This course will help you understand that sustainable design begins with sustainable building materials. Because there are many factors to consider in assessing a building’s sustainability, it can be challenging to fully understand the long-term impacts of choosing one building material over another. However, material choice greatly affects the environmental impact of buildings, both during construction and over the building’s lifecycle.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the role wood products play in sustainable building design and construction.
  • Describe common green building standards, certification and ratings programs and identify some of their similarities and differences.
  • Recognize terms used for green building and understand how things like forest certification, EPDs and LCAs can be used to meet green building standards.
  • Discuss green building trends regarding building codes, building types and procurement policies.

Pre-Requisite: Basic knowledge of wood construction.