In April 2000, the Environment and Public Works Committee of the U.S. Senate convened a roundtable of public officials, real estate practitioners, academicians and other members of the U.S. Green Building Council to educate members of Congress on building design trends. The roundtable, the first of its kind in Congress, generated a rich dialogue on the environmental impacts of the building sector, the economic and health benefits of green building, the barriers and opportunities it faces, and the role of the federal sector. The committee also invited participants to articulate the most important business reasons for designing and building high performance green buildings. 

This 16 page article offers examples, statistics, photographs, testimonies, and compelling commentary on the environmental and financial benefits of building high performance green buildings.

In this article, “Green Building, an Executive Summary” Sandy Wiggins, the keynote speaker at the 2005 Sustainability and Energy Efficiency Leadership Conference,  provides a well researched and thought provoking definition of sustainability and makes an intelligent and sensitive case for designing, developing and constructing green buildings.  

Mr. Wiggins insightful commentary and his use of diagrams work together to demonstrate the decision making process in both a conventional and an integrated design process.