Green Building Guidelines

Course Outline

The building "green" movement is growing at an explosive rate in the U.S. as a result of increased awareness of global warming. The goal of building "green" is to reduce the life cycle cost of buildings while maximizing health and environmental performance. This course is based entirely on the publication "Green Building Guidelines for New Home Construction", which provides excellent guidance for architects, engineers, builders and homeowners when trying to conserve natural resources, use energy wisely, improve indoor air quality and build livable communities. Although the course material focuses on residential construction, many of the tips provided in this course are applicable to commercial and office construction. This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

• Understand the importance of sustainable development;
• Grasp the principles of whole-house system approach;
• Develop achievable goals of energy saving;
• Select sustainable building materials;
• Understand stormwater management;
• Lower maintenance and repair costs of a home;
• Preserve existing landscape and vegetation;
• Minimize the overall environmental impacts;
• Improve indoor air quality;
• Reduce and reuse construction waste;
• Identify the energy-saving features of green buildings; and
• Understand all aspects of green building design.

Course Content

In this course, you are required to study the following design guide and checklist:

Green Building Guidelines (2009 edition, 67 pages, PDF file. File size: 3.1 MB).

GreenPoint Rated Checklist (2008 edition, Excel file. File size: 0.5 MB).

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the documents for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Course Summary

Green buildings are sometimes called climate-sensitive design or sustainable development. They are designed to meet certain objectives such as conserving energy and water; improving air quality; and reducing the overall impact to the environment. Many green principles can be applied to any construction project. Building "green" is an opportunity to use our resources efficiently while creating a healthier environment.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following web pages:

U.S. Green Building Council
Green Building Resource Guide
California Green Building Design and Construction
Santa Monica Green Building Program

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDHonline.org or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered professional engineer. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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