Sunday, September 30, 2012

11. Green Buildings: Boost Business and Neighborhoods


http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/bank-of-america/archive/2012/08/green-buildings-boost-business-and-neighborhoods/261011

David Winzelberg wrote to the Atlantic on August 14th about the positive aspects of green technology not only to the environment but to the economy as well. Winzelberg uses a statistic of the “total footprint of commercial projects certified under its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building program” to illustrate his point that more people are starting to use eco-friendly technology. He then gives examples of these new technologies used to decrease costs such as “roof gardens, systems that recycle a building's heat and water, solar panels.” He explains how this improves the economy by saying that companies that manufacture or install these sustainable energy devices have increased production. Green building has also provided many more jobs (nearly 8 million) and has contributed to the U.S. GDP by 554 billion dollars. It has also has decreased the numbers of “absenteeism” by improving the workspace of many people and thus increasing productivity in companies. Winzelberg ends saying that the LEED has expanded development to whole communities from individual buildings.

The author’s purpose in the article was to inform his readers that green technologies have improved businesses from large to small scales. Simply by writing about the positive effects of ecological ideas, the author seems to be promoting the adoption of such measures to protect the environment as well as to boost the economy. Winzelberg writes in short paragraphs and alternates with long and short sentences making the essay easy to read. He divides each positive in their own paragraph and uses clear transition words to indicate change of topic. The tone seems formal without any contractions, personal pronouns, slang or expressions and the text is straightforward except for the end where it advertises for the Bank of America by saying its donation for the LEED program.

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