Green Construction is Growing

According to one article, green building has become an $8 billion business, that six million square feet of buildings are now LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, ant that an additional 300 million square feet are now under design or construction.

Large architectural firms are beginning to embrace the green building trend. One firm now has 500 design professionals (architects, engineers, landscape architects, etc.) who are LEED accredited.

There are four levels of LEED certification – (from highest to lowest) Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Certified. The level of certification depends upon a point system whereby points are awarded to the project according to the amount of “green” requirements it satisfies.

However, one author, who claimed that most people in North America create five tons of greenhouse gases a year, challenged professionals to exceed the Platinum certification. He wants us to create “Living Buildings”.

Another author who stated that he and another person had coined the phrase “Living Building”, and defined it as “buildings as elegant and efficient as a flower”. The concept is that as a flower gets all of its sustenance from the ground it is planted in and from the sunlight that it is exposed to, a Living Building will get all of its resources from the ground it is constructed on and its energy from solar radiation.

One article quoted a statement from the “United Nations Environmental Publication for World Environment Day 2005” that said, “In 2005, for the first time in human history, more people will live in urban areas than in rural areas. This transformation has already had a huge impact on the planet’s resources, as well as an impact on our perspective of nature and the environment. No prior human experience offers a guide on how to feed, house and sustain so many people in so many cities. This generation must be committed to the task of bringing urban areas into balance with the natural environment.”

Another author stated that “the recent tragedies brought on by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma have finally made global climate change an acceptable topic of conversation, even among the most conservative segments of society”, despite the fact that weather authorities have stated that global warming had absolutely nothing to do with causing those hurricanes.

Another author who said that “In a time when I often wrestle with feelings of hopelessness around world events and politics, I find hope in the progress of green building” also said “what might help accelerate the societal shift and tip green building into the realm of the status quo? Many factors, to be sure; both institutional and grassroots efforts will have an important role to play.”

As I have stated in previous articles, I have no problem with the concept of “green building”. I believe that when God gave us this earth to live on, He wanted us to manage it well. Building “green” is a good idea as long as it comes with some common-sense balance and it is voluntary.

However, the green movement is motivated by the concept that the earth is unsustainable without their rules and that global warming is caused by mankind, neither of which is true. If it continues on as it is, it will either take on a cult-like status (i.e. not building green is immoral) or green construction will become law in the form of building codes (as it already has in a limited way in several states), or both.

The green movement is basically a liberal philosophy, but I find it puzzling how liberals want the “truth” to come out about the reason we are in Iraq, but are not interested in the truth about global warming – that is that it is cyclical and natural for the earth to warm and cool as the sun does so.

I also find it puzzling as I look at examples of LEED certified projects and see that many of them are anything but frugal; much of the construction is for aesthetics only and only uses up additional resources to build them. If practicing conservation is so important, why the useless decoration?

I believe that the green movement could, over a very long period of time (perhaps a hundred years or so), be a very beneficial way to manage the earth’s resources. However, if it is pushed too far and too fast, it will be a deterrent to new construction, the very thing they wish to achieve. At some point, the average homeowner will not be able to afford a new home, churches will be unable to build new structures, and businesses will simply move to countries like China to escape the regulations. We need a grassroots movement to make certain that building “green” is done right.