Green building can increase energy efficiency

The concept of green building is no longer a secret but has become quite familiar to a considerable section of the US populace. Now the question remains of its viability. It should be stated, though the green building is being considered as a maneuver to avert the present crisis on account of the worldwide downturn, it is not clear to many and they think that this technique may fail. For that reason it is browbeating them too. Well, they shouldn’t get scared since the Green Building Initiative® is there to brush aside these fears.

In this regard, Ward Hubbell, President of the Green Building Initiative® (GBI), presented himself, recently, before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to give evidence of the role that environmental green rating systems can play in helping increase the energy efficiency of buildings on a national scale. It has been learnt that Hubbell urged the committee enact policies. According to Hubbell’s prudence, this will lead to improved energy efficiency in existing buildings, develop the Department of Energy’s energy benchmarking database and analyze the economic benefits of achieving a certified green rating at length.

Who were the key personalities in the audience? Well, they included representatives from Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, Architecutre2030, Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and Wal-Mart.

Hubbell said, “Everyone understands the importance of energy efficiency; the question is finding the best route to get there.” “One of my principal messages to the committee is that green rating tools such as Green Globes® incentivize builders to strive for high levels of energy efficiency while the 3rd party assessment process ensures the validity and credibility of the rating.”

What is Green Globes? It is an online, interactive green rating assessment tool that is a reasonable way to make out strategies towards improving a new or existing building’s overall environmental performance.

“It is clear that we have a tremendous opportunity through green building to help address issues like carbon neutrality, climate change and energy efficiency,” said Hubbell. “But if we are going to succeed, we must address existing buildings in addition to new buildings. There is still a gap between sustainable design and actual building performance, and this gap must be closed to ensure that all of our buildings are performing sustainably. Hopefully the committee will look at policies that promote and incentivize energy efficiency in both new and existing buildings.”