Green Building

While there are many different definitions of what a green building is, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, a green building is defined as:

A holistic concept that starts with the understanding that the built environment can have profound effects, both positive and negative, on the natural environment, as well as the people who inhabit buildings every day. Green building is an effort to amplify the positive and mitigate the negative of these effects throughout the entire life cycle of a building.

A green building is generally accepted as the planning, design, construction, and operations of buildings with several central, foremost considerations:

• Energy use
• Water use
• Indoor environmental quality
• Material selection
• The building's effects on its site