How Sustainable is “Green Building”?

How Sustainable is “Green Building”?

While the terms green and sustainable are often used interchangeably, not all green building techniques are sustainable. Green building encourages the reduction of harmful impacts that buildings have on the environment and their occupants while focusing on environmental sustainability, but does not necessitate truly sustainable practices. While sustainable strategies stipulate the conservation, or preservation, of resources and require the reconciliation of all economic, social, and environmental demands.
There is a need for the establishment of a framework that encourages economic, social, and environmental sustainability for green buildings.

Sustainable Facilities – The Standard of the Future

Sustainable Facilities – The Standard of the Future

Much like the term “fast track” that was popular several years ago, the terms “sustainable” and “energy efficiency” should be part of every building design. You don’t hear the term “fast track” anymore. It was a new concept of speeding up design and construction to deliver a facility faster, but now it is standard operating procedure. Everyone wants their project fast-tracked. I want the same thing to happen for sustainable design.

Find a Green Career and Prosper by Exploring Full Scope of the Green Economy

Find a Green Career and Prosper by Exploring Full Scope of the Green Economy

There are a growing number of industries and sectors are making concerted efforts to rethink their business practice. It is important to be aware of the full range of your options when positioning yourself for green career change or you could be limiting yourself. To make sense of the industries and sectors that make up the green economy take a look at the green economy map.

Interview: Will Kirksey On Sustainable Water Recycling

Interview: Will Kirksey On Sustainable Water Recycling

Will Kirksey, SVP of Worrell Water Technologies, is passionate about finding practical, ecological solutions to the increasingly urgent water issues in the US. I spoke with him at The New Green Economy Conference in Washington, D.C., just before he facilitated a session targeted at forming policy recommendations on sustainable water reuse. Worrell Water’s water reuse system, the Living Machine, was picked as one of the ‘coolest green products’ at Greenbuild, 2009. Will recently authored the white paper, Sustainable Water Infrastructure for the 21st Century.

The Vancouver Convention Centre, a Global Green Icon

The Vancouver Convention Centre, a Global Green Icon

The expansion project of the Vancouver Convention Centre was designed to be a showcase sustainable building and has been designed constructed to meet the LEED Gold Standard in sustainable building design. It features a sweeping green roof that is the 2nd largest in North America.

Permaculture’s Keyline Design Water Wise Top Soil Friendly

Keyline design is rooted in the natural topography of the land. It promotes the rapid growth of natural fertility and of topsoil by distributing water more evenly over the landscape and encouraging the development of good soil structure. It does this by adapting to the natural landform and by using subsoil ploughs to create a comb like network of deep subsoil cuts that disturb the soil profile as little as possible.