Standard Guide for General Principles of Sustainability Relative to the Built Environment

Importancia y uso:

4.1 The built environment has environmental, economic, and social impacts. These impacts occur at all life-cycle stages in multiple ways and on local, regional, and global scales. It is imperative to understand the nature of these impacts and their relationship to the general principles of sustainability in order to address the opportunities and challenges they present.

4.1.1 It is necessary to identify the environmental impacts in order to promote the positive and mitigate the negative.

4.1.2 It is necessary to quantify the economic impacts in order to improve life-cycle costs and benefits.

4.1.3 It is necessary to identify the social impacts in order to contribute to a positive quality of life for current and future generations.

4.2 The general principles of sustainability—environmental, economic, and social—are interrelated. Decisions founded on the opportunities and challenges of any of the principles will have impacts relative to all of the principles. However, to facilitate clarity in the presentation of the general principles, they are discussed individually in Section 5.

4.3 The practical application of the general principles of sustainability relies upon balancing environmental, economic, and social impacts and committing to continual improvement. Section 6 discusses this balancing of environmental, economic, and social impacts in pursuit of sustainability.

4.4 This guide provides an overview of sustainability, as it is applicable to the built environment. This guide provides general guidance but does not prescribe a specific course of action.

4.5 This guide is intended to inform professionals associated with the building industry.

4.5.1 The general principles identified in this guide are intended to assist users in making decisions that advance sustainability.

4.5.2 The general principles identified in this guide are intended to inform the development and refinement of tools and standards to qualify and quantify impacts of the built environment.

Subcomité:

E60.01

Referida por:

E3341-23A, E2777-20, E2728-19, E3136-18, E3377-24, E2725-19, E2635-22, E2635-22, E1765-16R23, E3032-22, E3350-22, E2728-19

Volúmen:

04.12

Número ICS:

91.040.01 (Buildings in general)

Palabras clave:

building; general principles; sustainability; sustainable building; sustainable development;