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Green building means improving the way
that homes and homebuilding sites use energy, water, and materials. Building a green home means making environmentally-preferable and sustainable decisions throughout the building process-decisions that will minimize the environmental impact of the home while it is being built and over the many years it will be lived in.
Green building practices
Green building brings together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce the impacts of buildings on the environment. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources.
Green building materials
Building materials typically considered to be 'green' include rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo and straw, lumber from forests certified to be sustainably managed, recycled stone, recycled metal, and other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable.
Reduced Energy Use
Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy use. To increase the efficiency of the building envelope, (the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space), they may use high-efficiency windows and insulation in walls, ceilings, and floors.
After heating and cooling loads are reduced, high efficiency cooling, heating, and water heating equipment, along with properly sealed and insulated ducts increase whole house efficiency. Higher efficiency appliances and other electric devices not only lowers direct energy use, but also lowers cooling loads in the summer by producing less waste heat. Similarly, fluorescent lighting, which uses less energy than conventional incandescent lighting, lowers direct electricity use and cooling loads.
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