Why Green
Building Design
North Americans
currently lead a material way of life that is unsustainable in ecological
and resource terms over the next century – and buildings are
major causes of this. The “ecological footprint” —
the productive land area required for resource extraction and to assimilate
pollution generated — of the average American exceeds three city
blocks per person. For comparison, the average European requires two-thirds
of this land area; the average Third World citizen one-twelfth. If
all of the earth’s population lived a Californian lifestyle,
the equivalent of three planets would be required to maintain them.
Buildings are major
contributors to this consumption and waste:
- Buildings consume
~40% of total annual U.S. energy use. Production of this energy
emits ~100 million tons of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse
gas driving climate change.
- Most existing
air-conditioned buildings use chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants, which
have been implicated in destruction of the ozone layer.
- American homes
each use between 10,000 and 40,000 gallons of water per year.
- Construction
of the average home creates ~2.5 tons of waste; demolition produces
~20 tons, of which most goes to landfills.
Buildings have impacts
on health as well as the environment. It is estimated that half of
all commercial buildings suffer from air quality problems, resulting
in poorer health of workers and other occupants.
