Green Glossary and Timeline

Glossary

Green
In the new environmental movement, Mother Earth’s color of choice can mean anything from a Leo DiCaprio TV show to some tomatoes you grew yourself. In the building world, green often means a building and site designed in an environmentally sensitive manner, or with minimal impact on the environment.

U.S. Green Building Council
A national non-profit that promotes green building practices, technologies, policies, and standards. It established LEED certification guidelines, the country’s most commonly used rating system for green buildings. The council was founded in 1993 in Washington, D.C., and has chapters around the country.

LEED
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system, or LEED, is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.

LEED alphabet soup, explained:
LEED-NC:new commercial construction and major renovation projects
LEED-EB:existing building operations
LEED-CI:commercial interiors projects
LEED-CS:core and shell projects
LEED-H:homes
LEED-ND:neighborhood development
LEED-AP:an accredited professional, meaning someone who has passed an exam in LEED standards; there are currently more than
30,000 LEED APs in the U.S

Green Roof
Also known as rooftop gardens, these roofs are planted over existing roof structure to help reduce building temperatures, filter pollution, lessen pressure on sewer systems, and reduce the “heat island effect,” the tendency of metropolitan areas to be significantly warmer than their surroundings.

Sustainability
Now a widely accepted definition, the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 said sustainability means, “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The 1995 World Summit on Social Development defined sustainable development as “the framework for our efforts to achieve a higher quality of life for all people,” in which “economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components.”

Graywater
Any dish, shower, sink, or laundry water that has been used in the home is called graywater, and rather than send it to the sewer, it can be recycled for other purposes—especially watering the lawn.

Energy Recovery
Simply put, obtaining energy from waste. This is accomplished through a variety of processes, and is also known as “waste-to-energy.” Traditionally, this meant burning waste products, but now gasification and anaerobic digestion are also playing a role.

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
Air quality is often framed in atmospheric terms,
to describe pollution or smog. But indoor air quality is frequently more important, as inadequate ventilation systems can trap pollutants where people spend most of their time. Chemicals and particles from paint, carpeting, and plywood, combined with high temperature and humidity levels, can lead to dangerous concentrations of bad indoor air.

Environmental Footprint
The environmental impact any company or
entity makes as it performs any activity. A footprint
is determined by how well raw materials or by-
products are (or aren’t) absorbed by the
surrounding environment.

Timeline

19th Century
London’s Crystal Palace (1851) and Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (1877) begin using roof ventilators and underground air-cooling chambers, as well as other passive systems, to moderate indoor air temperature.

Early 20th Century
New York’s Flatiron Building (1903) and New York Times Building (1905) use deep-set windows to shade sun and regulate temperature. The 1932 Rockefeller Center plants a sky garden.

The 1960s
The environmental movement produces many influential books, including Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) and Victor Olgyay’s Design with Climate (1963).

1973
OPEC stages an oil embargo. In response, the U.S. government establishes the Federal Energy Office and the Federal Energy Management Program.

1975
The American Institute of Architects forms a committee on energy. Norman Foster’s Willis Faber and Dumas Headquarters uses a grass roof, a day-lit atrium, and mirrored windows.

1977
The newly-formed Department of Energy establishes a Solar Energy Research Institute (now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Sim Van der Ryn completes the Bateson Building, which uses photovoltaic cells.

1985
The city of Austin kicks off a city-wide Energy Efficiency program, an energy rating system for homes and a precursor to the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards.1993
The World Congress of Architects signs the Declaration of Interdependence for a Sustainable Future. The U.S. Green Building Council is formed.

1998
The USGBC introduces the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building rating system. More versions roll out in 2000, 2002, and 2005.

1999
The World Green Building Council is founded in San Francisco. The first “environmentally sensitive” post office building opens in Fort Worth, Texas.

2000
Seattle’s Sustainable Building program begins. AIA adopts Sustainable Design Guidelines, and New York creates a green building tax credit.

2001
The Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center in Portland, Oregon becomes the first LEED gold restored building in the United States.

2002
USGBC hosts first Greenbuild Conference in Austin, Texas. Steelcase, Inc., a furniture-maker in Grand Rapids, Michigan, opens the first LEED Certified factory.

2003
The Solaire, in New York City, becomes the first green residential high-rise in North America, and is certified LEED Gold. The building has two green roofs, photovoltaic cells, and a graywater system.

2004
Giant Eagle opens the country’s first LEED Certified supermarket in Brunswick, Ohio.

2005
Stratus Wines of Niagara, Ontario, is the first LEED Certified winery. New York City passes a law requiring most new city buildings to meet LEED standards.

2006
LEED for Homes introduced. The Lewis and Clark State Office building in Jefferson City, Missouri, is the first Platinum rated government office building. Terminal A at Boston’s Logan Airport is LEED Certified.