Green real estate development has many facets. Another project might restore prairie ecosystems. Others foster community cohesion and reduce dependence on the automobile. More significantly, though, green development is about the integration of all these features and more. It is about multiplying solutions so that one feature provides many benefits to reduce a project's impact on the environment.
Green development is a young and evolving approach to real estate development.
The perfect green development has yet to be built, but more and more projects are demonstrating that the integrated elements of green development better serve the occupants, the developer, society at large, and the environment. . . . The Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development, says that the design, construction, and maintenance of buildings has a tremendous impact on our environment and our natural resources. There are more than 76 million residential buildings and nearly 5 million commercial buildings in the U.S. today. By the year 2010, another 38 million buildings are expected to be constructed. The challenge will be to build them smart, so they use a minimum of nonrenewable energy, produce a minimum of pollution, and cost a minimum of energy dollars, while increasing the comfort, health, and safety of the people who live and work in them.