Green Building Strategies (Part 1)

Course Outline

From green cars to green buildings, building "green" has gathered tremendous momentum around the world in recent years as a result of increased awareness of global warming and record high prices of natural resources. The goal of building "green" for the construction industry is to reduce the life cycle cost of buildings while maximizing health and environmental performance. The strategies discussed in this webinar are selected from the publication "Sustainable Buildings" - a superb guide published by San Mateo County, California. This guide is one of the best published works on the subject, and provides excellent guidance for architects, engineers, contractors and building owners in a well organized format when it comes to conservation of natural resources, wise use of energy, improvement of air quality and development of livable communities. The green building strategies provided in this course are applicable to various types of construction, from commercial to resdential. This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

• Understand the importance of sustainable development;
• Identify thirteen areas of construction that may incorporate the green design strategies;
• Understand the goal of achieving sustainability in each area;
• Select sustainable building methods and materials;
• Minimize the overall environmental impacts in the building process;
• Improve indoor air quality;
• Reduce and reuse construction waste;
• Identify the energy-saving features of green buildings; and
• Understand all aspects of green building design.

Course Content

The following link contains the reference material for this webinar:

Sustainable Buildings (2004 edition, 60 pages, PDF file. File size: 2.6 MB).

This webinar covers the first 18 strategies described in the above publication. Please click on the underlined hypertext above to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right-clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Course Summary

Green buildings are also called sustainable buildings. They are designed to meet certain objectives such as conserving energy and water; improving air quality; and reducing the overall impact to the environment. Many green building principles and strategies described in this course can be applied to either new construction or renovation projects. Building "green" is an opportunity to use our resources efficiently while creating a healthier environment.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following web pages:

U.S. Green Building Council
Green Building Resource Guide
California Green Building Design and Construction
Santa Monica Green Building Program
NAHB's Model Green Home Building Guidelines

Quiz

Before you attend the webinar, you need to print the quiz questions from your browser for the discussion during the webinar. At the end of the webinar, you need to complete the quiz and submit your answers to obtain the PDH credits.

---

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDHonline.org or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered professional engineer. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

---