Glossary
High Performance sustainable buildings
High Performance sustainable buildings provide long lasting economic, environmental as well as social benefits.
- Economic benefits include reduced operating cost, lower life cycle cost, and higher employee productivity and satisfaction.
- Environmental benefits include improved air and water quality, reduced consumption of natural resources, favoring using renewable over non-renewable resources, reduced use of toxic chemicals, encouraging brownfield redevelopment, reduced waste, protecting and enhancing ecosystems
- Health and community benefits include improved air quality, occupant comfort and health, minimized strain on local infrastructure, resulting in improved overall quality of life for both the building occupants as well as the surrounding community.
LEED
The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System® is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. Based on well-founded scientific standards, LEED emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. LEED recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training and practical resources. For more details, see www.usgbc.org
