Course Info
This page describes courses taught at Virginia Tech on the topic of sustainable facilities and infrastructure within the Building Construction Department/Myers-Lawson School of Construction.
BC 5984: Sustainable Building Construction
This graduate special topics course was taught during Spring 2006. The course provides an introduction to the means, methods, and analytical practices associated with sustainability in the built environment. The course will cover best practices for sustainable projects in the areas of planning/development, site design, project management, energy and water conservation and efficiency, green building materials, and indoor environmental quality. Analytical methods studied will include green building assessment tools and methods such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, economic analysis of green building alternatives, and evaluation for innovation and organizational change.
This course includes a mix of in- and out-of-class active learning experiences. After successfully completing this course, students will be able to identify sustainability improvement opportunities in traditional construction projects, evaluate candidate actions to improve sustainability using a variety of factors, and recommend appropriate best practices to be applied to specific project contexts to enhance project sustainability.