Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide (Architecture Briefs)

Sustainable design is a topic that alternatively needs to be written about more to better articulate a meaning and position, and is written about so much that the same thing is said over and over again. David Bergman's book lies somewhere in the middle, but closer to the former, thanks to a predilection for the second of his two categories: incremental solutions and innovative ones. Incremental solutions are things like compact fluorescent light bulbs, which are helpful but not enough. Innovative solutions, on the other hand, ask different questions, such that "how do we make a cleaner, more energy-efficient lawn mower?" is replaced with "is there a better way to design the landscapes surrounding our buildings?" Chapters move from the show more big picture to details: site issues, water efficiency, energy efficiency (passive and active), indoor environmental quality, materials, labels and ratings. show less