Introduction to Tropical Green Building

Introduction to Tropical Green Building Green building is the revolutionary development practice centered upon the mission of creating buildings which apply an increased efficiency of resources such as energy, water, and materials. In turn, green building reduces building impacts on human health and the environment by implementing improved site location, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal - encompassing the complete life cycle of building.

Natural building is a similar concept, which usually operates on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of locally available natural materials.

The related concepts of sustainable development and sustainability are integral to green building. Some of the primary outcomes of effective green building include 1) reduced operating costs promoted by increasing productivity and using less energy and water, 2) improved public and occupant health as a result of improved indoor air quality, and 3) reduced environmental impacts by means of, for example, lessening storm water runoff and the heat island effect. Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and its surrounding natural and built environment, although the appearance and style of sustainable buildings is not necessarily distinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.

A fundamental principle of sustainable development concentrates on keeping our planet in a condition which will indefinitely support future generations. This is an enormous challenge due to the state of stress and overuse our global ecosystem is experiencing. Unfortunately, finite sources of energy and materials are being depleted, and much of our environment is being polluted or spoiled. Green building aims to repair the damage that less sustainable building methods have had on our environment and promote a system of building that enables us to live in a state of equilibrium with our surroundings.

The construction industry plays a major role here as a primary consumer of materials and energy. At the building scale, sustainable construction aims to provide long-lasting, health-minded, useful buildings. This goal can be accomplished by conserving limited material and energy resources by using durable, recyclable, and renewable materials through energy-efficient design, and by using environmentally neutral energy sources such as wind, sun, geothermal, and mechanisms including shading, simple evaporation and cooling.

At the urban and regional scales, sustainable construction involves planning that preserves environmental quality, conserves energy through efficient design, reduces waste and consumption through sensible design, and reduces pollution by establishing efficient transportation networks. At all scales, sustainable construction aims to support ecosystems through design with nature by establishing and improving habitats for wildlife, supporting biodiversity, replenishing groundwater instead of channeling rainwater into storm sewers and more.

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