Green Architecture and Building Green

Building Green — USGBC’s LEED Approach
Jake Kulju

As more homeowners become conscious of their environmental impact and the significant health risks that conventional building poses, a market for green building has been steadily growing over the last decade. To monitor the process, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) was established as an official regulator of LEED building projects.

What Is LEED?

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a rating system of the USGBC that gives green builders the tools they need to meet the five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. LEED acts as a benchmark for the “design, construction and operation of high performance green building.” LEED was formed with the intent of steering the built environment towards sustainability. The LEED certification process awards points to registered building projects and gives marks of certification to those that have passed the rigorous standards.

Green USA

After decades of policy change and environmental awareness, the concept of “green” has now been accepted into the American lexicon. As citizens, consumers and homeowners in an increasingly damaged environment, we understand that we can make choices that support sustainable ways of living and buying. As Americans, green has become a way to restructure our country and our economy. As author and columnist Thomas Friedman declared, “Green is the new red, white and blue.”

Energy Use in America

America is the largest consumer of energy in the world. Most of it comes from fossil fuels and other nonrenewable resources. The construction of home and businesses in America accounts for 39 percent of our total energy use. By applying green design to this large sector of energy use, we have a unique opportunity to make a large global impact.

As it stands, the built environment in our country is a heavy burden on our raw material usage and pollution output. Buildings in America are responsible for 12 percent of U.S water use, 38 percent of U.S. green house gas output, 65 percent of U.S. waste output and 70 percent of U.S. electricity consumption.

Residential buildings alone account for more than 20 percent of the country’s energy consumption, 9 percent of its water use and 21 percent of national carbon dioxide emissions.

All of these numbers point to the built environment of the American economy as having a large hand in the use of energy, water, electricity and creation of solid waste. By focusing on implementing green practices into these areas, a huge step towards environmental responsibility can be taken.

Communities Taking Green Action

Communities of green-thinking leaders, homeowners and businesspeople are working to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated. And the trend is catching on. From 1997 to 2005, forty-five states voted to finance more than $30 billion worth of conservation measures.

How Are People Going Green?

The built environment is going green by incorporating alternative methods of heating, cooling, building and supplying their homes with energy. Solutions like geothermal heat, photo-voltaic cells, recycled and reused building materials and structures and wind power are some of the leading ways that people are going green. These systems save energy, reduce the amount of waste a home produces and can significantly increase the value of a home.

A Healthy Home

Green buildings also provide significant health benefits to their occupants. Green design has been shown to mitigate radon, lead-based paint and other hazardous materials. It uses no gas-off and green materials, in addition to lowering dependency on fossil fuels. Green buildings also have better ventilation, which results in less mold and mildew content.

The Big Green Picture

Since building and construction projects account for significant portions of U.S. energy consumption, economics, pollution and public health, a greening of the built environment could produce very large environmental and personal benefits.

By implementing green building and Smart Growth practices, we make a positive financial decision that benefits the health of ourselves and our world, while establishing a market segment that creates jobs and promotes education and energy-use awareness.


This article was generously provided by Live Green Live Smart, who is dedicated to promoting a sustainable planet through education, linking of resources and projects that foster a global green community. Visit their extremely helpful website for more valuable information.

Live Green Live Smart will be offering builder and consumer education about building green; the organization was founded to help hasten the ‘tipping point’ at which green building becomes ordinary — the norm rather than the exception.

Last 5 posts by Live Green Live Smart

• Diesel Goes Green! Back to the New Leaf Future - January 24th, 2008

Bookmark It