ABSTRACT
There is a lot of general and rather superficial literature on green issues, much of it about social and economic policy or doom and gloom on the future of the planet. Many people who want to behave in an environmentally friendly way find such literature frustrating because it is often preaching to the converted. What they want to know, is not so much the general picture, though this is of course important, but more practical information on how to actually do things. They may come up against gurus who talk about holistic theories or a strange new esoteric language. Instead we have tried to create easy-to-manage packages which allow specifiers and clients to understand what is going on and to take responsible decisions about what to do. This is one of the main objects of the handbook. In this chapter, the background to this approach is explained through a brief review of the theories and basic principles of green building.
