biosphere; and more than 40 percent of the energy used in the United States is related to buildings. Such polluting and waste intensive construction cannot be sustained.

Green building focuses on a whole system perspective, including energy conservation, resource efficient building techniques and materials, indoor air quality, water conservation, and designs that minimize waste while utilizing recycled materials. Green buildings are a product of good design that minimizes a building's energy needs, waste stream, ecological footprint, and nourishes the health of the building's inhabitants and the surrounding ecology while reducing construction and maintenance costs over the life cycle of a building.

Deconstruction of buildings can help to minimize the waste stream associated with conventional construction. The design for new buildings can include plans for deconstruction and subsequent reuse of those materials. Cities such as Austin, Texas; Oakland, California; San Francisco, California; Santa Monica, California: and Portland, Oregon have initiated green building and deconstruction programs.

Green building also includes the use of alternative, recycled, and natural building materials. Recycled materials play an important role in green buildings, especially in lowering the embodied energy - the amount of energy it takes to mine, harvest, manufacture, package, transport, and dispose of materials - in green buildings. Construction techniques, such as rammed earth and straw bale, that use readily available, natural resources result in affordable, energy efficient buildings.

Resources

The LGC is a supporter of green building programs and practices. For additional information, check out:

Resources

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