As planners, our knowledge of land use, transportation, design, population, environment, locate us as important representatives in the green concept.
Although until now "green" it is not clearly defined because of its diverse meaning and applications, green building is becoming defined as a way to design and built minimizing the impacts on the natural environment. Green building is one important component of creating sustainable communities, in order to meet the needs of today's conditions with more conscience in the future.
Green building concept includes both structural and non-structural practices. The first ones include the physical components of development, such as building materials selection. Locally manufactured building materials require shorter trips from place of destination, reducing energy cost of transportation and fuel emissions. Also, choosing paints without volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and or wood products without formaldehyde, promotes better indoor environments for work and home.
The use of recycled materials reduces the amount of waste in sanitary landfills. For instance, we can use concrete from demolished buildings crushed and recycled as road base material for public streets and stormwater filtration systems. The re use on- site may eliminate truck trips to the landfill and improve stormwater quality.
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