Sustainable Building: A Step Towards a Greener Future
Ever since the beginning of the environmental movement, which commenced during the 1960s, the United States has been encouraging the use of green technology. In recent times, it has especially stressed the practice of sustainable building, also known as green building. Conventional buildings are responsible for 40% of global energy and material use. The practice of green building combats this issue by increasing the efficiency of energy, water, and raw materials during the construction process and throughout a structure’s lifetime. This can be achieved by reducing the use of rare resources and by including green technology in the designs of buildings (Tandon, 2016). In comparison to a standard building, a green building uses 42% less energy and 34% less water (Nalewaik & Venters, 2008). Through green building practice, environmentalists hope to develop and encourage environment-friendly living habits.
Green building is a broad idea that incorporates many features. Some of its aspects include energy efficiency, water efficiency, material efficiency, indoor quality, and waste and toxic reduction. Engineers keep these features in mind when deciding what materials and technologies to include in a building design. One strategy used by engineers to reduce energy consumption is replacing materials such as concrete, bricks, and steel with materials with lower embodied energy like asphalt, wood, and gravel. Furthermore, material efficiency is accomplished by using renewable resources such as bamboo, straw, and recycled metal (Tandon, 2016). Green building is also heavily reliant on green technology. A popular green technology used for buildings are green roofs. Green roofs, which are roofs that contain vegetation, can reduce a building’s energy consumption while providing environmental benefits to the local ecosystem. Figure 1 demonstrates the layers of a typical green roof. Vegetative roofs lower the amount of energy utilized during the summer by reducing the amount of heat transferred through the roof. In addition, green roofs are able to delay runoff, thereby preventing sewage overflow and water pollution (Oberndorfer et al., 2007).
Figure 1: Layers of a Green Roof, Source: Miller, C. (2016, March 14). Extensive Vegetative Roofs. Retrieved from https://www.wbdg.org/resources/greenroofs.php
To encourage the practice of green building, highly industrialized governments around the world have developed grading systems that measure the greenness of buildings. As a result, competition has emerged between companies to see who can create the greenest building. The Bullitt Center in Seattle has earned the title of greenest office building in the world after achieving the Living Building Challenge certification, the highest green building certification (Mirel, 2014). Figure 2 illustrates some of the aspects of the interior of the building. The Bullitt Center is designed with environment-friendly materials and is capable of running on just sunlight and rainwater. The Bullitt Center primarily aims to achieve a zero net water system, harvesting the water it needs on site, and a zero net energy system, ensuring that the total amount of energy used is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on site. It is estimated that ventilation and cooling in this building only accounts for 2 percent of the total amount of energy consumed per year. Furthermore, to reduce the amount of electricity used, workstations are purposely placed no further than 30 feet from a window (Azari-N. & Peña, 2011). In addition, the Bullitt Center is able to provide water for itself through the use of native plant restoration, bio-swales, and pervious pavement. In terms of innovative design, the Bullitt Center contains the first composting toilet system in the world. Buildings like the Bullitt Center serve as inspiration for future green projects (Mirel, 2014).
Figure 2: Green Technology in the Bullitt Center, Source: Newcomb, T. (2012, June 20). Seattle’s Silver Bullitt: A New Office Building Goes Ultra-Green | TIME.com. Retrieved from http://science.time.com/2012/06/20/silver-bullitt/
By increasing green building practice, the government hopes to reduce waste and pollution, limit the use of energy and water, and protect resident health. This can be accomplished by using resources more efficiently and incorporating green technologies in designs. Although the concept is fairly new, the government hopes to encourage engineering and architecture companies to practice it and create environment-friendly habits.
References
Azari-N, R., & Peña, R. (2011). Integrated design to achieve zero net energy in an urban office building. Solar.
Miller, C. (2016, March 14). Extensive Vegetative Roofs. Retrieved from https://www.wbdg.org/ resources/greenroofs.php
Mirel, D. (2014, January-February). The greenest of the green: the bullitt center in seattle prides itself on being the world’s greenest office building. Journal of Property Management, 79(a), 30+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/
Nalewaik, A., & Venters, V. (2008). Costs and Benefits of Building Green’. AACE International Transactions, 1-9.
Newcomb, T. (2012, June 20). Seattle’s Silver Bullitt: A New Office Building Goes Ultra-Green | TIME.com. Retrieved from http://science.time.com/2012/06/20/silver-bullitt/
Oberndorfer, E., Lundholm, J., Bass, B., Coffman, R. R., Doshi, H., Dunnett, N., … & Rowe, B. (2007). Green roofs as urban ecosystems: ecological structures, functions, and services. BioScience, 57(10), 823-833.
Tandon, S. (2016). Green Buildings: A Step towards Sustainable Development. International Journal Of Multidisciplinary Approach & Studies, 3(1), 205-209.
