Buildings contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and energy, water, and material usage; green buildings help mitigate their negative effects through sustainable design and construction strategies.
Green buildings employ innovative sustainability strategies to improve indoor environmental quality, from architectural designs that incorporate natural sunlight to efficient ventilation strategies.
Energy Efficiency
Green building may seem like the latest environmental fad, but the practices and materials employed in green buildings offer more than environmental sustainability: They can help lower operating costs, accelerate payback periods, and increase property values.
Energy efficiency is one of the hallmarks of green construction, including using renewable energy resources and employing HVAC systems with temperature regulation capabilities, building insulation, window shading systems and bioclimatic design to create structures compatible with their environments rather than in opposition.
PNNL researchers are developing technologies that enable green buildings to automatically adjust operational functions to take advantage of energy-saving adjustment parameters, including intelligent lighting and ventilation systems, advanced power management technology, smart meters and appliances with energy-saving features. We are working towards developing highly efficient solid-state lighting products and methods of measuring, controlling and optimizing electricity use both inside the building itself as well as on the grid.
Water Efficiency
As green building demand rises, energy and water efficiency will become an increasingly critical issue. From state-of-the-art ventilation systems that maximize daylighting to Trombe walls that capture and store solar energy, green buildings use innovative techniques to lower consumption while conserving natural resources and minimizing waste.
Eco-friendly construction materials like bamboo and recycled steel help these buildings to minimize carbon emissions, while rainwater harvesting systems enable rainwater capturing systems to collect rainwater for reuse, decreasing wasteful consumption of municipal supplies while simultaneously decreasing environmental waste.
Finally, they employ energy efficient appliances and systems certified with the ENERGY STAR label to reduce dependency on fossil fuels further and generate renewable energy on site to further lower consumption of energy resources. They address the triple bottom line by contributing to economic development while relieving energy poverty and improving air quality – thus meeting their triple bottom line obligation of planet, people and profits.
Green buildings often cost more than conventional ones due to using more costly technologies and materials, needing extensive research and design work, taking longer to build, etc. But over their lifespan they provide significant cost savings by decreasing operating expenses and waste creation.
Materials
Green buildings incorporate sustainable building materials into their design to reduce maintenance costs over time and decrease waste through recycling systems and reduced water use.
Energy-efficient windows and insulation help save energy. Renewable sources like solar and wind energy combined with high performance electric appliances reduce fossil fuel reliance.
Recycled steel requires significantly less energy to produce than traditional building materials, lowering environmental impacts and conserving natural resources. Furthermore, its long-term cost benefits mean buildings require fewer repairs or replacements in the near future.
Lumber is an environmentally-friendly material that stores carbon as it grows, providing a climate-positive solution for construction. Furthermore, companies can replant older trees as they harvest lumber. Bamboo offers another green alternative that can be used in various applications from outdoor retaining walls to furniture cladding and more. Some green builders are even exploring growing materials such as mycelium — thin fungal strands which can be transformed into walls or other structures–to build structures.
Indoor Air Quality
Sustainable buildings must not only use green building strategies that conserve energy, water and materials to conserve resources; they must also strive to provide a healthy indoor environment by restricting air pollutants from entering, creating conditions in which they flourish, and eliminating pollutants once they do enter.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Particulate Matter, Carbon Monoxide, Lead and Oxides of Nitrogen are common pollutants found in buildings that emit chemical emissions into the indoor environment, polluting it with pollutants that contribute to allergies, asthma and Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). These chemical emissions contribute significantly to health issues like allergies and asthma as well as Sick Building Syndrome.
To keep VOC levels down, non-toxic and low-VOC building and cleaning materials should be used when possible. Furthermore, proper ventilation, proper distribution of fresh air, ASHRAE 62.1 compliance and walk-off mats at entryways will help. Furthermore, keeping outdoor pollutants away from your building may also help.