These publications include Green Building Specifications, Guidelines for Architects, Guidelines for Contractors, Guidelines for Office, Guidelines for Home and many others. The most interesting ones, however, are
How to Sell Green Buildings and
How to Sell Your Clients on Green Buildings.
... Here are some facts about buildings:
Buildings of the world consume:
40% of the world's energy & materials
25% of the wood harvested
17% of our water
In the US, buildings account for:
36% of total electricity consumption
62% of electricity use
30% of greenhouse gas emissions
37% of ozone depletion potential.
Most of us spend 80% of our time indoors, yet we do not seem to care about the toxic materials we place into our buildings. Our buildings are in a position to have a profound effect on our natural resources.
MOST COMMON ARGUMENTS [AGAINST GREEN BUILDING]
1. "Green buildings always cost more than traditional buildings."
Not true. A good architect knows how to save their clients money. With a clear direction of budget, there is no reason you cannot build a green building for the same price or less than a traditional building.
2. "Green materials are more expensive than their traditional counterparts."
Although there are green materials that cost more than their traditional counterparts, there are also many more whose cost is far below the standard. Advances in recycling, new materials and better designs have allowed for a new generation of environmentally friendly products that are less costly to produce. Of course, green materials also have a very important long term benefit of not destroying our planet's resources.
3. "Green buildings take longer to build."
This is completely false. Most green buildings simply substitute one material for another more sustainable one. These substitutions have no effect on the construction time. The type of construction determines the construction time. A straw bale house can be erected in a day or so while a traditional stick frame building would take much longer.
4. "Having a green building means it has to look like a mud hut or rice cake."
Most green buildings look like any other building. You have probably been in an environmentally friendly building and not known it. While there are some green buildings made out of mud or straw, they seem to get attention drawn to their appearance. The truth is, green buildings come in all shapes and forms.
5. "There is no economic advantage to green buildings."
The energy savings in green buildings could pay for green improvements several times over with a return on investment within 1-5 years.
6. "One building can't make a difference to our environment."
Buildings consume at least 40% of the worlds energy.
Increasing materials recycling in the US to at least 60% could save the equivalent of 315 million barrels of oil per year.
Student achievement scores and retail sales are enhanced by natural daylight.
A 1% increase in labor productivity from green building features can pay for building energy costs.
Building innovations alone could hold US carbon emissions to 1997 levels in the next decade.
7. "The general public does not care if a building is green or not."
New market studies are released each month showing a majority of people would be willing to pay slightly more for green buildings, even more for healthy green features. ...