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| CITY OFVANCOUVER | Engineering Services Community Services | ||
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Developing a Green Building Strategy Community Services Home
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Vancouver Green Buildings What is a Green Building?A Green Building is a building that is “environmentally friendly.” It has been designed to reduce both the direct and indirect environmental consequences associated with its construction, occupancy, operation, maintenance and eventual decommissioning. Constructing a Green Building requires the cooperation of everyone involved in the design and building process. From site selection, through the design phase to occupancy it is important that everyone considers the best possible plan to create an “environmentally friendly” building. A Green Building is optimized for its intended use, its local climate and its natural environment to deliver maximum efficiency and comfort with a lower overall life cycle cost than a conventional building. These are buildings not only designed with its owners and users in mind, but also with an eye to the future. Why Build Green?Building a green building provides environmental benefits now and into the future by reducing the need for resources and energy, while fulfilling a large niche in the path toward sustainability. The overall design utilizes fewer of the limited resources available on Earth. There are also economic benefits involved with constructing a green building. While the initial costs vary, the overall savings from conserving resources such as water and energy are quite significant. With the call for more environmentally preferable products, creating a green building is a highly marketable idea. According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the average North American spends more than 90% of their time indoors. Healthy indoor environments have also been shown to increase employee productivity. A study by the Rocky Mountain Institute, cited hat productivity gains of six to sixteen percent, including decreased absenteeism and improved quality of work, have been reported from energy-efficient building design. Developing a Green Building StrategyThe City of Vancouver is developing a green building strategy and will be providing information and accepting feedback through the “Green Building” website. Please frequent this website for updates. The Vancouver Green Building Strategy will be presented to Vancouver City Council on November 3, 2005. Click here to view the Council Report ( City of Vancouver InitiativesThe City of Vancouver already has a number of sustainability initiatives underway. The City of Vancouver is developing a sustainable community on the southeast shore of False Creek. A district energy system is being developed. Currently a pre-feasibility study has been completed that begins to explore and show the viablity for a municipal-scale utility that provided clean Greenhouse Gas neutral heat energy and an electrical micro-grid for up to 550 acres of the False Creek basin. A more detailed design and delivery study is being undertaken and will be complete prior to December 31, 2005. For the pre-feasibility study, completed by Compass Resource Management, please click here ( [top] |
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Questions or Comments? E-mail: david.ramslie@vancouver.ca
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