Green Buildings Surviving Disasters
The ability of a building to withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes is not currently taken into account by the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system that rewards buildings for being sustainable. However, this may eventually change, as architects have been pointing out that a green building is one that doesn’t have to be rebuilt after a disaster. This is a valid point, due to all of the energy and materials that are necessarily expended during new construction. While it may take years for LEED to incorporate the resiliency of a building into its rating system, LEED does recognize that the ability to withstand disasters is an important aspect of sustainable structures.