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Volume-6, Issue-6, November-December 2016
International Journal of Engineering and Management Research
Page Number: 109-113
The Environmental Benefits of Building Green-An Overview
Sumateja Reddy
Student of Architecture, IGBC Accredited Professional and GRIHA Certified Professional, Andhra University Andhra Pradesh, INDIA
ABSTRACT
Buildings consume a significant amount of our
natural resources and have a wide range of environmental impacts. These environmental concerns are a key driver
behind the sustainable design movement. Selecting
environmental friendly building materials and methods are one way to minimize a building’s environmental impact. In fact, energy efficiency reductions in the construction and operation of buildings, offers one of the single most significant opportunities to reduce man’s impact on climate change. The main objective of this paper is how the sustainable or green buildings benefits and impact on the environment.
Keywords-- Buildings, CO2, Green Buildings, Goals,
Environmental Benefits
I.
INTRODUCTION
Buildings consume a significant amount of our natural resources and have a wide range of environmental impacts. These environmental concerns are a key driver behind the sustainable design movement. Various estimates indicate that buildings use 30% of the raw materials
Globally most of the energy used is produced from fossil fuels like coal, oil, natural gas, and a direct consequence of using these fuels is that greenhouse gasses are released into the atmosphere, with one of the most significant being carbon dioxide (CO2). These gasses emitting infrared radiation, contribute to global warming and climate change. In response to this threat, governments across the world have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emission and increasing renewable energy production. The increase in CO2 emission was mainly caused due to consumption of energy which is the primary demand of the building sector.
Buildings have a significant impact on energy use and the environmental impact. The built environment makes a significant contribution to environmental
degradation. Buildings including construction, operations and deconstruction impacts, use approximately 15% of the world’s fresh water resources, 40% of the world's energy and produce approximately 30% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The analyst forecast global market to grow at a CAGR of 9.6% during the period 2016-2020.To prevent the worst effects of global climate change and minimize other negative environmental impacts, it is therefore important to address the environmental impacts of buildings. In fact, energy efficiency reductions in the construction and operation of buildings, offers one of the single most significant opportunities to reduce man’s impact on climate change.
II.
GOALS OF GREEN BUILDINGS
The basic goal of green building is attractive, comfortable, affordable shelter that does no harm to the Earth in its manufacture, or its use or disposal. This overarching goal is driven by four further goals:
1. Reducing impacts on the Earth from constructing buildings and their materials
2. Reducing impacts which arise during occupancy 3. Reducing the impact of the structure at the end of its life
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Figure
III.
TRIPLE BOTTOM-LINE BENEFITS
Green building is not a simple development trend; it is an approach to building suited to the demands of its time, whose relevance and importance will only continue to increase. The benefits of green building are manifold, and may be categorized along three fronts: environmental, economic, and social.
Figure: Benefits of sustainable construction
1. Environmental Benefits like Emissions Reduction. Water Conservation, Storm water Management, Temperature Moderation and Waste Reduction.
2. Economic Benefits like Energy and Water Savings, Increased Property Values, Decreased Infrastructure Strain, Improved Employee Attendance, Increased Employee Productivity, Sales Improvements, Development of Local Talent Pool (green buildings use on average 26%
less energy, emit 33% less carbon dioxide, use 30% less indoor waste and send 50% - 70% less solid waste to landfills and incinerators, according to the us green building council (USGBC) 3. Social Benefits like Improved Health, Improved
Schools, Healthier Lifestyles and Recreation. However, the winning option was to refurbish the old house, because the carbon investment of doing this was just eight tones CO2 emission, and
even the highest-specification new build could not catch up this advantage over the 100-year period. Once cost was taken into account, refurbishment became dramatically the most practical and attractive option, too.
IV.
THE IMPACT OF BUILDINGS ON
THE ENVIRONMENT
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the USGBC, construction and operation of the buildings results in the following consumption of resources:
72% of electricity resources
39% of total energy used
17% fresh water flows
Raw materials
As well, construction and operation of all buildings results in the following generation of waste materials:
25%-40% of municipal solid waste
50% of CFCs
35% of CO2 emission
Other air emissions and water discharge
A building is green in the true sense only when all the processes related to the building, throughout its life cycle , such as site planning, design, service design, construction, and operation, are environmental friendly and have no negative impact on the health and well-being of the construction workers during the construction, and the occupants.
incresed building valuatio
n and ROI
Reduce solid waste
Conserve natural resource Decrese
greenho use gasses Enhance occupen
t health
Improve air and
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V.
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Green building is the practice of building or renovating structures to be energy and resource efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from sitting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction. Most green buildings use building materials and consumer products that generally do not release chemicals and pollutants at levels which will harm human health. “Green buildings” are sometimes referred to as “sustainable” or “high performance” buildings. Green buildings use natural resources efficiently and fewer in quantity and reduce wastage, this leads to lower both utility bills and impact on the environment. The main benefits of building green are included the following:
Figure: Environmental benefits of green buildings
1. Reduce energy consumption 2. Decreased use of natural resources 3. Protect existing natural spaces 4. Enhance existing ecology 5. Reduce water consumption
6. Lower greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution 7. Improve indoor air quality
8. Reduced Volumes of Solid Waste
9. Reduce material use and use low-impact materials 10. Reduce use of high-energy material in interiors 11. Acceptable outdoor and indoor noise levels 1. Reduce energy consumption
Reduce heating, cooling, and lighting loads through climate-responsive design and conservation practices
Employ renewable energy sources such as day lighting, passive solar heating, photovoltaic’s, geothermal, and groundwater cooling
Specify efficient HVAC and lighting systems that consider part-load conditions and utility interface requirements
Optimize building performance by employing energy modeling programs and optimize system control strategies by using occupancy sensors CO2 sensors and other air quality alarms Monitor project performance through a policy
of commissioning, metering, annual reporting, and periodic re-commissioning and
Integrate water saving technologies to reduce the energy burden of providing potable water.
Table.1 Green building benefits 26% Less energy 30% Less Indore waste 50% Less solid waste 33% Less CO2
emission 30% Less water usage
2. Decreased uses of natural resources
Many sustainable design principles help reduce impacts on natural resources and ecosystems. Some key examples are as follows: Sustainable sitting approaches consider alternatives to Greenfield construction, including using existing facilities and brown field sites, and avoid building on prime agricultural land, flood plains, reduce land disturbance for new roads, use less materials for new roads, reduce runoff into natural water system and reduce disruption of natural water flows.
3. Protect existing natural spaces
Green building tends not to be constructed on environmentally sensitive lands. If they are constructed on or near green spaces, measures are taken to limit the impact on the local ecology. Solar lighting and reflective edges along walks and by designing night lighting to prevent direct beam illumination; these measures preserve night time habitats for nocturnal species.
4. Enhance existing ecology
Green building often are constructed on previously developed property, with measures taken to restore plant life to building sites by decreasing the site area used for parking, or through the use of green roofs, which provides a more ecologically friendly alternative to conventional roofing systems.
5. Reduce water consumption
Green building encourages innovative water-saving strategies that help projects use water wisely. Project teams can follow an integrated process to begin assessing existing water resources, opportunities for reducing water demand, and alternative water supplies. Effective strategies include:
Environmental benefits
energy consumptio
n
natural resources
protect existing natural
spaces
enhance existing ecology reduce water
consumption improve
indoor air quality reduce material
use lower greenhouse
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Switch to high-efficiency plumbing fixtures Install sub meters.
Choose native and adapted plants
Use xeriscaping.
Select efficient irrigation technologies
Water recycling or reuse measures
Methods reduce water use in HVAC systems
6. Lower greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutant One set of environmental benefits from greening buildings that can be fairly easily estimated is a lower air pollutant and CO2 emissions. Emissions are reduced by
decreasing energy use through energy-efficient design, use of renewable energy and HVAC system.
Figure: Sustainable design principles can significantly reduce these impacts
Table: Emission coefficients for energy consumption in commercial buildings
SO2 NO2 CO2
Natural Gas Negligible 0.08 15.8
Electricity 0.97 0.45 55.62
7. Improve indoor air quality
Most of our exposure to environmental pollutants occurs by breathing the air indoors. These pollutants come
from activities, products and materials we use every day. Indoor air quality is a significant concern, because when the hours spent sleeping, working in offices is added up, people on average spend the majority of time indoors where they are repeatedly exposed to indoor air pollutants. Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) encompasses the conditions inside a building—air quality, lighting, thermal conditions, ergonomics—and their effects the occupants or residents. Strategies for addressing IEQ include those that protect human health, improve quality of life, and reduce stress and potential injuries. Better indoor environmental quality can enhance the lives of building occupants, increase the resale value of the building, and reduce liability for building owners.
8. Reduced Volumes of Solid Waste
Buildings produce tons of municipal solid waste per year, consisting of paper, yard waste, plastics, metals, etc. as much as 95% of building-related construction waste is recyclable, and most materials are clean. In addition, building occupants produce municipal solid waste every day many of these can be recycled. Several sustainable design principles to reduce waste, which in turn reduces the strain on landfills. In addition, using recycled materials in building construction encourages development of new industries that produce recycled products, further reducing waste disposal needs and the use of virgin materials. 9. Reduce material use and use low impact materials
All materials carry embodied environmental effects, in that there are environmental and ecological consequences and ecological burdens. Green buildings also utilize fewer materials, through efficient design and elimination of unnecessary finish materials.
10. Reduce use of high-energy material in interiors To use low-energy/recycle materials/finishes/products in the interiors or sub-system of the building, which minimize the use of wood as a natural resource. To use low-energy materials and products, such as composite wood products/renewable materials/reused wood/low-energy products, is utilize industrial waste/recycle products.
11. Acceptable outdoor and indoor noise levels
The outdoor and indoor noise levels are ambient standard due to precautions taken during the planning and construction stage.
VI.
CONCLUSION
This paper concludes that the built environment is without doubt a major contributor to global greenhouse emissions and has a larger impact on the natural resource. The uptake of green building concepts and techniques is largely focused on eco-efficiency and healthy living. It should be noted that simply reducing negative impacts by a certain percentage is not going to solve the world's environmental problems; though it can certainly help if it becomes standard practice by all stakeholders. This
Water conservation
xeriscaping sub meters recycling
• efficient irrigation system
high efficiency
fixtures
Sustainable Planning
Design & construction
energy conservation
Green materials
Lower greenhouse
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includes moving towards true sustainability by utilizing holistic measures. Green buildings bring together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health.
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[7] http://www.legrand.com/EN/green-building-description_12850.html.
[8]http://high-performancebuildings.org/tcil.php
[9]http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/media/weowebsite/ 2015/IndiaEnergyOutlook_WEO2015.
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