Green credentials of a building reflect its environmental standards. Green buildings utilize natural ventilation systems, access to sunlight and other features that promote healthy indoor environments.

Many green buildings also utilize solar panels, rainwater harvesting systems and toilet composting in order to lower water consumption. Others utilize life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques in order to account for impacts including embodied energy use, carbon emissions and potential toxicant releases.

Energy Efficiency

Green buildings focus on minimizing energy use and using renewable sources of power, while also striving to minimize water consumption during construction and provide mechanisms that facilitate reuse and recycling as much material as possible.

Some green buildings employ on-site solar photovoltaic panels to generate electricity while others employ passive solar design strategies such as aligning windows, walls and awnings to take advantage of natural cooling shade during summer and solar warmth during winter. Other energy saving features may include daylight harvesting sensors or solar-powered water heating.

By reducing energy usage, these structures can save both corporate and residential owners considerable amounts on energy, water and materials costs. Employing smart technology to monitor environmental factors helps ensure systems are operating under ideal conditions reducing costly HVAC system maintenance expenses; qualifying the building for lower utility rates while helping managers identify environmental conditions outside optimal levels and address them faster.

Water Efficiency

Green building practices involve the efficient use of water during building construction, operation and maintenance, including installing high-efficiency plumbing fixtures as well as collecting rainwater and non-potable sources to use non-potable sources as non-potable water sources.

Green buildings often incorporate regenerative and sustainable landscaping practices into their design, which reduce landscape waste while improving local ecosystems. Furthermore, this approach incorporates ecological architecture principles into building design; taking advantage of available natural resources while decreasing energy use.

With global population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, water resources will become scarcer over time. Therefore, developers and construction companies need to include green buildings into their designs now for maximum sustainability.

This research investigates the potential of green buildings built in tropical climates to save water by employing sustainable practices during design. It specifically explores relationships between LEED 2.2 new construction water conservation provisions and UN sustainability goals, such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Results demonstrate that including sustainable measures can substantially decrease building water consumption in these tropical countries.

Materials

The green building movement has led to innovation of materials with lower environmental impacts, including those produced using sustainable production practices or that contain recycled or biodegradable components.

Wood is an environmentally friendly material that stores carbon and is readily available for construction use, while also serving as an efficient insulator to lower energy costs. Other insulators like cellulose and cork may also prove helpful.

Green buildings prioritize non-toxic materials that do not contain carcinogens or harbor mold, thus protecting both occupant health and well-being as well as cutting costs for utilities such as air conditioning, lighting and other utilities.

Green buildings reduce energy consumption through installation of low-flow toilets and appliances with Energy Star ratings, rainwater collection for gardening or landscaping purposes and water efficiency measures such as rainwater harvesting. Furthermore, geothermal systems and solar energy panels may generate more energy than they consume.

Indoor Air Quality

Green buildings have come to symbolize environmentally efficient use of energy and resources, but they also strive to foster healthier indoor environments. “Indoor air quality” (IAQ) refers to pollutants found indoor environments that could affect occupant health such as biological or chemical pollutants, volatile organic compounds and environmental conditions such as temperature and relative humidity.

Multiple factors impact indoor air quality (IAQ), including proper ventilation and using low-VOC emitting building materials and paints. Occupants play an integral part in improving IAQ by purchasing products with low VOC levels, washing clothes and furniture regularly, closing doors and windows when appropriate, refraining from smoking in their premises and following product label instructions.

Studies comparing IAQ in green and conventional buildings demonstrate that residents of green buildings rank their IAQ higher compared to conventional building occupants; however, most studies comparing their IAQ are conducted using subjective evaluations with limited measurements to compare concentration of pollutants between the groups; additionally some researches find no difference in IAQ between green and conventional buildings.