Developing a building in an ecologically sound manner was once a vague term that could mean anything from using recycled materials to putting in large windows. But recently, the US Green Building Council, a non-profit industry group, established the Leadership and Energy and Environmental Design or LEEDs standards to measure the sustainable design of a building.

As John Hess, director of sustainable design for Vanderweil Engineers, a locally based engineering firm that specializes in "green" design, tells GlobeSt.com there are several categories to building environmentally friendly. There is energy conservation, water conservation, interior design—which includes air quality and natural lighting, reducing light pollution, using recycled materials and minimizing the size of a parking lot to encourage the use of mass transportation. Furthermore, renovating an existing building is preferred to building from scratch in order to reduce urban sprawl.

"We're seeing more interest by owners in ecological building," notes Hess, who adds that while this type of design may cost more initially, the "lifecycle" costs are usually much better. He estimates that the operating savings are paid back on a building within three to five years while the payback on employees who are more comfortable is more difficult to quantify. "Generally, large universities, large corporations, and biotech and pharmaceutical companies tend to be pushing to have environmentally responsible buildings," says Hess. "They can appreciate the benefits and they feel they're being better employers." Builders developing buildings on spec tend to be least interested in developing environmentally friendly buildings. "They just want to build the building and sell it," says Hess.