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    Hal 30

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    Tony Bu
    This document discusses the environmental impacts of buildings and the importance of green building practices. It notes that buildings are responsible for a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. The European Union has had more success than the US in improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Green buildings can improve energy efficiency through natural light, orientation, materials selection and passive air flow. They typically have similar or lower costs than traditional buildings but provide significant savings over time through reduced energy and water use.

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    Hal 30

    Uploaded by

    Tony Bu
    81 views1 page
    This document discusses the environmental impacts of buildings and the importance of green building practices. It notes that buildings are responsible for a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. The European Union has had more success than the US in improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Green buildings can improve energy efficiency through natural light, orientation, materials selection and passive air flow. They typically have similar or lower costs than traditional buildings but provide significant savings over time through reduced energy and water use.

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    hal 30

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    hal 30

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    This document discusses the environmental impacts of buildings and the importance of green building practices. It notes that buildings are responsible for a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. The European Union has had more success than the US in improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Green buildings can improve energy efficiency through natural light, orientation, materials selection and passive air flow. They typically have similar or lower costs than traditional buildings but provide significant savings over time through reduced energy and water use.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    81 views1 page

    Hal 30

    Uploaded by

    Tony Bu
    This document discusses the environmental impacts of buildings and the importance of green building practices. It notes that buildings are responsible for a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. The European Union has had more success than the US in improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Green buildings can improve energy efficiency through natural light, orientation, materials selection and passive air flow. They typically have similar or lower costs than traditional buildings but provide significant savings over time through reduced energy and water use.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    30

    Chapter Two
    Water conservation
    Waste minimization
    Incorporation of natural light, appropriate ventilation, and human scales
    Design and construction techniques that evaluate and minimize environmental
    impacts
    Site development practices that minimize and mitigate impacts
    More than 80 percent of all buildings in the United States were built since 1960, and
    the impacts of development and urbanization are well understood. As the serious
    environmental effects associated with greenhouse gas emissions have become known,
    the parts played by buildings and development have been more closely scrutinized.
    The Department of Energy (Battels and Burns, 2000) reports that 82 percent of the
    human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are energy-related carbon emissions, and of
    that 48 percent of the increase in emissions since 1990 is attributable to increasing emissions from the building sector. In fact, buildings (residential and commercial) are
    responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than either the industrial or transportation sectors.
    Energy efficiency is a central concern of green development, and 50 percent of U.S.
    electricity is generated by burning coal, the least efficient and dirtiest of the major fuel
    sources. (Energy efficiency is measured as the amount of energy expended for each unit
    of gross domestic product.) Since the 1970s, the energy efficiency of U.S. buildings has
    remained flat, but the number of buildings has grown exponentially. Since the early
    1990s, the European Union (EU) has sought to increase energy efficiency across the
    board, and in 2002 the EU passed rules requiring efficiency in commercial and government buildings. The contemporary office building in the EU is four times more energy
    efficient than its counterpart in the United States (Fig. 2.3). In addition to these environmental advantages, the EU building is 75 percent less expensive to operate.
    Energy efficiency in buildings can be improved through the use of natural light,
    building orientation, and material selection. Green buildings are healthier and more
    productive spaces than traditional construction. The increased natural light is among
    the commonly appreciated features found in green buildings. Careful selection of materials such as floor and wall coverings and the design of a building to passively move air
    can contribute to cleaner indoor air. As global energy supplies tighten due to increased
    demand and pressure mounts to respond to global climate change, institutions and
    business can take a positive step through green building. The costs of green buildings
    are typically no different or only nominally higher than traditional construction, and
    the life cycle savings and operation costs are significant. Lower energy costs and reduced
    water use and waste generation are the most common areas of savings. Green buildings
    are healthier and constitute a more desirable working and learning space.

    Measuring Performance
    Some buildings are considered high performing because of energy efficiencies, but
    these buildings are generally not green in a strict sense. Green buildings exist on a
    continuum ranging from fairly straightforward attempts to reduce the environmental
    footprint of a building to very sophisticated structures. Several guidelines have
    emerged to guide and measure the process of designing, building, and operating a
    green building.

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