There is little doubt that there has been a significant promotion of energy efficiency in buildings in the European Union after the adoption of the Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings in 2002 (Jansen, 2005). This trend towards energy-efficient buildings has started being prominent in Greece lately. However, there has been a shift in the direction of scientific research related to the energy and environmental performance of buildings towards a focus on occupants' comfort and perceptions of how well a building is performing (Steemers and Manchanda, 2010). This study attempts to fill a gap in the knowledge concerning the design of office buildings in relation to the user experience and building performance in Greece. The recognition of climate change by scientists, politicians and general public as a great challenge has led to adoption of conservation measures of all resources, energy, water and materials as well as has encouraged sustainable development and building practices. Within the definition of sustainable development, which requires that ‘development meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations’ (WCED, 1987), buildings have an important potential role. As they are made of long-life energy intensive materials and pass on to future generations, if they do not meet the needs of the future, then they can not be considered as sustainable. Furthermore, they are responsible for a great deal of natural resources consumption and consequently for greenhouse gases emissions (Fisk, 2001). Whithin the context of sustainable development, buildings have started being viewed as positive capital assets and important for actualizing organizational objectives and well-being. As the manage... ... middle of paper ... ...y efficiency of each building to be assessed and compel landowners to show the energy rating certificate before selling or renting a building (CRES, 2009). This certificate simply would show the annual energy consumption of a building and therefore the annual amount of CO2 that it produces. These regulations will replace the regulation on thermal requirements of buildings implemented in 1979, which indirectly refers to the energy performance of buildings by making mandatory the application of thermal insulation in all new buildings but without making any account of solar gains or any other source of heat gains (Papadopoulou, 2009). This change is illustrated in figure 1.3. The new regulations cover also existing buildings that will be renovated, which is very important as only a tiny percentage of new buildings replace the country's old building stock each year.
Built for the London 2012 Olympic Games, hailed as one of the most sustainable Olympic Games ever, the Olympic Stadium is the pinnacle of sustainable construction. The construction process utilised many new construction techniques and procurement strategies, allowing the designers and contractors to use less construction material and save money. In order to measure the sustainability of the stadium the Olympic delivery authority (ODA) created a tailored version of BREEAM(Olympic Delivery Authority 2011). But how much more sustainable is the Olympic Stadium than other recently built stadiums?
In conclusion, the designers and builders of the tower have an undesirable job: creating a building that is functional, modern, sustainable and unique. At the same time it is honoring the memory of the people that died in and around the buildings that stood there before. While the green sustainable features have been criticized for being too expensive, they will do more than save just water, electricity and emissions. They and the grace of the building will inspire a generation of green and safe skyscrapers for the twenty-first century. This building has become one of the safest, environmentally friendly and expensive ever built, but as critics slate the building for various reasons, one cannot take away the determination through political, social and economic status that designers and workers have created such a beautiful building with great meaning.
Wind turbines can be very useful in bringing energy into your home. They are especially useful when solar panels aren't working. They take the wind speed from oceans, lakes, dugouts, or rivers and turn it into energy. To use the wind turbines most efficiently you should set up a wind power system.
Your home is an investment in your family's future, so anything you do to make it work more efficient for you is going to save money in the long run. Making your home energy-efficient involves upgrading some of the appliances or features and changing the way you use things. A lot of small changes over time will result in big energy savings. Preventative maintenance is key.
In developing this contemporary and iconic building, the design focuses on practical attributes and optimises energy efficiency. The design strategy encapsulates four key aspects:
Energy-cities (2011) define energy efficiency as the use of less energy input while achieving or maintaining an equivalent level of economic activity. On the other hand, energy saving refers to a broader concept that also encompasses consumption reduction through decreased economic activity or behaviour change. Practically, the two are difficult to differentiate and are often used interchangeably although they are not synonymous (Kats, 2003).
Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, the health and comfort of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objects of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimal waste, and create healthy, productive environments (“Sustainable Design”). Focusing primarily on the sustainable design principles, there are five, including: low-impact materials, energy efficiency, quality and durability, design for reuse and recycling, and renewability. As sustainability appears to become the necessary trend in architecture, the question concerning the cost versus outcome of “going green” really an investment or a waste of time and money comes to mind. With our research provided below, we believe the expenses may truly be with the investment in the end.
The perfect green building would protect the environment which surround the project site, and could be used as a building that is going to achieve a purpose. The construction and operation levels of the green building will help to have a healthy environment without disrupting the land, water, energy and resources used inside the building and around the building in the project site; this is the actual definition of the green building.
People don’t want to have a complicated way of life, they want to be simplistic and still be looking after then environment. My goal is to therefore create sustainable living but on a very simplistic bases because more often, people like to do as title as possible. In 2015 it is very important to go green, even though scientists are looking for new planets to move to, it is still very important to look after the planet that we live on now. The architecture community is aware of the importance of greener living. SANS 10400 Part X and Part XA is a SABS document that are responsible for the requirements of environmental sustainability and energy usage in a building. The document then ha tables that a building needs to comply with such as, Maximum annual consumption per building classification for each climate zone . These documents are important for creating greener buildings but they are not enough, documents such as SANS are not enough, for example electricity, the world is running out of non-renewable resources. Unrenewable resources such as coal but places such as South Africa are still running and building more coal power stations or are looking into creating Nuclear Power stations instead of infesting more into wind turbines for power. Problems like this need to be fixed not just in the county but in the homes people live in and the buildings people work in,
In a world where over half of the human population calls a city their home, the need to restructure and revolutionize the way we design our urban environments has never been greater. Currently, the notion that these vast metropolises of metal, concrete, and sludge could one day be fully realized pillars of sustainability is certainly laughable. However, when these same cities are constantly growing and multiplying across the globe, all the while using a greater and greater chunk of our planet’s energy, this impossible task becomes a necessary focus. To strive towards the closed, continuous loop of “true” sustainability could greatly alter the image of the modern city. Any improvement over the current state of urban affairs could carry weight, and even if that goal is not entirely fulfilled, the gained benefits would be immense.
Implementation of green concepts has been significant not only in design engineering but also in construction. Therefore the knowledge about green design has been a very important fact for the sustainable development in civil engineering. Concepts such as green buildings, carbon foot print, ecological foot print and LEED rating system have helped to achieve sustainable development for civil engineering
This is a Green Building Rating System that accelerates and encourages worldwide adoption of green buildings in addition to...
"Green Building: Advantages & Disadvantages." Green Building: Advantages & Disadvantages. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. .
The beginnings of today's green revolution can be traced back to the environmental awareness of the 1960s and European design. New construction techniques have lead to the development of innovative materials and design concepts. Green buildings are designed, constructed and commissioned to ensure they are healthy for their occupants. Successfully designed green projects can involve an extensive array of factors, ranging from the resourceful use of materials, to careful consideration of function, climate, and location.
Architects increasingly have a role to play in order to combat the changing climate caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Rapid and significant reductions in global carbon emissions are necessary to reduce climate change, a minimum of an 80% cut in CO2 emissions by 2050. This is laid out in RIBA's Climate Change Policy that adopts the philosophy of Contraction and Convergence. This means reducing (contracting) emissions from industrialised nations and converging (joining) emissions from all nations to ...