Green Building: No It's Not the Color of Your Siding

On August 28, U.S. Green Building Council president and CEO Rick Fedrizzi announced that green building was the "cornerstone" of the William J. Clinton Foundation's effort to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. While the polluting effects of emissions from motor vehicles and factories might be obvious to the naked eye, it's hard to imagine that the materials we use to construct buildings, and their energy use can have an effect on the environment, but the initiative spearheaded by the former president's nonprofit group echos those being taken across the country. People are concerned about this issue.

And rightly so. By using green building techniques effectively, construction and building managers can reduce the amount of energy and water used by a facility and improve health by improving the interior air quality. Green building can also have a very positive effect on an area's population, mainly leading to a lower mortality rate, as Green building can reduce problems like the Urban Heat Island, a situation that arises when an area in a city is significantly hotter than other parts of the city, and that adds to higher mortality rates in that area.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency buildings account for 39% of total energy usage, 68% of total energy consumption, and 38% of carbon dioxide emissions in this country. By building green we can help eliminate these problems by increasing air and water quality, as well as aiding in the ever-present drive to reduce energy use as well as lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

If aiding the environment is not enough of a reason to build green, according to the EPA, this method of construction is also helpful in fattening pockets. Green building lessens energy usage, which helps cut down on building maintenance costs for the landlord, ensuring a bigger profit.

So, how does one "build green?" There are about as many ways to build a green building as there are to build a traditional structure. But from design to interior furnishings, keeping the environment in mind is the most important task. Using more environmentally friendly building materials, is part of building green. For instance, using organic insulation, wood form sustainable forests, and renewable or recyclable resources when building instead of lumber from nonrenewable sources, and toxic methods of insulation can be considered green building practices that have a positive effect on the environment. Manufacturing these materials near the building site cuts down on transportation emissions, as well as reducing building costs for the builder, allowing a modern, green building to be produced quickly and inexpensively.

Another method of green construction is creating the structure to take advantage of natural sunlight and heat so that energy can be used more efficiently. This can take place with well-placed windows and solar heating. A myriad of other methods of green construction, that are more specific to certain areas, also exists.

In the United States, rating systems, codes, and legislation make green building easier, and a priority for the construction world, though codes in some areas make building green more difficult. The United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design has derived a method that measures the impact a building will have on the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency also rates buildings on their efficient energy usage.

Legislatively, the state of Washington was the first to make a green building legal standard. According to the law, public buildings will be required to meet certain green standards, such as efficiency in water and energy. In 2006, the town of Charlottesville, Virginia, implemented codes that required construction, including home construction, to meet LEED standards. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg singed Local Law 86 in 2005, which requires certain New York public buildings to be constructed in a sustainable manner. In Washington D.C., a 2006 bill was proposed that would require private builders to operate within certain environmental guidelines, making the nation's capital the first large city to do so.

City codes aside, national assembly bill 2160 provides for committees to survey the green building that is already taking place in most buildings. The bill, introduced in 2006, will require public and private entities to work together to ensure that public buildings meet certain environmental standards.

All over the country, builders from Detroit to Colorado are making attempts to go green, whether they specialize in private, commercial, or public construction, while legislators and nonprofit organizations try to spread the word that environmental friendly building is of extreme importance.