West Coast Green 2006—Presentation

While many approaches to green building focus on scarcity – degradation of resources and diminished opportunities – the Triple Top Line approach to green building provides an alternate method centered on the concept of abundance, and how to make the most of available resources whether they be financial, human or environmental.

An important source of expanding Green Building is creating a point of view or perspective that informs, inspires and directs our creativity. One such distinction, frequently used is the triple bottom line.  While the concept of a bottom line is a useful point of departure, it is actually quite hard to apply.  The bottom line is an accounting term – it describes what is left, after you consider all the adds and deducts.  By its definition it drives scarcity thinking and statements like "I want to build green, but it costs too much".

What if we focus on the top line - the upside - the win-win?  That would force the discussion towards the preferred outcome – an abundance of human, environmental and financial capital.  To measure success we would need analytics that were authentic and aligned with abundance.  And to follow through we would need attitude – a conviction to do the best job we can with what we have. 

Originally presented at West Coast Green, 2006 by Tom Paladino