What's Environmentally Responsible Building

The document provides a comprehensive framework for environmentally responsible building, emphasizing passive solar design, energy efficiency, and healthy material selection. It details how building orientation, window placement, and the use of thermal mass can significantly reduce heating and cooling costs. The guide also addresses the importance of indoor air quality, the role of landscaping in climate control, and the consideration of embodied energy in building materials. It argues that while some sustainable features may increase initial construction costs, they lead to long-term financial savings through reduced operation costs and increased property value.

• Buildings in the United States consume approximately one-third of the country's energy, with heating and cooling systems accounting for 60 percent of that usage and lights and appliances accounting for 40 percent.
• Passive solar design, which utilizes a building's structure to capture sunlight and store heat, can reduce a home's energy use by 50 percent or more.
• Optimizing building orientation and window placement is a low-cost way to save energy; orienting the long face of a building within 30 degrees of true South and increasing south-facing windows to 7 percent of the total floor area can save up to 25 percent of conventional heating fuel.
• Effective passive cooling can be achieved through the 'stack effect,' where hot air rises to a high point and is vented outside, and by placing windows to capture prevailing winds.
• Daylighting reduces the need for electric lighting and prevents the excess internal heat generated by incandescent or fluorescent lights, which otherwise increases the demand for air conditioning.
• To maintain healthy indoor air quality in tightly constructed, energy-efficient buildings, at least 50 percent of the air must be replaced every hour, potentially using energy-efficient exhaust air heat-recovery systems.
• Landscaping and urban planning can create cooler microclimates and reduce mechanical cooling needs through the use of tree-lined narrow streets and the strategic planting of deciduous trees for summer shade and evergreens as north-side windbreaks.
• The total environmental impact of a building includes 'embodied energy,' which refers to the energy required to extract, process, and transport building materials.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2008). What's Environmentally Responsible Building. https://www.ucs.org/resources/whats-environmentally-responsible-building

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. What's Environmentally Responsible Building. 2008. https://www.ucs.org/resources/whats-environmentally-responsible-building.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=What's Environmentally Responsible Building |date=15 July 2008 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/whats-environmentally-responsible-building |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2008whats, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{What's Environmentally Responsible Building}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2008}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/whats-environmentally-responsible-building}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }