Understanding Green Building Guidelines for Students and Young Professionals

Citation

Waheed, Z. (2010), "Understanding Green Building Guidelines for Students and Young Professionals", Facilities, Vol. 28 No. 7/8, pp. 396-397. https://doi.org/10.1108/02632771011042509

The academic interest in energy efficient, sustainable buildings is based on the practical need to radically transform the way buildings are planned, designed, constructed, maintained and operated. In order to “green” existing buildings as well as make sure new ones conform to green building regulations, it is necessary for students, teachers and practitioners to be aware of the dominant and most widely‐ used green building guidelines. Traci R. Rider, an experienced consultant specialising in green building initiatives has come up with a handy, easy to use book that can be used by students, teachers and practitioners as their first source of information on green guidelines.

This is a small, rectangular (and suitably green‐coloured!) book (using 10% recycled paper to boot) that is handy and extremely easy to carry around. It is also correctly priced for the target readership (students and young professionals). This is not to say that it is not useful to the more mature professional. It is, in the author's own words, a “roadmap through some of the guideline and rating system options available”. That it truly is. With a no‐fuss, easy vernacular, it explains the rating systems in a way that it is easy for the reader to understand the system requirements and how to go about fulfilling them.

As the author is based in the USA, the book covers major national providers of green building rating systems in the USA. The author provides a short introductory chapter “Navigating the Wild World of Green Building” that I suggest the users read before delving into the rest of the chapters. Each of the following chapters deals with one green rating system in operation in the USA. It starts with the most recognised rating system in the USA i.e. LEEDS. It them compares other standards including The Natural Step, Green Globes and the National Green Building Program (NGBP) with LEEDS in the following chapters. Pre‐requisites and the various steps in obtaining credits under LEEDS and other schemes (areas such as water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials, resources, waste management and innovation) are explained. This is followed by local green frameworks adapted by various US cities.

Green buildings are important for a sustainable built environment. Just as the issues surrounding sustainability in the built environment are complex, so are the issues surrounding what entails being a “green building”. The book does not make light of this complexity, but while maintaining its existence it handles the details methodically so that the path towards achieving greener buildings seems less daunting. It is spot on for the target readership.