Greening the Triple Bottom Line with High-Performing Buildings, Part II
A successful high-performance building optimizes the use of all resources-people, place and profit-to create a building that improves the triple bottom line for all. Designing and constructing high-performance buildings is achieved through an Integrated Sustainable Design process. This process uses a multidisciplinary team early in the design so that the synergies between the disciplines are reflected in the design as it evolves.
A multidisciplinary team can use the LEED™ 2.1 (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System as a tool to guide the process and set goals for the project. LEED is a product of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). USGBC is a corporate-level membership organization representing all segments of the building industry that developed LEED and continues to contribute to its evolution. The USGBC is actively working to transform the building environment to produce a new generation of buildings that deliver high performance inside and out. (For more information on USGBC, go to www.usgbc.org.)