Title: Reading and Audio-Visual Assignments
Course: WGF 105 DEVELOPMENT > Section: Content

Sub-Title | System Saving Opportunities: Lighting and Solid Waste
Content
Lighting accounts for nearly 20% of the total electricity consumption of commercial buildings in the United States. Effective lighting systems involve the integration of lighting technologies with the building as a whole – across the lifecycle of a building. Green technologies and design strategies are more conducive to energy and financial savings, and improved human health, productivity, and satisfaction.

Lighting choices in offices affect:

- Comfort and mood of workers and visitors
- Ambiance and visual appeal of the space
- Up-front costs of lighting equipment
- Utility and maintenance costs
- Associated greenhouse gas emissions
- Space usability and worker productivity
- Safety and security
Video | High Performance Buildings: Perspective and Practice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiKhXrDds8U
Content | People living in the United States, in 2011, generated 250 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW), or 4.4 pounds per person per day. While people recycle more, they also generate 39% more MSW today than they did in 1960. These MSW figures include common trash or garbage, excluding construction and demolition waste and hazardous waste. In federal buildings, solid waste management is a system whereby there are inputs of materials through purchases, consumption of materials, and outputs of waste as by-products (example, cardboard packaging) and end products (example, discarded lamps). The Waste Management Hierarchy1 illustrates a basic framework for managing materials to reduce waste, from most sustainably preferable at the top to least sustainably preferable at the bottom
Links/Uploads
Explore Sustainable Building Systems – Sustainable Facilities Tool

http://sftool.gov/Explore#building-systems

http://sftool.gov/Explore#building-systems=lighting

http://sftool.gov/Explore#building-systems=solid-waste
Attributions | Image and content courtesy of Sustainable Facilities Tool – U.S. General Services Administration