GREEN BUILDING

By-
Dr. Pradhi Rajeev
Basic Information
• Green building is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are
environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from
siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction.
• This practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy,
utility, durability, and comfort.
• Green building is also known as a sustainable or high performance building.
• Four pillars of green buildings:
1. minimization of impacts on the environment,
2. enhancing the health conditions of occupants,
3. the return on investment to developers and local community, and
4. the life cycle consideration during the planning and development process.
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

• According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, building block
accounts for 40% of total energy consumption.
• Apart from energy consumption, buildings produce Greenhouse Gas emission (GHG)
emission which is responsible for global warming.
• The carbon emission of buildings across the world will reach 42.4 billion tonnes in 2035,
adding 43% on the level of 2007.
Green building assessment tools
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED, United States)
• BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM, United Kingdom)
• Green Building Council of Australia Green Star (GBCA, Australia)
• Green Mark Scheme (Singapore),
• German Sustainable Building Council: DGNB (Germany)
• Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE, Japan)
• Pearl Rating System for Estidama (Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council)
• Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HK BEAM)
• Green Building Index (Malaysia)
• Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)
Why is it important?

Environmental Economic Social

• Enhance and protect • Reduce operating costs • Enhance occupant
biodiversity and • Create, expand, and comfort and health
ecosystems shape markets for green • Heighten aesthetic
• Improve air and water product and services qualities
quality • Improve occupant • Minimize strain on local
• Reduce waste streams productivity infrastructure
• Conserve and restore • Optimize life-cycle • Improve overall quality
natural resources economic performance of life
 Environmental perspective
• Green buildings help to improve the urban biodiversity and protect the eco-system by means
of sustainable land use.
• Reduction of construction and demolition waste is a critical component of sustainable
building design.
• Recycling rate has to be above 90% in order to mitigate the obvious environmental impacts
of construction and demolition waste which means reused and recycled materials in new
buildings.
• Compared with conventional buildings, green buildings generally provide higher
performance reflected from energy efficiency, water efficiency and carbon emission
reduction.
• Reduced emission of green house gases (GHGs) if the protocols are adopted.

Henry et al., 2012; Bianchini et al., 2012; Akadiri et al., 2012; Yeheyis et al., 2013; Coelho et al., 2012
 Economic Aspect
• According to Economist, green building can save
30% of energy consumption than conventional
buildings.
• Low energy office buildings with green features
can save more than 55% of
energy cost compared to conventional buildings.
• Economic benefits of green building in terms of
productivity and absenteeism should not be
overlooked. Their study found an increase
of 25% of productivity and the absenteeism is
significantly reduced when occupants moved from
a conventional building to a green
building.

Lau et al., 2009

 Indoor Environmental Quality

Extensive studies have suggested that green building can achieve higher level of IEQ than conventional
buildings, which helps to improve the health and productivity of occupants. As a result, the level of
satisfaction of building users is enhanced.
Five factors considered for green building
1. Selection of Appropriate sites and Environmentally Sustainable Site
Development
• Locate projects on sites away from wetlands, above the 100-year flood level, away from
prime agricultural land and away from endangered or threatened species habitat.
• Locate projects on sites where there is already urban infrastructure to serve them.
• Provide opportunities and building infrastructure for people to commute to work using
public transit and bicycles.
• Minimize parking to discourage excessive auto use.
• Provide low-emission vehicles and car-sharing arrangements to reduce gasoline use.
• Manage landscaping and parking lots to reduce excessive areas of open pavement that cause
heating of the area around a building in summer, leading to more air-conditioning use.
2. Promote efficient use of water resources
• Control irrigation water use for landscaping, using as little as possible.
• Look for alternative ways to reduce sewage flows from the project, possibly even treating
the wastewater onsite.
• Use water-conserving fixtures inside the building, to reduce overall water demand.
3. Conserve energy, use renewable energy and protect atmospheric resources
• Reduce the energy use of buildings 20% or more below the level of conventional building.
• Use onsite renewable energy to supply a portion of the building’s electrical and gas needs,
using solar photovoltaic (PV) panels or solar water heating.
• Reduce the use of ozone harming and global-warming chemicals in building refrigeration
and air-conditioning systems.
• Installing monitoring and measurement devices to keep a check on energy use.
• Supply 35% or more of the building’s electrical supply with purchased green power from
offsite installations.
4. Conserve building materials, reduce construction waste and sensibly use natural
resources
• Install permanent locations for recycling bins to encourage the practice in building operations.
• Reuse existing buildings, including interior and exterior materials, to reduce the energy use and
environmental impacts associated with producing new building materials.
• Reduce construction waste disposal by 50% or more to cut costs and reduce landfill use.
• Use salvaged and reclaimed building materials such as decorative brick and wood timbers that are still
structurally sound.
• Use recycled-content building materials such as recycled concrete, dry wall, fly ash from coal-fired
plants and newspaper.
• Use materials that are harvested and processed in the region.
• Use rapidly renewable materials that have a ten-year regeneration time or less such as bamboo, cork,
wheatboard or strawboard cabinetry.
• Purchase 50% or more of the wood products in the building from forest certified for sustainable
harvesting and good management practices.
5. Protect and enhance indoor environmental quality
• Provide non-smoking buildings or separate ventilation systems where smoking is allowed.
• Provide for 30% increased ventilation above code levels or natural ventilation of indoor
work areas to increase the amount of healthy air in the building.
• Provide for individual thermal comfort of building occupants with respect to temperature and
humidity.
• Provide for occupant control of ventilation and lighting systems of building.
• Use low-emitting materials in the building to reduce sources of future contamination.
• Provide for adequate daylighting of interior work spaces, using both vision glazing and
overhead light sources such as skylights and roof monitors.
• Provide for views of the outdoors from at least 90% of all workspaces so that people can
connect with the environment.
• Conduct construction activities so that there is clean air at the startup of systems and no dust
or moisture in materials such as ductwork and sheet rock. The idea is to get rid of “new-
building smell” and its associated toxicity.
THANK YOU