Green Building--Why Do It?

Green Building - Why Do It?

As a builder or designer, what attracts you to environmental building? More importantly, what would it take to get somebody not already involved with green building to get involved? Why build green?

There are two categories of response to that question. Most of our subscribers, we suspect, are interested in green building because they’re committed to protecting the Earth. They recognize the need to preserve biodiversity, reduce air pollution, prevent global climate change, protect our rivers, etc. This is the environmental camp, and it’s heartwarming to know that concern for the environment is a high priority in at least this small segment of the building industry.

The other category of response is at the same time more disappointing and more exciting: because they want to make more money. This is the business camp. This response could be considered disappointing because we’d prefer that everybody shared our views about the need to protect our environment. But more importantly, this response is exciting because this is how green building can have the greatest impact most quickly.

If you were to take a poll among members of the National Association of Home Builders, we suspect that many would not call themselves environmentalists. But if you asked those individuals whether they wanted to see their businesses prosper and make higher profits, the response would be overwhelmingly positive.

If we proponents of green building want to achieve the next level of penetration in the building industry, we need to emphasize the business benefits of green building. And there are plenty. As is well-demonstrated in the article on stormwater management, some green building measures can reduce construction costs. Not all of them do, certainly, but more than most people might think. Reducing construction costs can make your bidding more competitive and increase profits.

Green building can provide a strong public relations benefit to companies. At least while green building is still relatively new, a design or construction firm specializing in it is newsworthy. Positive media exposure will increase demand for your services, which translates into good things like higher profits and company growth.

Green building also helps businesses in many subtle ways. If you understand the importance of protecting wetlands, for example, you can often design a project to avoid costly permitting delays. If you know about government programs promoting recycled materials you can tap into these programs and bring in new business or reduce your costs through incentive programs. And if you keep away from the more toxic building materials you can reduce sickness and absenteeism among your employees.

While we should encourage our fellow members of the building industry to practice environmentalism, we should also put our energy into convincing others to join the green building movement simply because it makes good business sense.