Green Building and LEED Certification
have become the standard in new construction instead of some afterthought it once was. Take some time to visit the green building
counsel web sites in your town and learn about all the exciting things happening right in your own back yard. You can find
links to many cities at the bottom right of this page.
Green construction is just the tip of the iceberg
for many cities, for whom three hundred and fifty top city officials have already pulled together to sign a "green
treaties" document, which stets commitments to many green issues. Some of the simple highlights of this document are
actions concerning the replacement of LED's in stop lights or CFL's in all government buildings. These are simple
steps, but when you add up the effect this will have when multiplied by 350 you begin to see real change.
If you are in the construction trade and hope to do work for a local, state or federal government agency, you might want to
quickly get up to speed on green building standards and certifications. I can assure you that any work proposed in the coming
years is going to be tied to some level of LEED. The government is not the only group that is expanding rapidly into the green
building trend, we are beginning to see a big shift in the corporate mindset as well.
The final piece of
the green building puzzle will be that of the general public and although there is a great misconception about green building
with relation to cost and reward, this to is begining to change. The fact remains that if you are wanting to retrofit
an exsiting building with new green technologies there will be higher cost to payoff ratios. What the public is only now starting
to learn is that new construction with integrated green technologies is comparable in standard costs giving it a much quicker
payback.
Lets face the true facts about the whole "green" trend, nobody really
cares about helping the environment, well maybe we think about it from time to time, perhaps we even say we are, but
the truth is this, if it does not save us money its not something that were interested in period. With the
current level of education about the benefits of green building, even the general public is starting to come around to the
true "green" benefits of building green, its the "green" as in money.
Green Construction and LEED links
US Green Building Council
Green Building
EPA Green Building
Green Building Pages
Green Buiding Alliance
Sustainable Buildings Industry Council
Greener Buildings
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