The Triple Bottom Line represents a new way of thinking about green buildings and sustainability: truly appropriate measures need to incorporate consideration of ecology/environment, economy and (social) equity (the three Es), or people, planet and profits (the three Ps).
The triple bottom line contrasts with the traditional business bottom line which considerers only profit. Clearly business have been moving away from a profits-only orientation for quite some time, as the corporate social responsibility movement has taken hold: getting and keeping good employees who care about the environment and about the local community has become a central element in profitability.