Green Building
Green Building
Green Building
INTRODUCTION
1.1 GENERAL
Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to a structure
and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a
building's lifecycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation,
and demolition. This requires close cooperation of the design team, the architects, the
engineers, and the client at all project stages. The Green Building practice expands and
complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and
comfort.
Although new technologies are constantly being developed to complement current practices in
creating greener structures, the common objective is that green buildings are designed to
reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural
environment by:
Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources
Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity
Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation
A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on
the use of natural materials that are available locally. Other related topics include sustainable
design and green architecture. Sustainability may be defined as meeting the needs of present
generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Although some green building programs don't address the issue of the retrofitting existing
homes, others do. Green construction principles can easily be applied to retrofit work as well
as new construction.
A 2009 report by the U.S. General Services Administration found 12 sustainably designed
buildings cost less to operate and have excellent energy performance. In addition, occupants
were more satisfied with the overall building than those in typical commercial buildings
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1.2 NEED FOR GREEN BUILDINGS
In order to understand the thinking behind green building principles it is necessary to remember
why we should be so concerned with such issues in the construction industry. Perhaps
producing more energy from renewable sources and protecting wildlife and habitats is much
more important. Indeed, there are many who do not give green building a high priority. It is
surprising how many environmental groups, for instance, appear to attach a low priority to
their built environment. Groups concerned with the natural environment, wildlife, habitats and
so on, sometimes inhabit or build dreadful buildings using toxic materials and high embodied
energy materials. Many others see the issue purely in terms of energy efficiency or more
specifically fuel efficiency and are largely unconcerned about the environmental impacts of
the materials which they use to achieve reductions in gas, oil and electricity bills. Thus the
importance of buildings and the construction industry has to be seen as one of the important
user of energy and resources in advanced society. Thus if we are concerned about ozone
depletion, wastage of limited natural resources, such as oil, gas and minerals, the loss of
forested areas, toxic chemical manufacture and emissions, destruction of natural habitats and
so on, tackling the built environment is going to go a long way to addressing these issues.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Amany Ragheb et.al., (2016) found that green architecture produces environmental, social
and economic benefits. Environmentally, green architecture helps reduce pollution, conserve
natural resources and prevent environmental degradation. Economically, it reduces the amount
of money that the building's operators have to spend on water and energy and improves the
productivity of those using the facility. And, socially, green buildings are meant to be beautiful
and cause only minimal strain on the local infrastructure.
Dat Tien Doan et.al.,(2017) found that all of the building rating systems have evolved over
the years and have been updated to become more demanding in line with technological
advances. BREEAM is the first released green rating system in the world which certified
approximately 560,000 buildings, but LEED is seen as the most flexible tool used in 160
countries and territories. In addition, there are a significantly higher number of papers
discussing LEED compared to BREEAM concerning the eight main journal sources for this
research since 1998.
Mohammadjavad, et.al.,(2014) found that sustainability is increasingly becoming a key
consideration of building practitioners, policy makers, and industry alike, since the world is
moving towards green construction. When buildings have green consumption, the effect
of embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions becomes important. A green building can
be built with different materials and construction methods that create a different
cumulative carbon footprint. Green products can have very low energy consumption and also
can be helpful to the environment and nature. Therefore, the utilization of green materials, as
the most important renewable materials, in all aspects of human existence appears to be the
most effective way to optimize the use of resources and to reduce the environmental impact
associated with mankind’s activities.
Wenjuan Wei et.al., (2015) reviewed that fifty-five green building schemes in 31
certifications worldwide were reviewed. IAQ is included in all of the certifications as a section
that evaluates the health risk of indoor occupants. The global average contribution of IAQ in
green building certification is 7.5%. A large variety of compounds are targeted. Some
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compounds, e.g., ozone, particles, and SVOCs deserve to be considered in a larger number of
certifications due to their negative health effects. All of the certifications include ventilation as
a way to manage IAQ. Emission source control is included in 77% of the certifications and is
mainly targeted at building material emissions. For existing buildings, other emission source
control pathways should be more widely considered, such as the reduction of emissions due
to cleaning products and cleaning practices.
AmirHosein GhaffarianHoseini et.al., (2013) Eventually, the notion of innovation is
highlighted to be significantly beneficial within the field of sustainability, green building
systems and energy efficiency hence results in development of additional subjectiveness to the
ongoing research implementations while sustaining the dynamism.
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CHAPTER 3
PRINCIPLES OF GREEN BUILDINGS
Fig 3.1: An eco-house at Findhorn Ecovillage with a turf roof and solar panels
(https://theconstructor.org.)
Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy consumption – both the embodied
energy required to extract, process, transport and install building materials and operating
energy to provide services such as heating and power for equipment.
As high-performance buildings use less operating energy, embodied energy has assumed much
greater importance and may make up as much as 30% of the overall life cycle energy
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consumption. To reduce operating energy use, designers use details that reduce air leakage
through the building envelope (the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space).
They also specify high-performance windows and extra insulation in walls, ceilings, and floors.
Another strategy, passive solar building design, is often implemented in low-energy homes.
Designers orient windows and walls and place awnings, porches, and trees to shade windows
and roofs during the summer while maximizing solar gain in the winter. In addition, effective
window placement (daylighting) can provide more natural light and lessen the need for electric
lighting during the day. Solar water heating further reduces energy costs. Onsite generation
of renewable energy through solar power, wind power, hydro power, or biomass can
significantly reduce the environmental impact of the building. Power generation is generally
the most expensive feature to add to a building.
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reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable (e.g., Trass, Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made from
paper flakes, compressed earth block, baked earth, rammed earth, clay, vermiculite, flax linen,
sisal, seagrass, cork, expanded clay grains, coconut, wood fiber plates, calcium sand stone, etc.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) also suggests using recycled industrial goods,
such as coal combustion products, foundry sand, and demolition debris in construction
projects Building materials should be extracted and manufactured locally to the building site
to minimize the energy embedded in their transportation. Where possible, building elements
should be manufactured off-site and delivered to site, to maximize benefits of off-site
manufacture including minimizing waste, maximizing recycling (because manufacture is in
one location), high quality elements, better OHS management, less noise and dust. Energy
efficient building materials and appliances are promoted in the United States through energy
rebate programs, which are increasingly communicated to consumers through energy rebate
database services such as Green Ohm.
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Fig 3.2: Illustrative example of Green Building (https://theconstructor.org.)
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and easy to work with make renovations easier. To reduce the impact on wells or water
treatment plants, several options exist. "Greywater", wastewater from sources such as
dishwashing or washing machines, can be used for subsurface irrigation, or if treated, for non-
potable purposes, e.g., to flush toilets and wash cars. Rainwater collectors are used for similar
purposes. Centralized wastewater treatment systems can be costly and use a lot of energy. An
alternative to this process is converting waste and wastewater into fertilizer, which avoids these
costs and shows other benefits. By collecting human waste at the source and running it to a
semi-centralized biogas plant with other biological waste, liquid fertilizer can be produced.
This concept was demonstrated by a settlement in Lubeck Germany in the late 1990s. Practices
like these provide soil with organic nutrients and create carbon sinks that remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere, offsetting greenhouse gas emission. Producing
artificial fertilizer is also more costly in energy than this process.
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CHAPTER 4
ASSESMENT METHODS
4.1 GENERAL
As a result of the increased interest in green building concepts and practices, a number of
organizations have developed standards, codes and rating systems that let government
regulators, building professionals and consumers embrace green building with confidence. In
some cases, codes are written so local governments can adopt them as bylaws to reduce the
local environmental impact of buildings.
Green building rating systems such as BREEAM (United Kingdom), LEED (United States ,
Canada ,India), GRIHA (India) and CASBEE (Japan) help consumers determine a structure’s
level of environmental performance. They award credits for optional building features that
support green design in categories such as location and maintenance of building site,
conservation of water, energy, and building materials, and occupant comfort and health. The
number of credits generally determines the level of achievement.
4.2 LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is one of the most popular green
building certification programs used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green
Building Council (USGBC) it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction,
operation, and maintenance of green buildings, homes, and neighborhoods that aims to help
building owners and operators be environmentally responsible and use resources efficiently.
After four years of development, aligning credit across all LEED rating systems and weighing
credits based on environmental priority, USGBC launched LEED v3, which consists of a new
continuous development process, a new version of LEED Online, a revised third-party
certification program and a new suite of rating systems known as LEED 2009. Under LEED
2009, there are 100 possible base points distributed across six credit categories: "Sustainable
Sites", "Water Efficiency", "Energy and Atmosphere", "Materials and Resources", "Indoor
Environmental Quality", and "Innovation in Design". Up to 10 additional points may be
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earned: four additional points may be received for Regional Priority Credits, and six additional
points for Innovation in Design.
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4.2.4 Prerequisites
To participate in LEED 2009, a building must comply with environmental laws and
regulations, occupancy scenarios, building permanence and pre-rating completion, site
boundaries and area-to-site ratios. Its owner must share data on the building's energy and water
use for five years after occupancy (for new construction) or date of certification (for existing
buildings).
Each of the performance categories also have mandatory measures in each category, which
receive no points.
1. A collection of reference buildings are used to estimate the environmental impacts of any
building seeking LEED certification in a designated rating scheme.
2. NIST weightings are used to judge the relative importance of these impacts in each
category.
3. Data regarding actual impacts on environmental and human health are used to assign points
to individual categories and measures.
This system results in a weighted average for each rating scheme based upon actual impacts
and the relative importance of those impacts to human health and environmental quality.
The LEED council also appears to have assigned credit and measure weighting based upon the
market implications of point allocation.
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4.3 GRIHA
GRIHA, or Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment, is the national rating system of
India for any completed construction. It is an assessment tool to measure and rate a building’s
environmental performance. GRIHA endeavors to calculate facets, for instance, energy
consumption, waste generation, renewable energy adoption, among other points, in an attempt
to manage, control and reduce the same to the finest achievable degree. GRIHA estimates the
environmental performance of a building as a whole over its complete life cycle, and in so
doing supplying a classic criterion for what adds up to a ‘green building’. The rating system,
based on accepted energy and environmental principles, seeks to strike a balance between the
established practices and emerging concepts, both national and international. It needs to be
noted that the guidelines or criteria appraisal, if you may, could be reworked every three years
or so to keep in mind the most recent scientific developments during the period. GRIHA has
always stressed upon maximizing resource (water, energy, and materials) and conserving as
well as enhancing efficiency of the system and operations.
GRIHA V 3 rating system consists of 34 criteria covering various subjects such as sustainable
site planning, energy and water optimization, sustainable building materials, waste
management and building operations & maintenance. All buildings, which are in the design
stage and have built up area more than 2,500 m2, m2, which are in the design stage, are eligible
for certification under GRIHA. Building types include but are not limited to offices, retail
spaces, institutional buildings, hotels, hospital buildings, healthcare facilities, residences, and
multi-family high-rise buildings. All buildings, which are in the design stage and have built up
area more than 2,500 m2, which are in the design stage, are eligible for certification under
GRIHA. Building types include but are not limited to offices, retail spaces, institutional
buildings, hotels, hospital buildings, healthcare facilities, residences, and multi-family high-
rise buildings.
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Table:4.1 GRIHA Criterion (http://griha.in)
4.3.2.1 Registration
A project must be registered with GRIHA Council through the GRIHA website by filling in
the registration form online. Registration should preferably be done at beginning of a project,
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as several issues need to be addressed at the pre-design stage. The registration process includes
access to the essential information related to rating.
4.3.2.2 Post-registration
An orientation workshop is conducted by the GRIHA Council, for the entire project team
comprising of the owner, architect, MEP Consultants, landscape consultants, project manager,
etc. The workshop serves the dual purpose of awareness of GRIHA System for all involved
and identification and evaluation of the optional criteria to enhance the rating of the project.
4.3.2.3OnlineSubmissionofdocuments
The project proponent is required to provide documentary evidence to demonstrate compliance
with the criteria. The required list of documents is mentioned in the criteria in the GRIHA
Manual. All compliance documents shall be submitted through the online portal on the GRIHA
website. Submitted documents will be checked and vetted by GRIHA Council.
4.4Evaluationprocess
Complete and consolidated rating documents submitted by the project proponent shall be sent
for a third-party review. Third party reviewers are identified and trained by the GRIHA Council
under the supervision of the Technical Advisory Committee of GRIHA. On-site checks will
be carried out by the GRIHA Council 3 times during the project execution phase for auditing
the green features as part of the Due-Diligence visits.
The submission summary report generated by the online portal will be sent to the
evaluators. The evaluators will award provisional points and comment on specific criteria,
if need be.
The evaluation report will be sent to the project proponent to review the same and, if
desired, take steps to increase the score. The report will have elaborate remarks of the
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evaluation committee along with comments. The report will list the criteria for which the
documentation is incomplete, detailing the information, which is required.
The project proponent will be given one-month time to resubmit the documents with
necessary modifications /additions. The resubmitted documents will comprise only of the
additional documents / information desired in the evaluation report.
The resubmitted documents will again be put through the vetting process described above.
The evaluation committee will then award the final score.
The final score will be presented to the National Advisory committee comprising of
eminent personalities and renowned professionals in the field, for approval and award of
the provisional rating.
Final award of rating will be subject to an independent energy audit of the project after a
year of commissioning the building.
Once rated, the rating will be valid for a period of five years from the date of commissioning
of the building. GRIHA reserves the right to undertake a random on-site audit of any criteria
for which points have been awarded.
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CHAPTER 5
BENEFITS OF GREEN BUILDING
To preserve natural resources and reduce environmental wastes, many builders and design
professionals utilize green building methods. Green building focuses on the efficiency of
resources including energy, water, and building materials, while taking into consideration the
building impacts on human health and the environment.
Various programs throughout the U.S. encourage professionals within the construction
industry to utilize green building methods. The most prominent program is Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), an initiative developed by the U.S. Green Building
Council. LEED is a nationally accepted benchmark for producing high-performance green
buildings. The initiative takes into account a five-step approach to building, including:
sustainable site development, energy efficiency, water savings, material selection, and indoor
environment quality.
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5.3 IMPROVED INDOOR AIR QUALITY:
With green buildings, the indoor air quality is improved via natural and healthy materials:
green buildings utilize clean energy sources such as solar and wind power, rather than burning
coal
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Suzlon One Earth is a LEED Platinum rated and GRIHA 5 star rated building in India. It is
100 % Renewable energy campus.From the total energy consumption 7% of it comes from 18
on-site hybrid wind turbines, solar panels and photovoltaic cells and the rest 93% comes from
off-site wind turbines. The HVAC scheme is designed innovatively combining various energy
efficient components like pre-cooling of fresh air, heat recovery/exchange mechanisms to
minimise overall energy consumption. Solar photovoltaic panels generating green power. The
orientation of the blocks is such that the majority of building facades face north, south, north-
west & south-east. This enables adequate day lighting and glare control. All workstations are
equipped with task lighting which is governed by motion sensors turning. The landscape
incorporates the principle of Xeriscape with efficient water management systems.
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CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSIONS
Sustainability is increasingly becoming a key consideration of building practitioners, policy
makers, and industry alike, since the world is moving towards zero-energy construction. When
buildings have net zero energy consumption, the effect of embodied energy and greenhouse
gas emissions become important. A green buildings can be built with different materials and
construction methods that create different cumulative carbon footprint. Renewable and eco-
friendly materials can have very low or negative carbon footprint. Therefore, the utilization
these materials , in all aspects of human existence appears to be the most effective way to
optimize the use of resources and to reduce the environmental impact associated with
mankind’s activities. Typically, the use of eco friendly and renewable energy materials results
in lower emissions and thus a lower overall environmental impact. However, to achieve
sustainable development, certain criteria within a framework of economic, environmental and
social systems must be followed.
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REFERENCES
1. Amany Ragheba, Hisham El-Shimyb, Ghada Raghebb (2016) Green architecture:a
concept of sustainability, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences ,216 ,778 – 787.
2. AmirHosein GhaffarianHoseini ,Nur Dalilah Dahlan , Umberto Berardi , Ali
GhaffarianHoseini , Nastaran Makaremi , Mahdiar GhaffarianHoseini(2013)
Sustainable energy performances of green buildings: A review of current theories,
implementations and challenges , Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 25, 1-17 .
3. Arijit Sinha, Rakesh Gupta, Andreja Kutnar(2012) Sustainable Development and Green
Buildings ,Buildngs and Environment , 92 , 111-119
4. Dat Tien Doan , Ali Ghaffarianhoseini, Nicola Naismith, Tongrui Zhang, Amirhosein
Ghaffarianhoseini, John Tookey (2017) A critical comparison of green building rating
systems, Buildings and environment, 114, 1- 26.
5. Mohammadjavad, M., Arash, Z., Airya, N., Setareh, G., Narjes, E., (2014 ) Dilemma
of green and pseudo green architecture based on LEED norms in case of developing
countries, International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment , 3, 235–246.
6. Wenjuan Wei, Olivier Ramalho, Corinne Mandin(2015), Indoor air quality
requirements in green building certifications, Building and Environment, 92,10-19 .
7. X.Q. Zhai, R.Z. Wang , Y.J. Dai, J.Y. Wu, Y.X. Xu, Q. Ma (2007) Solar Integrated
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