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Green planning is planning that focuses on maximising social opportunities while minimising dependency on private transportation. Green planning seeks to promote public transportation modes (trains, buses) by focusing public facilities along transportation routes and nodes.
Green planning also promotes mixed land uses in order to place all infrastructure needs within easy reach of the users. Thus places of living are not separated from places of work or recreation.
Green planning also seeks to connect buildings in order to share services, especially those services generated by the buildings themselves. Thus a facility that generates excess electricity will make available that electricity to adjoining buildings, or when the electricity is not needed. Similarly, the by-products of manufacturing are taken to an adjoining facility where the waste is reused or transformed into something else.
Green planning connects individual green buildings so that the block and the city operate collectively as a green city.
- Llewellyn van Wyk
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There are a broad range of strategies that are included under the Site umbrella. They include choosing the location of the building, building placement on the site, building shape, the amount of ground disturbed during construction, and the types of surfaces that will remain when construction is finished.
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Site Selection
When choosing a site for a building, there are many attributes to consider:
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Water is a precious resource that needs to be conserved and reused so we don’t run out. Strategies for doing this include proper selection of landscape materials and irrigation systems, water efficient plumbing fixtures, and reuse and treatment systems.
Landscaping and Irrigation: There are two main ways to reduce the amount of water used to maintain exterior landscaping:
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(1) choosing the right plants, and
(2) using the right irrigation system.
The use of native, adapted, or drought-tolerant plants is the first step to reducing the amount of water used in landscaping. Native and adapted plants are suited for the climate of the project location, and do not usually require additional irrigation. Drought-tolerant plants are acclimated to long periods of time without water. Generally speaking, grass lawns are not conducive to lowering the amount of irrigation water needed.
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Energy measures are the most cost effective sustainable building techniques to use. They usually provide a relatively quick payback, and, as energy prices soar, they will be in demand. However, some can be expensive. Often there are tax incentives and rebates available from local utilities for instituting these strategies, both for commercial and residential buildings.
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Energy Efficiency
There are several strategies that can be employed to increase the efficiency of a building and its equipment. We will highlight a few here.
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