Green building, which is also known as sustainable building or green construction, refers to the practice of creating structures, like an Arizona active adult community, and using processes that are deemed environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a structures life-cycle. This includes siting to design, operation, construction, renovation, maintenance and deconstruction. This practice complements and expands the classical building design concerns of utility, economy, comfort and durability.

Although new technologies are being developed to complement current practices in creating green structures, like and Arizona active adult community, the common objective is that green construction is designed to reduce the impact of the built environment on the natural environment and human health by:

• Efficiently using water, energy and other resources

• Improving occupant health

• Reducing pollution, waste and environment degradation

Reducing Environmental Impact

Green construction practices aim to decrease the environmental impact of buildings, such as an Arizona active adult community. Buildings account for a huge amount of land use, water and energy consumption and atmosphere and air alteration. Reducing the amount of natural resources buildings, such as an Arizona active adult community, consume as well as the amount of pollution given off should be seen as crucial for future sustainability. The perceived costs of green construction are often overestimated, while the environmental impact of buildings is underestimated. A survey conducted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development found that green costs are overestimated by nearly 300 percent, as key individuals in construction and real estate estimate the additional cost of green building at 17 percent above more conventional construction, this is more than triple the true cost difference of about 5 percent. Building a green Arizona active adult community is not as costly as many experts estimate.

Goals of Green Building

The concept of sustainable development, or green building, can be traced to the environment pollution concern and the energy crisis in the 1970s. The green construction movement in the United States originated from the desire and need for more environmentally friendly and more energy efficient construction practices. There are numerous motives to building green including economic, environmental and social benefits. However, modern sustainability initiatives often call for a synergistic and integrated design to both retrofitting existing structure and new construction. This approach is known as sustainable design and integrates the life-cycle of building with each green practice implemented with a design-purpose to create synergy amongst the practices used. Buildings, such as an Arizona active adult community, benefit from this synergy.

Green construction brings together a vast array of techniques and practices to reduce and eliminate the impacts of buildings, such as an Arizona active adult community, on human health and the environment. Green building often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources in construction. For example, using sunlight through active solar, passive solar and photovoltaic techniques in Arizona active adult communities, as well as using trees and plants through rain gardens, and green roofs for reduction of rainwater run-off. Other techniques such as using permeable concrete or packed gravel as opposed to asphalt or conventional concrete to enhance replenishment of ground water, are used in the construction of Arizona active adult communities.