Within the building industry there are countless definitions of what GREEN is and what it means… It all depends on which perspective you are looking at it from..

Here is a “book definition”

Green Building, also known as green construction or sustainable building, is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle: from sitting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and deconstruction. This practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort.

Although new technologies are constantly being developed to complement current practices in creating greener structures, the common objective is that green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment.

Every aspect of the Design and building process can and most often will look at it from different angles… An Architect may look define GREEN as a new and environmentally friendly. A builder could consider alternative building materials, cost and labor required…. A consumer or end user may look at it from a cost savings and a return in energy savings…

So here is a quick quiz for you…Compare these 2 scenarios…

You have a 1986 Chevy Tahoe…. V8 it gets about 12 miles to the gallon of gas…. Burns oil too..
You also have a 2006 Honda Civic…4 cylinder… gets about 30 Miles to the gallon highway..

Which one would you consider GREEN??? Well, the obvious answer based on the information here would be the Civic right???

But what if the Tahoe only drove 8 Miles a day… and the Civic went 160 Miles a day??? Seems like the Civic would produce more green house gas emissions and burning more fuel in a week than the Tahoe…. HUH??

So you see, there are so many different ways to look at being green…. and so many different definitions of GREEN that there is no definitive answer as to whether its green or not…. Its all a matter of how you look at it…