any type of project, the designer must choose the building service systems to be installed.

In sustainable design numerous factors are added to the checklist that otherwise wouldn't

exist. The same is true for material selection, building orientation, and various other

components. Another major component in the decision making process is the climate and

environment in which the structure will be put into place. "Today's green designers

realize that any approach must improve quality, such as better control of temperature,

humidity, lighting effectiveness and indoor air" (Macaluso,2002, p. 199). For example,

when designing for solar gain in a particular climate, measures must be taken to

adequately design for avoidance of excessive overheating in the summer while still

maximizing potential gains during the colder winter months.

 Effective sustainable designs are unique to each individual project because the

needs of each project are unique in themselves. Individual owner's ideas, material

availabilities, environmental impacts, and numerous other factors give each project an

individual identity. With this identity comes different critical factors for design. When

designing a particular structure for natural lighting, for example, numerous factors come

to mind. Relative heating, cooling and lighting requirements and potential heat gains

from people, equipment, lighting and the sun have to be examined in relation to building

form, orientation, occupancy patterns, and environmental requirements in order to ensure

that the full picture emerges prior to making major design decisions. Overall, designers

must keep one simple fact in mind, a solution that produces one successful commercial

building cannot automatically be applied to another (McElroy, 1999).

 In order to help regulate the green building process, the United States Green

Building Council has established the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design