Sustainable Buildings

The new Federal courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio is certified to the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.

Constructing and operating buildings requires enormous amounts of energy, water, and materials and creates large amounts of waste. Where and how they are built affects the ecosystems around us and creates new indoor environments that present new environmental problems and challenges.

A new field - called ‘green building’ or ‘sustainable building’ - aims to reduce the environmental impact of buildings at the source. Sustainable building is the practice of creating healthier and more resource efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition.

The many elements of sustainable building include:

• Energy - Designing and operating buildings to use energy efficiently and to use renewable sources of energy, including solar, wind, and biomass.
  
  
• Water - Designing and operating buildings to use water efficiently.
  
  
• Materials - Using building materials that, in comparison to competing brands, have a reduced effect on the environment throughout their life cycle (e.g. recycled content, low toxicity, energy efficiency, biodegradability, and/or durability).
  
  
• Waste - Reducing the waste from construction, remodelling, and demolition.
  
  
• Indoor Environment - Designing and operating buildings that are healthy for their occupants.

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