Green building is more than just eco-friendly design, and incorporates a wide swath of practices to increase the efficiency of buildings in their use of energy, water and materials to reduce a building’s impact on human health and the environment. Through better home siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal of waste, the whole life cycle of a building will have a much lower impact on the surrounding environment. The appearance and style of sustainable homes and buildings can be nearly indistinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.
Green building in the United States is often characterized by the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards for commercial buildings, however none exist for the residential market. There are a number of locally developed green rating systems such as the Green Globe and Energy Star programs, all of which recognize the improvement in building practices.
Effective green building can lead to reduced operating costs by increasing productivity and using less energy and water. It may also improve public and occupant health due to improved indoor air quality, and reduce environmental impacts by lessening storm water runoff and material use, among other things.