How can you choose the most appropriate green building strategies based on your goals, budget, and context?

1 Define your objectives

Before you select any green building strategies, you need to define your objectives clearly. What are you trying to achieve with your project? Do you want to reduce energy consumption, water use, carbon emissions, waste generation, or improve indoor air quality, comfort, health, or productivity? How do you measure and evaluate your success? How do you communicate your value proposition to your stakeholders? By setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals, you can narrow down your options and prioritize your actions.

3 Explore your options

After you have your baseline, you need to explore your options for improvement. What are the best practices and standards for green building in your context? What are the available technologies, techniques, and tools that can help you achieve your objectives? How do they align with your design vision, functional requirements, and aesthetic preferences? How do they interact with each other and affect the whole-building performance? By researching and comparing different alternatives, you can create a shortlist of feasible and effective solutions.

4 Evaluate your impacts

Before you implement your options, you need to evaluate your impacts. What are the costs and benefits of each option for your project and its stakeholders? How do they affect the environmental, economic, and social aspects of your building over its life cycle? What are the trade-offs and synergies among them? How do they contribute to your overall goals and value proposition? By performing a life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), and social return on investment (SROI) analysis, you can quantify and communicate your impacts.

5 Monitor your performance

After you implement your options, you need to monitor your performance. How well are your green building strategies working in practice? Are they meeting or exceeding your expectations and targets? Are they delivering the desired outcomes and benefits for your building and its occupants? What are the feedback and satisfaction levels of your stakeholders? How can you improve or optimize your performance over time? By collecting and analyzing data, conducting surveys and interviews, and applying continuous improvement methods, you can verify and enhance your performance.

6 Learn from your experience

Finally, you need to learn from your experience. What are the lessons learned from your green building project? What are the best practices and success factors that you can replicate or share? What are the challenges and pitfalls that you can avoid or overcome? How can you leverage your knowledge and skills for future projects or professional development? By documenting and disseminating your results, reflecting and evaluating your process, and seeking feedback and recognition, you can learn from your experience and advance your green building practice.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?