Buildings: Sustainable Strategies
Sustainable building strategies emphasize practices, technologies, and products that limit a building’s effects on the environment. Three of the most effective sustainable building strategies – integrated design, sustainable building goals, and green codes – are outlined below.
Integrated design
Integrated design is the design and construction of a building as a collaborative process in which all team members work together to identify and meet performance goals. This differs from conventional design processes in which design or construction professionals only focus on certain aspects of the building according to trade, for example HVAC or plumbing. Integrated design takes the “building as a system” approach in which a building’s parts are viewed to function in concert.
The main tenets of integrated design are:
- Collaboration between team members
- Early planning
- Establishment of performance goals
- System for accountability (e.g. commissioning)
The following graphic from the National of Building Sciences’ Whole Building Design Guide depicts the central elements of integrated design:
Sustainable Building Goals
To construct sustainable buildings, projects must set sustainable building goals during the early stages of the project. Goals can differ according to a project’s function, climate zone, or scope. Each project team member should be instructed on the goals of the project and held accountable for his or her actions.
Some examples of sustainable building goals are:
- Reduction in water consumption
- Reduction in energy consumption
- Infill development
- Reduction of potable water use
- Improved indoor air quality
- Use of more sustainable materials
- Walkability
- Reuse and recycling
- Renewable energy generation
- Increased durability
In order to achieve sustainable building goals successfully, many design and construction teams implement green building certification programs. These are third-party verification programs intended to promote the green building industry. Green building certification programs are available for private and public projects, both residential and commercial, according to type of building.
Lastly, setting sustainable building goals may require the establishment of baselines for current or base case consumption to target percentage reductions. This strategy requires that project teams measure the progress of each goal to verify performance and promote accountability within the project.
Green Codes
Building codes are minimum performance standards that govern new construction projects and renovations. The purpose of building codes is to protect human health, ensure occupant safety, and provide a standard in the construction industry.
Green building codes, or codes that establish voluntary or mandatory environmentally friendly construction, have the potential to affect a multitude of construction projects and to transform the built environment in communities, if the codes are feasible and enforceable
Water that meets or exceeds the EPA's drinking water quality standards and is approved for human consumption by the state or local jurisdictions.Energy that comes from sources that are not depleted by use. Examples include energy from the sun, wind, and small (low-impact) hydropower, plus geothermal energy and wave and tidal systems.The collection, reprocessing, marketing, and use of materials that were diverted or recovered from the solid waste stream.The quality of air inside a building space that affects the health and wellbeing of building occupants. The process of verifying and documenting that a building and all of its systems and assemblies are planned, designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained to meet predetermined energy requirements.The ability or potential of a physical body to do work. The most common forms of energy are heat, light, mechanical (moving parts), and electrical.
