All You Need to Know About Green Building Certifications

Green building or green design combines the approaches and the methods to minimize the carbon emissions and other harmful effects caused due to construction. Green buildings aim to reduce the impact of these practices on human health and the environment. Every green building is assigned a green building professional. The green building professionals supervise that the facilities meet the standard criteria set by the different green building certifications. The duties of the green building professional include safeguarding the environment, reducing pollution, and minimizing the resource consumption of the entire building. 

In most communities building a greener home is a matter of choice, while in some other communities building a green home is a necessity. Typically, in most communities, code requirements necessitate the buildings to conform to the green standards. Many architects claim that while green building standards compel them to go beyond the conventional boundaries of designing, the architects always develop innovative ways to improve sustainability and help the buildings coexist with a nurturing growth of the environment. Many designers have also argued that the building codes must include green standards, just like the fire codes have been updated in recent times. This argument is rational as most fire prevention practices find their basis in green building practices. So an implementation of green building codes will help to overall improve the safety rating of the buildings. 

Here are some common characteristics that every green building shares:

Standard features of a green building

1. Well placed ventilation systems 
2. Proper cooling and heating 
3. Water-saving plumbing
4. Maximum use of solar energy
5. Minimized emissions
6. More reliance on renewable sources of energy
7. Elimination of long-haul transportation by acquiring local resources
8. The recycled usage of older buildings
9. Optimal use of land and space
10. Rainwater harvesting

The construction process is a crucial part of green building certification. For instance, Great Britain radically transformed brownfields into the games village for London 2012 summer Olympics by implementing green building tactics. The key touchdowns of the strategy were to use as few resources as possible, recycle concrete, and use railroads to deliver materials. This way, Great Britain was able to accomplish sustainable development. 

Currently, there are many green building certifications that a building could aim for. Here are some of them:

• LEED certification - LEED certification for green buildings was started in 1993. Since then, it has been promoting green designs through a rating system that evaluates the architects, builders, and developers. LEED certification covers several pointers in a building, and whoever is pursuing the same, has to score higher in areas such as energy savings and improved air quality. There are three levels of LEED certification for a building; certified, silver, and Gold or Platinum. Gold and platinum are top-tier certifications, and silver and certified levels are ranked below them. 
   
• Whole building design - whole building design is an entire website of sustainable practices incorporated during the construction of a building. The basic idea behind the entire building design is that sustainability should be incorporated into the building program right from the beginning of the project itself. It identifies the project's goals early on in the planning phase and emphasizes the successful completion of these goals. The design and sustainability of the building are interlinking concepts according to the whole building design website, and as such, both must go hand in hand. 

If you are interested in the green building certification program or want to pursue a career as a green building professional, click here. A green building professional contributes to society, all the while making a difference.