Green Buildings:

The US Green Building Council (USGBC) notes that in the United States buildings account for:

(a) 36 per cent of total energy use/65 per cent of electricity consumption

(b) 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions

(c) 30 per cent of raw materials use

(d) 30 per cent of waste output/136 million tons annually

(e) 12 per cent of potable water consumption

Green buildings are buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work (USGBC).

We can in fact make a direct comparison between these definitions and the definition of sustainable development proposed in the Brundtland Report (1987), which introduced it as a balance between social, economic and environmental development. From that point of view, a building project acquires greenness by realizing a balance between social (user’s health, social integration, transportation network, etc.), environmental (use of materials, energy consumption, etc.), and economic constraints (profitability, productivity, etc.).

The demand for environment- friendly green buildings is on the rise in India also, buoyed by the same factors which have made them popular internationally: money and morality.

Already, there are number of green buildings spread across cities in India. One of the most prominent green buildings in the country is the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, which was one of the first to be awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) by the US Green Business Council in 2003.,The ITC Green Centre at Gurgaon near Delhi, the new IIT Kanpur building and the Hiranandani Gardens in Powai, Mumbai, are some of the prominent green landmarks on the country's landscape.

A construction is sustainable if it's made of sustainable materials and if the construction doesn't produce another non-recyclable hybrid. Read more .. ..