The Environmental Impacts of Eco-friendly Construction
A considerable change which has occurred in the late 1990s around the world, is an increased number of regulations to minimize environmental damage. People, also have become more conscious of environmental protection and as a result there is increased demand for green architectural design which consists of eco-friendly construction. Eco friendly construction refers to building with a reduction of energy consumption, waste, pollution and degradation of the environment, to protecting health and efficiently using water resources (Dean 2003). However, a significant problem for environmentalists, architects and urban planners, is how to reduce the effects of climate change by eco-friendly building. This assignment will discuss how eco-friendly buildings help protect the environment, describe the types of green materials, used and why, and explain how is the quality of these kind of buildings can be improved. Finally, it will summarise the research findings and evaluate the implications of eco-friendly building for future urban development.
One type of explanation for the increased number of green buildings relates to the impacts of climate change. Lane (2003), for example, argue that today, almost the half of world-wide energy consumption is used by buildings, and as much as one fourth of global greenhouse gas emissions, in developing and developed nations. Furthermore, the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC) evaluated building-related greenhouse gas emissions to be approximately 8.6 million metric tons of CO2 in 2004.This indicates that eco-friendly buildings should be constructed in order to reduce the damages of climate change, because they...
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REFERENCES
Dean, A 2003 Green by Design, Creating a Home for Sustainable Living, Gibbs Smith Publisher, Utah, United States.
Lane, G 2003 Energy-Efficient Housing Design A Combined Approach, The Earth Sheltered/Superinsulated/Passive Solar House, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, United States.
Levine, M, Urge-Vorsatze, D, Blok, K, Geng, L, Harvey, D, Land, S, Levermore, 2007, Residential and commercial buildings, Climate Change 2007, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom & New York, NY, United States , viewed 28 January 2014,
Spiegel, R & Meadows, D 2006 Green Building Materials A Guide To Product Selection and Specification, John Willey & Sons, Inc., New Jersey, United States.
Strongman, C 2010 The Sustainable Home, Merrell Publishers, London, United Kingdom
LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a certification program for green buildings with stringent requirements for building energy efficient and environmentally responsible structures. Some requirements of this program include specific building materials, smart grid capable, gray water reclamation systems, green space minimums, high levels of insulation and low thermal transfer glass (US Green Building Council). Green buildings are a must if we are to sustain our current level of growth. Despite the higher initial cost of these buildings, the long term energy savings make these buildings a smarter choice for
Being a forensic scientist, with experience of over 20 years in the field, I’ve developed an expert level knowledge of topics such as hair analysis. I routinely classify and perform tests on specific pieces of evidence lifted from a crime scene. After analyzing the data, a forensic analyst, such as myself, will then prepare a detailed report that documents the work that was performed and the findings of the procedures. The integrity of these reports are remained due to the strict adherence to laboratory rules.
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.
Kats, G., Alevantis, L., Berman A., Perlman J., & Mills, E. (2003, October). The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A Report to California’s Sustainable Building Task Force. Retrieved from http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/News/News477.pdf
Whether you are considering building new or simply renovating, there are many verdant options that a company can use to reduce expenses. There is a price difference present between the costs of traditional and eco-friendly building materials. Typically these costs contribute about 2-3% towards the increase on price when choosing to use green building materials (Lawson, 2009). At first you think 2 - 3%, really is not significant at all, however if you consider many of the larger companies easily spends upwards of 5 – 6 million dollars on new constructions. That is quiet a magnitude of money; ranging anywhere from $100,000 – $180,000 in extra investments, depending on the options that are chosen.
Globally, green buildings are being recognised and accredited, leading to the introduction of various tools and indices with one common objective that is to evaluate, measure, distinguish and sets apart this uniquely designed buildings from the rest. The Diamond Building carries a Green Building Index (GBI) accreditation, a first in Malaysia. Among the achievement of the ST Diamond Building are:
The use of green materials is better for the environment because they have a positive impact on the planet. Looking at our environment today we see a place that has been facing a massive climate change. Scientists have been concerned over global warming for decades. The ongoing increase of the earth’s temperature is believed to be caused by the greenhouse effect (“Global Warming” 27). Building with green materials produces significantly lower greenhouse gas emission. Specifically, wood as a material for building products, requires considerably less energy than other building products such as steel and concrete. Wood product manufacture results in fewer greenhouse gas and other air-polluting emissions (“Green Building Benefits”). Green building also results in waste reduction. In the United States, construction and demolition creates a huge amount of solid waste. Green building limits the waste prod...
The following are the current, more popular trends diploid in architectural design: Consideration of Green environment: We all understand that we reside in a world that is more environmentally conscious than ever. The protection of our Mother Nature extends to architecture. It is evident that more architects are trying to adopt eco-friendly items into their designs. This includes the selection of materials that don't leave much of a carbon footprint. Most places have enacted laws which most architects are governed like efficient use of land and energy, storm water filtration, waste-product reduction, native landscape use and minimal disruption of the habitat (Association of Cost Engineers, 1999).
Progressive deterioration of global warming and protection of environment are important areas of interest for the whole world. Buildings as an underlying cause are responsible for global warming. Edwards (1996) pointed out that building has a key role to play as they are one of the major sources of energy consumption. And he (1996) also stated with some statistics to support this point that buildings account for about half of all global – energy, water, and raw materials as well as in the EU (Edwards, 1996, P. xiv). And another data is that buildings constitute about 45 per cent of carbon-dioxide emissions (John, 1998, P. xi). In addition, buildings should be accountable to most of land loss in agriculture. But it does not mean that we should reduce the amount of construction and if possible, it also hardly to achieve, because both the process and the finish of construction are essential and important to human beings. Not only is Construction the second largest industry in terms of employment, but also buildings have a great influence on the safety and health of people in the home and at work. Professionals and scientists have already recognized the importance of the problem. On the one hand, buildings are essential. On the other hand, the impacts of construction are harmful to our environment. It seems paradox. Therefore, we need to transfer the construction industry to “green”. Briefly, green building can low impact on environment, to the utmost extent save energy and efficiently use resource. Therefore, green building is the best answer, and of course its development is crucial to us. This paper will overview the development of green or sustainable building from different perspectives, by first defining what is gr...
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.
Well-recognized cities worldwide have built over the years great buildings with a variety of designs and concepts however consequently too much building has been making grievous decrease on energy efficiency. Now, “Green Architecture” has been popularized and as a result a modicum of energy efficiency has increased and also it has substantiated a new perspective, a new versatile way on architecture.
Green Building may be defined as the processes of planning, designing, constructing and operating a building, while taking into consideration: the quality of the indoor environment, selection of the materials used, the way of using energy and water and the effect of the building on the site.
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.
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
The industry of Civil Engineering produces a lot of unwanted waste and pollutions. There are solid waste, air and even sound pollution during construction. In addition, for most structures, it will eventually be demolished and materials become waste. This is the reason why the topic sustainability has been so popular these years. The definition of sustainable development by Brundtland, 1987, is 'Sustainable development meets the economic, social and environmental needs and interests of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and interests.' The biggest concern nowadays is considered to be resources as it is limited on the earth, however, human have unlimited wants. Also, running out of resources (for example construction materials) will mean that we are compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and interests, which is not sustainable development according to above definition. There is a number of ways to create a sustainable civil product. The word 'green building' should remind you of something. Green building is a structure that uses process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle. This can be done by reducing materials needed through improving designs and some innovations or tweak it a little bit, to use materials in a more efficient way. Make good use of natural energy, the most common one is to use natural lighting by installing large windows, which reduces electricity usage.