Green Options

In a stark contrast with how construction used to be thought of, the green building movement has been a shift away from the traditional concerns about money and time. The betterment of our planet, as it turns out, is quickly becoming a bigger priority. Since March of this year, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program has seen around 20,852 new LEED registered and certified projects.
Most of this can be attributed to the fact that builders view green buildings as more economical in the long run, and recent incentives on the part of the government have added an extra encouragement.  But while these positives have been talked about pretty often, there are some risks associated with going green that still leave many builders wary.

With so many recent initiatives aimed at combating climate change, energy prices have obviously taken a hit. To compensate for this change, though, many architects and builders have begun using Daylighting to a great degree in construction.

“Daylighting,” or “daylight harvesting,” has been growing in popularity recently because it uses natural sunlight to its advantage. A number of automated systems are able to measure free natural sunlight and figure out how it should use controlled lighting in relation to that. Then, a system will automatically dim or brighten the lighting so that only artificial light which is needed is used. From an architect’s standpoint, it’s an important thing that the most beneficial entry points of daylight are decided on before construction. North-facing windows are great because they will definitely reduce unwanted glare. A designer, in turn, would decide on a quality lighting control system for dimming indoor light fixtures. There are a lot of systems out there, so deciding on a single one has a lot to do with finding a balance between natural lighting availability and extra electric lighting needs.

It’s a pleasure to finally begin writing here at Green Options! This time around, I’d like to focus on green building ambitions in the corporate world. I’ve been hearing a lot about Wal-Mart, Intel, etc. But have you heard about what Leviton just did with their headquarters?