Green Building
A comprehensive process of design and construction that employs techniques to minimize adverse environmental impacts and reduce the energy consumption of a building, while contributing to the health and productivity of its occupants.
A common metric for green buildings is the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. See www.usgbc.org
Possibly some examples of “areas” where one can reduce the environmental impacts (like efficient water management, water-less flushes in rest rooms etc.) and energy consumption (like lighting, HVAC etc.) could have given the reader better understanding.
The definition for “green building” can be a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but that is the beauty of its ambiguity. The bar is constantly moving up, but it does lack a concrete standard (no pun intended). The LEED is one metric, but local initiatives and organizations are defining their own standards as to what “green building” is.
Many builders and contractors still claim to be green despite falling short of LEED standards., and rightly so. The simple act of taking extra measures to reduce environmental impact using renewable materials, efficient insulation, modern automation and appliances, solar, and renewable energy, water management, technology in new building as well as remodeling projects can be considered “green”.