Building for sustainability is building for the future

Being involved in construction necessarily entails thinking about the future. Whether we’re constructing and repairing roadways that enable travel and transportation or erecting buildings where the business of the world gets done, we’re investing in infrastructure that will allow us to envision, create, and provide for our collective future.

In recent years, the conversation about what our future will look like has taken a decisive turn toward sustainability and environmental responsibility. Protecting future generations from scarcity of resources is of the utmost importance, and planners the world over are working hard to come up with solutions to preserve the future for our children and grandchildren. In our industry, that will involve considering ways to significantly diminish the environmental impact of the structures that we build and the processes we undertake to build them.

“Green” buildings and construction are the general terms applied to efforts to reduce the environmental footprint—both short-term and long—of the activities and products of the construction industry. According to the EPA, this entails:

  1. _Increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use and harvest energy, water, and materials; and _

  2. Protecting and restoring human health and the environment, throughout the building life-cycle: siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction.

      (EPA, “[Green building: Frequent Questions](http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/faqs.htm)”)

Essentially, green construction involves considering every potential environmental impact that could result from any substantial building project and working to ensure that no lasting negative impact is made. Similarly, green buildings are planned to continue limiting environmental impact over the lifetime of the structure.

Voices resistant to this change in momentum are often worried that extra expense will be involved, but particularly where the buildings themselves are concerned, this is often not the case. The EPA again states, “Integrated design processes that identify the most efficient, holistic approaches to building green can reduce these initial costs.” In addition, the operation costs associated with keeping efficiently designed buildings up and running can be substantially less than those associated with older, less efficient buildings. In other words, not only can green construction be an investment in our future—it can also be a significant investment in our present.

Ultimately, however, we wrestle with these issues in order to secure the best future possible for our world. The professionals at Wright Brothers are excited about helping to create that future, and we’re ready to take on any challenges that it throws our way.