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BSC's Green Building TreatiseGreen building is all about science-physics, chemistry, and biology. It's really about ecology because ecology is about physics, chemistry, and biology. Green building is all about systems and integration. That's because ecology is all about systems and the integration of physics, chemistry, and biology.
Green building is even more about energy because of really striking indirect effects. There is no shortage of energy, just limited access. The particular circumstances of our planet mean that more energy strikes the earth each day than the whole world knows what to do with. It's the stored forms we currently use-coal, oil, natural gas, and even hydroelectric-that carry heavy-duty environmental consequences. Optimal energy use in buildings is a combination of how much we use for producing and then operating our buildings. The best way to accomplish the former is to use as little of a material as possible-efficient design-for as long as possible-durability. The best way to accomplish the latter is to think like a cell-set up optimized boundaries. So, BSC holds that green building is largely about how well and how long buildings perform. And buildings lacking an integrated systems approach will most often do neither. We need to design, construct, operate, and maintain buildings in the same way that nature builds cells-with efficiency, elegance, and unerring deference to the natural laws of physics, chemistry, and biology. A green architect or builder must be a student of science first; great buildings will follow. |
Building is about shelter and creating boundaries between people and
the environment. Green building is about creating optimized boundaries
between people and the environment. Optimized means performing like
Nature's most basic element, the cell. Cells have membranes and even walls
that relentlessly observe the laws of physics and chemistry, selectively
permitting and excluding passage of all manner of things into and out of
the cell, all in an effort to create a secure and comfortable environment.
Green buildings accomplish the same optimized selective boundaries for
light, heat, moisture, and would-be invaders. For the cell and the green
building, optimized selective boundaries require the expenditure of
energy, but as little as possible. So optimizing is about energy, too.|
Building Science Consulting |