The Brilliance of Green Building is Shining at Rio+20

Jason Hartke
Vice President, National Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

“It is time that we steered by the stars, not the lights of each passing ship.”
— General Omar Bradley

The green building world knows the following statistic all too well. On average, we spend 90 percent of our time indoors. That’s 21.6 hours out of every day. That’s 328 and a half days every year. Inside a building.

And we certainly take this to heart because, while we’re spending all this time inside, the quality of air we’re breathing is on average 3-5 times more polluted than outside, according to the EPA.

Here at Rio+20, the historic UN Conference on Sustainable Development, a strong global contingency of green building advocates have been spreading the word about the triple-bottom-line benefits to green building.

Sure, the strict business case for green building is stronger than ever. Much of that is based on the deep energy reductions that come from green building projects (See Greg Kats’ analysis about the amazing net present value of green building in his book Greening our Built World).

Taking Action at Rio+20

Maggie Comstock
Policy Analyst
U.S. Green Building Council

Note: this blog was cross-posted from UK Green Building Council

The Rio+20 Earth Summit represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a roadmap for the “Future We Want” —the fitting motto of the June Summit. Heads of State, government leaders, non-governmental organisations and the business community in attendance are charged with the task of accelerating the green economy and addressing poverty eradication through sustainable development.

At a time when multilateral negotiations have struggled, Rio needs to produce tangible and viable outcomes with provisions for their implementation and attainment. No more “agreements to agree” at a future date. We can’t afford to wait until Rio+40.

The buildings sector represents a silver (or should I say green) bullet for sustainable development and the green economy. Buildings not only represent one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, but additionally offer low-cost opportunities for emissions reduction and resource efficiency. Addressing the design and construction of the built environment can also prevent the “lock-in” of unsustainable future emissions.