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About WGBA
Mission To facilitate and promote the development and use of ecologically sustainable practices within the built environment in Wisconsin.
GOALS
To encourage global environmental health through the sustainable use of energy, land, water, air, soil, plant, material and cultural resources.
To enhance individual environmental health by improving daylight access, air quality, thermal comfort, water quality and acoustic comfort.
To improve the economic performance of the built environment through the development of global and individual environmental health.
To educate the private and public sectors about the value of sustainable building practices.
To foster an integrated cross-disciplinary approach to solving environmental problems and to develop the partnerships that are required to implement these solutions.
Scope Involvement will encompass all scales of development including product design, building design, urban design and regional planning. The scope will not be limited to buildings, but will also include site development and municipal infrastructure. All phases of the building cycle will be included: research, planning, design, construction, facilities management, and waste management.
Implementation The goals will be implemented by means of, but not limited to, the following: research, resource compilation, publications, conferences, workshops, public outreach, focus groups, demonstration projects, professional networking and partnering opportunities.
Membership Open to all users of the built environment. This includes, but is not limited to, professionals within construction, design, education, engineering, environmental advocacy, facilities management, real estate, finance, government, law, manufacturing, planning and research.
Organization The Wisconsin Green Building Alliance operates as corporation within the State of Wisconsin. WGBA is certified as a 501( c)(3) not-for-profit, non-partisan education organization
NEED
In their construction, placement and use, buildings have tremendous impact upon the environment, accounting for one-sixth of the world's freshwater withdrawals, one quarter of its wood harvest, and two-fifths of its material and energy flows. By comparison, recovered products account for less than 5% of the total construction materials market.
Within the United Sates, buildings represent more than 50% of our nation's wealth. Construction contributes $800 billion to the economy, or 13% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and provides nearly 10 million professional and trade jobs. The resources required to create, operate and replenish this level of infrastructure and income are enormous and are diminishing.
Although the environmental problems facing and created by construction are widely known, practical approaches to addressing them are still very limited. The building industry, though regulated by state and local codes, does not adequately address, and national direction falls short on, environmental building design, materials usage and product standards. Present information about green building design (such as environmental and individual health issues, economic performance, etc. is inadequate to meet the needs of building professionals. Access to green building information, technology, and networking opportunities with other building industry professionals is even more limited.
SOLUTIONS STATEMENT
A statewide consensus supports the mission of promoting the development of environmentally sustainable practices within the construction industry, yet no comprehensive effort exists to solve this need. Although there are existing associations that are becoming aware of environmental issues, unfortunately they are organized along disciplinary lines, whereas environmental sustainability is very much an interdisciplinary problem. Likewise, local governments and private industry often do not have the resources to perform the necessary research to assemble information or to organize to share ideas and influence.
In response to these needs, Wisconsin Green Building Alliance has organized a broad-based coalition of stakeholders to promote this mission. Through this effort, Wisconsin Green Building Alliance will promote the understanding, development, and accelerated implementation of green building programs, technologies, standards, and design practices. The programs of the Alliance are the first step to helping building stakeholders understand the economic and environmental wisdom of adopting environmental principles in their construction-related business and to convince informed decision makers that use of environmentally oriented building practices is not an expense, but an investment with a recognized rate of return. The Alliance advances the utilization of these practices in construction through the creation, exchange and application of appropriate and timely information, and fills the need where other organizations are not yet active.
Because of the building industry's significant impact on the national economy and environment, even modest changes that promote resource efficiency will create major improvements. The promotion of "green" building practices is a timely and practical exercise, since leadership in this area will strengthen the position of environmentally oriented companies in the marketplace. Ultimately, the adoption of sustainable building practices will lead to a shift in the building industry, embedded in its practice, products, standards and codes.
© Copyright 2006 by Wisconsin Green Building Alliance
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