What Is A Green Builder, A Green Builder project?

The term “green” has come to be applied to construction practices that are responsive to sustainability and that are sensitive to the greater environment. The idea is something that a lot of builders in a lot of areas of the country are thinking about more and more and are working very hard to define. The more each of us understands and demands a better, more sustainable product, the sooner it will become widely available.

Who is a green builder? It is one that is thinking about how construction impacts the health of the environment and the health of the occupants of the building and is responding by doing things differently. The areas that Green Builder considers are:

• Water Conservation (very important, especially for our arid climate)
• Materials: Conservation and Content (the US has harvested 95% of its old growth forests; indoor air quality in homes is estimated to contribute to environmental sensitivity and health problems in 15% of the population)
• Solid Waste Reduction (construction waste- from both remodeling and new construction- is the largest single source of material that goes into our landfills)
• Energy Conservation (traditional sources of energy are being used up and the use of them contributes significantly to degraded air quality and carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere)

Green building programs in other parts of the country each have their own outline and form of organization, covering the content of the above four topics with varying emphasis. Some have included Site Design and Treatment and Owner Education as additional areas in their programs.

As green building is more a thinking process than a building process, it needs to start with:

• Each of us better understanding how we can lead more sustainable lives,
• Responding to that new understanding with lifestyle choices,
• Include the built environment within those choices,
• Impact the built environment by requiring that these considerations be included in any project that we can influence; home, business, church, schools,
• Influence those around us by putting forth these ideas so that they also understand them and can communicate them to others,
• As a result, projects take a new direction from site planning to design, construction and general use,
• Continue to educate ourselves and others in how we live and work within the built environment: from using programmable thermostats and understanding the optimum use of operable windows, to choosing proximity of home and work because of the energy impact of commuting.

When looking for a green builder, talk to them about your needs and the qualities you want in your project. Attend to how they listen to you and respond. If you do not get much response, that builder perhaps is not quite ready for this approach, although in time they will get there. If they know virtually nothing about the topic, but show interest and responsiveness, you probably have a green builder in bud.

Together you might be able to produce a high quality, satisfying product because there are a lot of good resources available. If you find a builder that has previous green projects under their belt, then you have someone to bring leadership in the direction that you want to go. Even with them on your team, each project is so different and the field of green construction so complex, that you will find yourselves on a learning curve together and you will bring a new experience and further development to each other.