When asking what green building programs focus on, the short answer but that is open to too much interpretation is sustainability. The other thing commonly heard is that it is a holistic approach to construction. It looks into the interaction of each component that makes a home, and ultimately come up with a well balanced system. Today, I will dig down a bit more and get more into specifics but still keeping it simple.

Although they are many green building programs, their intention and areas of focus are similar across the board. For this blog entry, I will use the LEED green building program categories, since they do a nice job on breaking them out. Again, very similar approach is taken for other programs such as EarthCraft House. So here we go, everything that we look for can be grouped into:

1. Sustainable Site: In this category the goal is to develop a site that uses public transportation, encourages pedestrian connectivity, promotes alternative means of transportation, reduces the heat island effect, limits light pollution, and ultimately manages storm water run-off on site.
2. Water Efficiency: The purpose is to reduce the use of such commodity. In that effort we look into Indoor and Outdoor use, as well as water use for processes.
3. Energy and Atmosphere: For this category you take a four step approach. First you look onto reducing demand, then you move into high efficiency by for example using LED lighting, then if renewable energy is an option is strongly encourage, and the last step is commissioning.
4. Materials and Resources: The motto here is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. When choosing materials for the job site look at environmental preferred materials, then a key factor is waste management during construction and after the building or homes is operating.
5. Indoor Environmental Quality: You need to control pollutant entering the home or building. You can accomplish this by protecting the building environment from VOCs, and CO2. Also, look into the products you use ion your janitorial activities, they can be extremely toxic.
6. Innovation in Design and Operation: In this category, Green Building Programs gives developers and builders, the opportunity to be as creative as they can by incorporating cutting edge technology or system into their projects.
7. Awareness and Education: Last, all the efforts will go to waste if the new home or building owner is not educated or aware on how to maintain and operate a "Green Building". For example, what is the point of using native landscaping, if the home owner can over-write the irrigation program thinking that the plants are not getting enough water?

In summary, Green Building Programs look for every opportunity to reduce our impact in the environment and reduce green house gas emissions in every facet and category of the construction cycle. This is why is so important to have individuals in your team or builders that understand green construction, and are not greenwashing or getting into it because it is the current trend.

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