United States. Congress

“ HIGH-PERFORMANCE GREEN BUILDING— The term `high-performance green building' means a high-performance building that, during its life-cycle, as compared with similar buildings (as measured by Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey or Residential Energy Consumption Survey data from the Energy Information Agency) — (A) reduces energy, water, and material resource use; (B) improves indoor environmental quality, including reducing indoor pollution, improving thermal comfort, and improving lighting and acoustic environments that affect occupant health and productivity ”

“ LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT— The term `life-cycle assessment' means a comprehensive system approach for measuring the environmental performance of a product or service over the life of the product or service, beginning at raw materials acquisition and continuing through manufacturing, transportation, installation, use, reuse, and end-of-life waste management. ”

“ ZERO-NET-ENERGY COMMERCIAL BUILDING— The term `zero-net-energy commercial building' means a commercial building that is designed, constructed, and operated to— (A) require a greatly reduced quantity of energy to operate ”