Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources such as energy, water, and materials while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better site design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.

Effective green building can lead to 1) reduced operating costs by increasing productivity and using less energy and water, 2) improved public and occupant health due to improved indoor air quality, and 3) reduced environmental impacts by, for example, lessening storm water runoff and the heat island effect. Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and its surrounding natural and built environment, although the appearance and style of sustainable buildings is not necessarily distinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.