2 Handbook of Green Building Design and Construction

Green construction in the United States remains in its relative infancy and
is constantly developing. And although the practices and technologies that
are utilized in green building construction continue to evolve and improve,
they, nevertheless, differ from region to region and from one country to the
next. Although this is true, there remain certain fundamental principles that
all green projects will conform to. These include: siting, structural design
efficiency, energy efficiency, water efficiency, materials selection, indoor
environmental quality (IEQ), operations and maintenance, and waste and
toxics reduction. Because of this, good environmental stewardship now dic-
tates that our built environment be sustainable. It is no surprise therefore that
at the local and state levels, government is increasingly mandating that proj-
ects be built to green standards of construction which is driving our industry
to become more involved toward making sustainable projects for our clients
and communities a priority. This is also because of the pressure from occu-
pants and tenants who have to work and live inside these structures.
While the definition of sustainable building design is constantly changing,
there are a number of fundamental principles that persist and which will
be discussed in detail in later chapters. But, with respect to building green
and sustainability, architects and the project team should focus on design-
ing and erecting buildings that are energy efficient, use natural or reclaimed
materials in their construction, and are more in tune with the environments
in which they exist. Building green means being more efficient in the use
of valuable resources such as energy, water, materials, and land than con-
ventional buildings or buildings that are typically built to the latest codes.
This is why green buildings are more sympathetic to the environment and
provide indoor spaces that occupants find to be typically healthier, more
comfortable, and more productive. This is supported by a recent CoStar
Group study (CoStar’s 25,000-square foot Boston office was awarded LEED
Platinum CI in 2010), which concluded that sustainable “green” build-
ings outperform their peer nongreen assets in key areas including occu-
pancy, sale price, and rental rates, sometimes by wide margins. It should be
noted that CoStar is also an ENERGY STAR Partner and was honored
in 2009 with an Excellence in ENERGY STAR Promotion Award for
incorporating the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) list of LEED-
Certified and Registered buildings, ENERGY STAR-Certified buildings,
and BREEAM-assessed properties into its database.This has enabled CoStar
clients both in the United States and the United Kingdom to implement
miscellaneous queries for green buildings and classify buildings with these
designations in their corresponding markets.