With go-green as a password, the growing need for the green building must now become a palpable reality and a beginning is being made.

In North America, consideration of life cycle environmental, economic and social aspects of buildings is in vogue. This trend is clear in part from the booming memberships of the U.S. and Canadian Green Building Councils and Sustainable Buildings Canada and the growing number of buildings and communities using environmental rating systems.

The cluster of beige corrugated-iron sheds and silos don't look like much, but this unassuming factory in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, represents a potential revolution in greenhouse gas emissions. It's the first commercial enterprise in the world dedicated to transforming waste from power stations and blast furnaces into geopolymer concrete, a particularly promising green concrete.