Environmental Resources
The Future of High Performance Building
Today's high-performance green buildings are a significant improvement over the conventional buildings of the past. They consume significantly less energy, materials, and water; provide healthy living and working environments; and greatly improve the quality of the built environment.
Although notable progress has been made in building performance, for the most part contemporary green buildings use existing materials and products; design approaches, and construction delivery systems. Ecological design, perhaps the key concept in creating high-performance buildings, is in its infancy and sorely needs articulation to be able to create truly green buildings. The concept of green building materials needs to be better defined and methods for their evaluation need to be developed.
The role of nature in buildings is another one of the key areas needing development for the future of green buildings. Natural systems can provide heating and cooling, wastewater processing, stormwater uptake, food production, and a range of other services for the built environment.
New energy strategies, such as ground-coupling, radiant cooling and advanced photovoltaic systems are needed to dramatically lower energy consumption and increase the use of renewable energy systems. Closing materials loops by designing buildings for deconstruction and developing disassemblable building products with recyclable materials is a barely addressed issue in the context of today's green buildings.
