UNIT- 1

Green Building Technology

Introduction
Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) expands
and complements the building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort.
A Green Building is one which uses less water, optimizes energy efficiency, conserves
natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier space for occupants as
compared to conventional buildings.

Objectives of Green Building

• Green Buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact on human health and the
natural environment by the following ways:
• Using energy, water and other resources efficiently.
• By reducing waste, pollution, and environmental degradation.

Fundamental Principles
➢ Structure design efficiency
➢ Energy efficiency
➢ Water efficiency
➢ Materials efficiency
➢ Waste and toxic reduction

Structure Efficiency:
• It is the concept of sustainable building and has largest impact on cost and
performance.
• It aims to minimize the environment impact associated with all life-cycles.
Energy Efficiency:
• The layout of the construction can be strategized so that natural light pours for
additional warmth.
• Shading the roof with trees offers an eco-friendly alternative to air conditioning.
Water Efficiency:
• To minimize water consumption one should aim to use the water which has been
collected, used, purified and reused.
Material Efficiency:
• Materials should be use that can be recycled and can generate surplus amount of
energy.
• An example of this is solar power panels, not only they provide lightening but they
are also a useful energy source.
Waste and Reduction:
• It is probable to reuse resources.
• What may be waste to us may have another benefit to something else.

Indian Green Building Council

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) was formed in the year 2001 by Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII). The aim of the council is to bring green building movement in India
and facilitate India to become one of the global leaders in green buildings by 2015.

IGBC Rating System

IGBC has developed green building rating programmes to cover commercial, residential,
factory buildings, etc. • Each rating system divided into different levels of certification are as
follows:
✓ “Certified” to recognise best practices.
✓ “Silver” to recognise outstanding performance.
✓ “Gold” to recognise national excellence.
✓ “Platinum” to recognise global leadership.

Green Buildings Project in India

❖ Suzlon Energy Limited-Pune
❖ Biodiversity Conservation India-Bangalore
❖ Olympia Technology Park-Chennai
❖ ITC Green Centre-Gurgaon
❖ The Druk White Lotus School-Ladakh
❖ Doon School-Dehradun Raintree Hotels-Chennai
❖ Nokia-Gurgaon
❖ Rajiv Gandhi International Airport-Hyderabad
❖ Hiranandini-BG House, Powai
❖ ABN Amro Bank, Chennai
❖ Palais Royale at Worli, Mumbai
❖ Punjab Forest Complex,Mohali
 ➢ SUZLON ENERGY LIMITED,PUNE:  Several accolades continue to shower upon
Suzlon‟s global headquarter in Pune “One Earth”.  LEED certified it as
„PLATINUM‟ and it is built on an area of 10.13acres.  One Earth can be counted as
among the largest green building projects in India.
➢ RAJIV GANDHI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTHYDERABAD:  India‟s first
Greenfield airport is undeniably among the top 10 green buildings in India.  First
airport in asia to be certified with „SILVER‟ rating.  This green building ensures
optimal use of natural light and minimal wastage of electricity or energy
consumption.
➢ NOKIA-GURGAON:  „GOLD‟ rated building by LEED.  Its smart lighting, heat
recovery wheel and high efficiency chillers makes this office stand out from the rest.

Different from Other Buildings

• The design, maintaince and construction of buildings have tremendous effect on our
environment and natural resources.
• Green Building is different from the other buildings because it use a minimum
amount of nonrenewable energy, produce minimal pollution, increases the comfort,
health and safety of the people who work in them.
• It also minimize the waste in construction by recovering materials and reusing or
recycling them.
Increasing Green Buildings in India
Today more than 1053 green buildings (as on April 2011) are being constructed all over
India, of which 147 green buildings are certified and fully functional.

Benefits of Green Building

Buildings have a large effect on the environment, human health and the economy.
The successful adoption of GREEN BUILDING development can maximize both the
economic and environmental performance of the buildings.
➢ Environmental Benefits :
Protect biodiversity and ecosystems
Improve air and water quality
Reduce waste streams Conserve natural resources
➢ Economic Benefits
 Reduce operating costs
Create, expand, and shape markets for green product and services
Improve occupant productivity
➢ Social Benefits
Enhance occupant comfort and health.
Heighten aesthetic qualities. Minimize strain on local infrastructure.
Improve overall quality of life.

Affect on Natural Resources

According to surveys conducted in 2006, 107.3 million acres of total land area is
developed, which represents an increase of 24 percent land covering green buildings over
the past 3 years. • In terms of energy, buildings accounted for 39.4 percent of total energy
consumption and 67.9 percent of total electricity consumption.

Environmental Issues:

Considering environmental issues in construction and life cycle, some only focus on
evaluation of products in terms of waste disposal. A product’s “use phase” can account for as
much as 90 percent of a product’s impact on the environment. Consider insulation. A host of
factors and influences of a product’s impact on society should be evaluated and contrasted to
the product’s performance. A systems approach allows determination of the environmental
impact of a product in terms of energy consumption at each state of a product’s life cycle.
Beginning at the point of raw materials extraction from the earth and proceeding through
processing, manufacturing, fabrication, “use” and finally disposal or reuse.

In support of this “systems approach” to sustainable and green building design, the American
Chemistry Council (ACC) has drafted the following guidelines for building design, systems
and products:

Environmental considerations and energy efficiency should be part of building design and
purchasing criteria. This is balanced appropriately with other important criteria, such as
product safety, price, performance and availability.

Energy efficiency and environmental performance should be evaluated using a “systems”

approach, focusing on how individual components interact within the building system and
identifying options with the greatest potential for improving energy efficiency and reducing
overall environmental effects.

Any process for establishing “sustainable” building/product criteria should be science-based,

transparent, open to all stakeholders, and should consider any new and significant
information.

Energy Use in Buildings

Worldwide, buildings consume massive amounts of energy. The United Nations Environment
Programme has reported that 30–40 percent of all primary energy produced worldwide is
used in buildings. In 2008, the International Energy Agency released a publication that
estimated that existing buildings are responsible for more than 40 percent of the world’s total
primary energy consumption and for 24 percent of global CO2 emissions.
The picture in the United States is strikingly similar. In 2004, EPA found that buildings
account for 39 percent of total energy use and 68 percent of total electrical consumption.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in 2006 buildings in the United States
used 74.2 percent of all electricity generated. A report by the U.S. Energy Information
Agency (EIA) estimated that 60 percent of the nation’s electrical production is utilized to
operate commercial buildings, which include those used for education, mercantile, office,
storage, and warehouse purposes. By any measure, buildings are responsible for using much
of the energy produced today.
In addition, energy consumption is rising. In 2007, DOE projected that energy use in the
United States will increase by approximately 19 percent by 2025. But that is only half of the
problem. Not only does this country use a lot of energy, it does so inefficiently. America uses
twice as much energy per unit of economic output as Germany, and nearly three times as
much as Japan.
Fortunately, there are many ways to improve a building’s energy efficiency. Simple measures
such as weather-stripping, maintaining entry door closers, and installing storm windows as a
low-cost alternative to replacements are usually the low-hanging fruit in weatherization. In
addition, adding insulation materials to new and existing frame construction buildings is a
proven and relatively inexpensive way to improve building energy efficiency with respect to
heating and cooling. New innovations in insulation can reduce the energy used in
manufacturing insulation and allow insulation to be recycled or biodegradable. Mineral,
fibrous, and cellulose-derived materials are now available for insulation purposes.
Another large user of energy is a building’s heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning
(HVAC) system. Properly designed and installed HVAC systems can reduce the amount of
energy used for heating and cooling a building. An HVAC system includes a heater, air
conditioner, and fan in one system and operates at a partial load nearly all the time. The
design of the HVAC system as a whole-system mechanism saves energy by monitoring
airflow and keeping the indoor temperature fairly constant. An HVAC system must have a
correctly designed distribution system to minimize the amount of airflow (and thus energy)
necessary to heat and cool the building. In addition, allowing building occupants to
individually control heating and cooling in their living or working spaces is an effective way
to reduce energy use.
Electric lighting consumes about one-quarter to one-third of the energy in a typical
commercial building.18 Lighting also generates heat, so reducing the amount of energy
consumed for lighting through effective and efficient lighting also reduces the size of a
building’s air-conditioning plant. Building information modeling (BIM) enables building
design and construction teams to draw and test the building’s operating systems, such as
electricity or hot water, in one computer model. Modeling buildings with BIM can aid in
quantitative energy analysis, connecting complex systems and allowing more precise analysis
for better energy use.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Indoor Air Pollution

Given that buildings use large amounts of energy, and given that most of this energy comes
from the burning of fossil fuels, it is not surprising that buildings in the United States are
responsible for many millions of tons of GHG emissions annually. DOE has estimated that in
2006, buildings in the United States emitted 630 million metric tons of GHG emissions,
approximately equal to the combined emissions of the United Kingdom, France, and Japan.
U.S. buildings by themselves emit more GHGs than any other country in the world except
China. On a percentage basis, buildings in the United States are responsible for
approximately 40 percent of the country’s total GHG emissions.
Unfortunately, greenhouse gases are not the only harmful pollutants that buildings emit.
Indoor levels of air pollution may greatly exceed outdoor levels. Indoor air pollution is
particularly important given that we spend most of our time indoors. The EPA has estimated
that indoor levels of pollution may be two to five times higher, and occasionally more than
100 times higher, than outdoor air pollution levels. This pollution can come from a wide
variety of sources.
One way to reduce the presence of these toxins is to ensure that indoor air is frequently
replaced by outdoor air and to ensure that this outdoor air is properly filtered. Unfortunately,
buildings are often poorly ventilated and do not sufficiently filter the air that is recirculated,
leading to air that is potentially harmful to building occupants’ health. It has been estimated
that the annual cost of building-related sickness is $58 billion.
A primary consideration of green buildings is the health and well-being of their occupants.
Many older buildings suffer from what is commonly referred to as “sick building syndrome.”
According to the EPA, this term is used to describe situations in which building occupants
experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a
building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified. Causes of sick building syndrome
typically include inadequate ventilation, chemical contaminants from indoor and outdoor
sources, and biological contaminants such as mold. The first step in eliminating the causes of
sick building syndrome is carefully choosing the materials that are used in the building.
Construction materials and interior finish products should be chosen that emit zero or low
levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are harmful to humans and can vaporize
at room temperature in a process called “off-gassing.”
Another important step in eliminating the causes of sick building syndrome is the building’s
design. Green buildings are typically designed to provide adequate ventilation of air into
them as well as filtration of this air to remove hazardous particles. Ventilation provides for
the dilution of indoor air pollutants. In general, increasing the rate at which outdoor air is
supplied to a building decreases the effect of these pollutants. Building ventilation can be
done by natural or mechanical means. Air moves into and out of naturally ventilated
buildings through windows, doors, vents, and other openings incorporated into the building
design. Mechanical ventilation is accomplished by using HVAC systems to ventilate
buildings.

Building Water Use

As is the case with energy, buildings use staggering amounts of water during their operation.
DOE has estimated that, collectively, buildings in the United States (both commercial and
residential) use over 38 billion gallons of water per day. In many parts of the United States,
particularly the southwest, water has become an increasingly scarce resource. As with energy,
buildings not only use a lot of water, they also do so inefficiently. For instance, a traditional
urinal uses about one or more gallons per flush, and a traditional toilet uses approximately 3.5
gallons per flush. In comparison, ultralow water urinals use only 0.125 gallons of water per
flush, while waterless urinals use none. Similarly, high-efficiency toilets use between 1.2 and
1.6 gallons of water or less per flush.
Further, wastewater from buildings typically goes into municipal sewer systems rather than
being treated on-site or used for non-potable purposes. Buildings also usually displace
vegetation that can capture and absorb precipitation. The net result is that municipal sewer
systems are often overburdened. During rainfall events, billions of gallons of water flow into
these sewer systems as runoff, carrying contaminants with them. Many older municipalities
have combined sewer systems that capture both storm water runoff and wastewater from
buildings. These combined sewer systems are not designed to treat the massive amounts of
water that flow into them during heavy rainfall events. Thus, they are equipped with
combined sewer overflows (CSOs), which act as safety valves and deposit much of this
water, which contains raw sewage and other contaminants, into waterways. In New York
City, precipitation of just 0.25 inches can trigger discharges from CSOs into surrounding
waterways. The New York City metropolitan area averages about 45 inches of rain annually
and has numerous rainfall events of more than 0.25 inches each year.
As is more fully explained in Chapter 10, there are many strategies for conserving water in
buildings, as well as reducing the amount of wastewater that ultimately flows into sewer
systems. One of the primary uses of water in a building is for toilets, sinks, showers, and
similar uses. The byproduct of these uses is wastewater. Reducing the amount of wastewater
in a building chiefly depends on a change in the occupants’ water usage patterns—namely,
the amount of water that is used for things like flushing toilets and urinals. Improved
technology and fixture changes, such as low-flow fixtures on faucets and showerheads, can
reduce the consumption of water per use. Bathrooms can be installed or retrofitted with low-
flow or waterless urinals and toilets that use considerably less water for flushing. Dual-flush
toilets that use less water for liquid than solid waste are also available.
Another water-related problem in buildings is storm water runoff. As previously explained,
buildings exacerbate this runoff because they reduce the amount of porous surface available
to absorb precipitation. However, runoff from roofs, paved areas, or other impervious
surfaces can be put to beneficial use. Buildings and landscapes can be designed to maximize
the amount of catchment area, and water can be collected in cisterns, barrels, or swales. The
collected water can be detained, retained, and routed for use in building evaporative coolers
and toilets, and for irrigation purposes.
“Gray water” can also be used in building operations. Gray water is water drained from baths,
showers, washing machines, and sinks that can be captured and used again. Gray water can
be collected and reused for irrigating landscapes. Gray water may actually benefit plants
because it often contains nutrients such as phosphorus. A dual plumbing system is necessary
for recycling gray water within a building. Dual-plumbing systems have separate lines for
fresh, gray, and black water, which, because of the added cost, could make this impractical in
some buildings. Gray water systems vary from simple, low-cost systems to highly complex
ones that include settling tanks and sand filters.
Biological wastewater treatment can also be used to recycle gray and black water.
Constructed wetlands are designed to mimic natural wetlands and use plants and
microorganisms to treat bacteria and effluent. Wetland plants naturally filter water and break
down wastes and solids. Water is designed to flow through at least three wetland cells, which
can clean water as well as mechanical or chemical wastewater treatment techniques. Wetland
systems can be designed to treat water at many scales, from an entire community to a single
home. Biological filtering techniques can also be used in the landscape to remove silt and
pollutants from surface runoff. Vegetated infiltration basins, bioswales, and flow-through
planters are all examples of techniques that filter runoff before it enters the ground or is used
for other applications. Water use in buildings is discussed in more detail in Chapter 11.

Construction Materials
Building construction is a multibillion-dollar industry and requires the constant production
and harvesting of millions of tons of a variety of raw materials to meet worldwide demand.
By any measure, the amount of raw materials used in buildings is mammoth. Worldwide,
construction activities consume 3 billion tons of raw materials each year, and it has been
estimated that the construction industry consumes half of all products produced by volume. In
the United States, buildings account for 40 percent of all raw materials used by volume.
A crucial part of green buildings is the material that is used in their construction. Although
definitions vary, green building materials are generally composed of renewable rather than
non-renewable resources and are environmentally responsible because their impacts are
considered over the life of the product. In addition, green building materials generally result
in reduced maintenance and replacement costs over the life of the building, conserve energy,
and improve occupant health and productivity. Green building materials can be selected by
evaluating characteristics such as reused and recycled content, zero or low off-gassing of
harmful air emissions, zero or low toxicity, sustainably and rapidly renewable harvested
materials, high recyclability, durability, longevity, and local production.
Green materials and construction are discussed in more detail in Chapter 9.

Construction, Operation, and Demolition Waste

Building C&D waste in the United States totals approximately 136 million tons annually,
accounting for nearly 60 percent of total non-industrial waste generation. By way of
comparison, the entire amount of municipal waste generated in the United States every year
totals 209.7 million tons. According to some estimates, four tons of waste are typically
deposited into a landfill during the construction of a new 2,000-squarefoot home.
Construction waste consists primarily of lumber and manufactured wood products (35
percent), drywall (15 percent), masonry materials (12 percent), and cardboard (10 percent).
The remainder is a mix of roofing materials, metals, plaster, plastics, foam, insulation,
textiles, glass, and packaging. Although much of this material is recyclable, most of it is
deposited into landfills.
Green buildings generally seek to minimize the amount of C&D waste they generate. One
way they do this is by recycling or reusing C&D waste, such as by using inert demolition
materials as base material for parking lots and roadways. For sites that include the demolition
of existing structures, plans can be developed early in the design process to manage and reuse
as much material as possible through the deconstruction, demolition, and construction
processes. Demolition generates large amounts of materials that can be reused or recycled—
principally wood, concrete and other types of masonry, and drywall. Rather than demolishing
an entire building, all or part of a building can be deconstructed. Building deconstruction is
the orderly dismantling of building components for reuse or recycling. In contrast to building
demolition, deconstruction involves taking apart portions of buildings or removing their
contents with the primary
goal being reuse. Strategies to reduce C&D waste are discussed in more detail in Chapter 9.
The Most Important Element: The Efficient Use of Energy
Buildings can incorporate many green features, but if they do not use energy efficiently, it is
difficult to demonstrate that they are truly green. In fact, given that the term “green building”
can be somewhat vague, some people prefer to use the term “high performance building.” A
high-performance building is a building whose energy efficiency and environmental
performance is substantially better than standard practice.
Although green buildings, on average, use less energy than conventional buildings, energy
efficiency remains elusive. In fact, there is a growing debate whether buildings that achieve
some level of LEED certification are more efficient in their use of energy than regular
buildings. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to improve a building’s energy efficiency,
from insulating walls to installing automatic shutoff switches for lights. Energy efficiency
can be and often is mandated by local and state energy codes, which require that new and
substantially renovated buildings comply with increasingly stringent energy efficiency
requirements. It suffices to say that if a building is not energy-efficient, it cannot be said to be
green.
The Reality of the Built Environment: The Problem of Existing Buildings
Although green buildings represent the next phase of buildings, the reality is that the vast
majority of buildings are not green, and these buildings will continue to be used for many
years to come. Improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings typically involves a
process called retrofitting, which can mean anything from installing more energy-efficient
fixtures to increasing the amount of insulation in a building. The U.S. Green Building
Council has a rating standard specifically focused on existing buildings, referred to as LEED-
EBOM (EBOM stands for “existing buildings operation and maintenance”). While greening
existing buildings does not receive the attention that new green buildings do, it is certainly
more important when looking at reducing the environmental impacts of buildings nationwide.

Impacts of Conventional Buildings That Green Buildings Seek to Rectify

The environmental impacts of buildings are enormous. Conventional buildings use large
amounts of energy, land, water, and raw materials for their construction and operation. They
are responsible for large greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as emissions of other
harmful air pollutants. They also generate large amounts of construction and demolition
(C&D) waste and have serious impacts on plants and wildlife. An analysis of these issues
demonstrates the scope of the problem.