About Green Buildings
Healthy and high-performance buildings are designed and built with a more thoughtful, inclusive, holistic, and systems-based approach, taking into consideration long-term energy, environmental, economic, and human impacts. They are energy and water-efficient, designed to be resilient to the impacts of extreme weather and emergency events, cost less to operate, and incorporate materials and systems that protect the health of occupants.
The Basics: What is Green Building?
Green buildings—also known as healthy and high-performance buildings—provide a response to traditional building methods that contribute to inefficient operations, higher utility costs, poor occupant health, natural resource depletion, unnecessary maintenance and operational costs, and negative environmental impacts.
In general, healthy and high-performance buildings are designed and built with a more thoughtful, inclusive, holistic, and systems-based approach, taking into consideration long-term environmental and human impacts.
Consider these facts:
Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, where air quality can be up to five times worse than outdoors.
Meanwhile, buildings in the U.S. account for approximately:
- 40% of our energy use
- 40% of our greenhouse gas emissions
- 65% of our waste output
- 12% of our water use
Green, healthy, high-performing buildings offer a solution to this challenge and have been shown to:
- Reduce energy use by up to 50%
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33%
- Recuse solid waste by up to 70%, and
- Reduce water use by 40%
All this was done while also lowering maintenance costs by over 10% and significantly increasing occupant health and satisfaction.
Why Build Green?
It’s not every day that an opportunity with a triple bottom line benefit presents itself.
- People: Green buildings provide benefits to the occupants of a space
- Profit: Green buildings provide benefits to the economy
- Planet: Green buildings provide benefits to the environment
Occupant Benefits
- Improved indoor air quality
- Improved occupant performance, comfort, and health
- Improved quality of life
- Flexible spaces
Economic Benefits
- Reduced utility and operating costs
- Competitive market advantage
- Increased business revenue
- Increased resale and rent values
- Optimized life-cycle performance
Environmental Benefits
- Biodiversity and protected ecosystems
- Improved air and water quality
- Reduced waste stream
- Conserved and restored natural resources
With GBA, It’s Easy Being Green
At Green Building Alliance, we inspire the creation of healthy and high-performing buildings throughout the entire region.
Provide Resources
Not sure where to start? Check out the Resource page to learn the basics, as well as various ways to incorporate green practices into your space.
Connect the Dots
GBA has more than 1,000 individual and corporate members who are contractors, architects, engineers, commissioning agents, designers, landscape architects, and LEED-accredited professionals who can help YOU create your own healthy and high-performing space.
We also host over 100 events per year that provide education and networking. From LEED to Living Building Challenge, from Passive House to net-zero energy, from building tours to workshops, GBA will school you on anything and everything related to sustainability and the built environment.
Check out GBA’s events calendar to get involved.
“Build” A Movement
Ready to take your green building knowledge to the next level? When you or your organization become a GBA member, you gain access to exclusive benefits, including discounted and member-only events, personalized technical assistance from a variety of skilled practitioners, and more.