Green buildings on the rise

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Green building continues to gain momentum as it demonstrates numerous opportunities to improve the impacts of buildings on the environment and health. To acknowledge this growing trend and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) expanded role in it, EPA has released a new video on green buildings in its Green Scene series. The video features Bill Sanders, Ph.D., director of EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research, talking about how EPA is encouraging and supporting green building, and how homeowners can take simple steps to green their homes.

EPA recently issued a new green building strategy to facilitate mainstream adoption of green building practices. The strategy builds upon and calls for better coordination among existing programs, such as Energy Star and WaterSense, which are designed to reduce the impacts of buildings and development.

The strategy also includes an increased focus on research. In fact, EPA already has invested a significant amount of funding in green building research, including more than 80 grants and fellowships awarded by the National Center for Environmental Research. The center has also awarded more than $5 million through its Small Business Innovative Research contracts.

Understanding the benefits of green building on people is important, as Americans spend nearly 90 percent of their time in buildings. Currently, buildings are responsible for nearly 40 percent of U.S. energy use and about 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, the primary greenhouse gas. But there are many opportunities to reduce these impacts in the buildings where we live, work, and play.

To view the Green Scene or learn more about EPA’s Green Building Program, visit www.epa.gov/greenbuildng.