Proponents of sustainability in the built environment have, to a large extent, spent the last quarter century working and reworking ideas and innovations that originated in the 1970s or earlier. Until recently, little of this work could be said to have enjoyed high profile political support, adequate funding, or a significant chance of breaking into the mainstream. The area has been characterised by frontier spirit, high levels of personal commitment and idealism, firm belief in the rightness o../MORE

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Proponents of sustainability in the built environment have, to a large extent, spent the last quarter century working and reworking ideas and innovations that originated in the 1970s or earlier. Until recently, little of this work could be said to have enjoyed high profile political support, adequate funding, or a significant chance of breaking into the mainstream. The area has been characterised by frontier spirit, high levels of personal commitment and idealism, firm belief in the rightness of the technologies that were being developed and demonstrated and a tacit acceptance, on all sides, that they would remain marginal for the foreseeable future. Sustainable architecture is related to the concept of "green building" . The two terms, however are often used interchangeably to relate to any building designed with environmental goals in mind, often regardless of how they actually function in regard to such goals.