The Green Building Initiative in Houston

What is a green home and what techniques and methods are being used in green building in the Houston area. Green homes are often visually indistinguishable from conventional homes. The difference is in the details. Designed and constructed to provide a variety of health and ecological benefits. The Green Building Initiative (GBI) has set up a checklist of basic guidelines that aid builders in the design, development and construction process.

The GBI checklist consists of 6 primary sections in which a builder should strive to incorporate as many of the green building techniques within each section as possible.

1. Site Development
2. Materials
3. Energy
4. Health
5. Water
6. Operations, Maintenance And Homeowner Education

The Green Building Initiative guidelines and checklist:

Section 1: Site Development

Resource efficient site design and development practices help reduce the environmental impacts and improve the energy performance of new housing. For instance, site design principles such as saving trees, constructing onsite storm water retention/infiltration features, and orienting houses to maximize passive solar heating and cooling are basic processes used in the design and construction of green homes.

Section 2: Materials

A building’s components from the foundation to the roof are literally the building blocks that make the building. These components can either degrade the energy efficiency of the building or enhance its performance and increase occupant comfort.

The benefits from these components won’t be realized without being integrated into the whole-building design. Building components influence each other. To make sure they perform optimally, component performance should be modeled during the design phase.

Many new energy-saving and resource efficient components are available. Many of these products do double duty, performing their primary jobs while also saving energy or providing a health benefit. Insulated concrete forms and structural insulated panels for example, can provide a structural building envelope, provide added insulation and minimize the use of additional building resources. Decking can be made from recycled composites. Roof shingles, for example, are coated with heatreflective coatings that send the sun’s heat away from the building, rather than being absorbed into it. Roof shingles can even generate electricity for us in the building.

Section3: Enery

Make sure home exceeds latest version of International Energy Conservation Code (2001 IECC) by 15% or be a certified ENERGY STAR® home.

Section 4: Health

A healthy home is an objective of many people who are looking for a green home. Building materials are chosen based on the absence or low levels of chemicals and other additives common in non-green building materials. Among the factors that may impact the quality the indoor air in your home is the air drawn from outside. Other factors may be tobacco smoke and cooking odors, as well as renovating and redecorating products, such as wallpaper, furniture and cabinetry, carpet, paints, varnishes, particle board, wood finishes, caulking, and adhesives. Interior products in the home have the potential to impact the indoor air because they emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air.

Section 5: Water

Water efficiency is an integral part of every whole building design to reduce significant energy input for heating, pumping and process uses and in improving the conservation, preservation and protection of water resources.

Section 6: Operations, Maintenance And Homeowner Education

Education and training are two basic elements necessary to develop and maintain a green building program. Builders have an unique opportunity to teach future homeowners about green building, energy efficiency, material choices, healthy living, water efficiency as well as how to take care of their green home for the future.

Today is Blog Action Day. October 15, 2007.