The green building revolution is growing. A study published on The Mecklenburg Times reveals that nearly 50% of builders aim to create more green projects by 2021. This follows the latest movement towards creating more sustainable buildings across the globe. In recent years, people have become more familiar with the benefits of supporting the construction of green structures. For one, green buildings have helped lower energy consumption by 25% through sustainable construction. This is because it involves coming up with eco-conscious designs as well as the efficient use of resources.
However, green buildings don’t only help save the environment, they also have positive effects on the overall well-being and productivity of their occupants. When it comes to people working in green buildings, 44% were better at making decisions that have a significant impact on workplace goals, while 131% were reported by My Tech Decisions to be better at planning and strategizing under pressure. The employees surveyed also posed a higher level of perceived well-being, compared to those working in buildings that are not environmentally-friendly. The happiness levels of employees were also found to be 23% higher if the building they were working in had sustainable lighting. Materials like recycled flooring and an improvement in the office space’s acoustics also made an impact—20% better staff attraction and retention. Improving the indoor air quality also reduces an employee’s risks of having asthma and allergies, enhancing their productivity.
According to Urban Design Mental Health, more and more project developers, architects, and engineers are recognizing the positive impacts of a green building to a person’s overall mental and physical health. For example, experts have recently found that green spaces that block or reduce environmental noise help alleviate psychological distress for those in the building. Although this may seem like a small improvement, growing research shows how environmental factors can affect employment behavior. Maryville University in their long form degree post for psychology students explain how a correlation between business objectives and employee behavior has been found by analysts in the private sector. This has sparked a demand for more specialists who can examine this connection and use their knowledge to improve a company’s workforce. The benefits of an eco-friendly workplace on productivity would be among those correlations being explored and acted upon.
Although the initial costs of constructing a green building may be expensive, the returns in profit due to increased productivity evens out the initial investment. To save on initial costs, making renovations and slowly converting a regular building to become a green structure is a more practical idea. Here on The Energy Alliance Group of North America, we recommend focusing on simple changes first, like improving the air quality or looking to install more ways to conserve energy. Getting rid of older technologies associated with the traditional work environment can also help improve living and working conditions.
As the global shift to more sustainable practices increases, and companies see the psychological benefits of green buildings on their employees, we can expect the number of eco-friendly structures to increase. Hopefully more cities will follow in the footsteps of Grand Rapids, which is one of American’s greenest city.
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