Grand Home

So You Want to Build a Green Home

WHAT IS GREEN BUILDING?
The term green building is used to describe design and construction of

• buildings with some or all of the following characteristics: Buildings that haveminimal adverse impacts on local, regional, andeven global ecosystems;
• Buildings that reduce reliance on automobiles;
• Buildings that are energy-efficient in their operation.
• Buildings and grounds that conserve water;
• Buildings that are built in an environmentally responsible manner from low-environmental-impact materials;
• Buildings that are durable and can be maintained with minimal environmental impact;
• Buildings that help their occupants practice environmentalism,
• Buildings that are comfortable, safe, and healthy for their occupants

Quite often, when people think of green building, what comes tomindis the use of recycled-content buildingmaterials—insulationmade fromrecycled newspaper, floor tiles made out of ground-up light bulbs, and so
forth. Materials are indeed an important component of green construction,but this way of building goes much further.
Green building addresses the relationship between a building andthe land on which it sits how the structure might help to foster a senseof community or reduce the need for automobile use by its occupants
how to minimize energy use in the building (energy consumption beingone of the largest environmental impacts of any building); and how tocreate the healthiest possible living space. These priorities, from a broad