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Green or Sustainable? What's the Difference?
We prefer "greening, but for most purposes "greening" and "sustainability" are interchangeable. More: Greening Starter Projects and Marketing Green Buildings.
 Building Green, High Performance Buildings
Most people agree with the basic principle of greening: preserving the planet we live on for future generations. Green buildings save energy and water, reduce land impacts and material consumption and provide healthier, more productive places to live and work. But building green goes far beyond meeting minimum standards. Green buildings can replace entire power plants and help avoid costly power transmission and substation upgrades. Green buildings cost little extra and can last twice as long as ordinary buildings. More: Renewable Power Scenarios.
"Charrettes" - Design Workshops
Charrette comes from the French word for the cart or wagon used to collect students' drawings during the 19th century at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris. Today, the charrette workshop is used to stimulate ideas in the planning and design process.
More and more, charrettes involve larger, multi-disciplinary teams. It is a valuable tool for setting the foundation for the development of a more formal plan. It is not a substitute for the formal planning and design process, but can be integral with it. The idea is to quickly sort through many ideas while looking at issues holistically. Successful charrettes produce concrete results.
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