2009-09-30

Green Building Lets You Breathe Easier

As a nod to the importance of caring for the environment and in hopes of saving money in the long run, more and more corporations, small business entrepreneurs, and home owners are turning towards “green” options when constructing a new building/house or renovating an old one.

Green construction is a trend that followed on the heels of an era where building quickly and cheaply was the main goal of most builders. The products that went into these hastily-made structures were usually less than eco-friendly and often contained materials such as asbestos, found in many insulation products, or other toxins that were hazardous to the health of those who worked or lived inside.

Thankfully, the 21st century has brought with it many new options for replacing products that have – since their heyday – been proven extremely hazardous, therefore improving air quality both inside and out. Furthermore, a well-built green building generally uses less energy and consumes less water, a fact that pleases owners or landlords, even if the initial green construction process costs a bit more.

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Source: Mesothelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center, 2009-09-24, Link

India Gears Up to Reduce Carbon Footprint

While, policy makers around the world are negotiating an effective post 2012 international framework to deal with climate change, many Indian companies under stewardship of CII are adopting technologies, practices and approaches that will help to build a carbon constrained economy. Most of the Indian companies have been adopting carbon mitigation actions to reduce their cost and gain reputation and a competitive edge.

Through the services of its centres of excellence - the Green Business Centre in Hyderabad and Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Development, New Delhi, CII has been able to contribute to an emission reduction of 44,29,000 MT of CO2 per annum. Both the Centres have been providing key services such as energy audit, energy management, green building consultancy, water management, technology incubation, renewable energy services among others towards building increased climate responsiveness amongst the Indian Industry.

In the Green Building space, CII has successfully facilitated certification of several LEED Platinum rated buildings, which are now being built across India. As a remarkable commitment, K Raheja (a real-estate developer) has proposed all his future projects to be LEED certified. MNC's like HSBC, ABN, AMRO, WalMart, Microsoft, Gillette and Carrefour among others are opting for green complexes in India. The available statistics indicate that over 45 million sq.ft. of green building space has already been registered, while the target is of 1 billion sq.ft. of registered space by 2012.

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Source: CommodityOnline, 2009-09-29, Link

2009-09-25

Tata Housing to Unveil New Low-Cost Housing

Tata Housing Development Company, the realty arm of the Tata Group of companies, is set to launch a new scheme, titled New Haven, in the affordable housing segment. This follows the company's successful launch in May of low-cost apartments in Mumbai under the brand Subh Griha.

The new project will be launched at Boisar in Mumbai.

It will offer 1,300 apartments, including two-and-three-bedroom apartments.
These would be available in the price range of Rs 12.73 lakh to Rs 26.22 lakh and size range of 670 sq ft to 1,380 sq ft, a company's statement said on Thursday.


New Haven will set up a pan-India presence across Tier-I and Tier-II cities. Like all other properties of Tata Housing, New Haven will also be constructed under the guidance of Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

Source: India Today, 2009-09-25, Link

World Green Building Council launches APAC Network

A network to support sustainable architecture in neighbouring countries is launched as part of World Green Building Day in Melbourne.

MP Bob McMullan will launch the new Asia Pacific Green Building Network in Melbourne today as part of World Green Building Day activities.

Melbourne will play host to the inaugural World Green Building Day in Australia, which will coincide with a series of synchronised events around the globe.

These have been organised by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) to draw attention to the role green buildings can play in mitigating climate change.

“More than half of the world’s urban population will live in the Asia Pacific by 2030. Australia wants to work with our neighbours to ensure that our regions cities of the future are sustainable,” said McMullan.

“Hyper-urbanisation across the Asian region is one of the biggest economic, environmental and social challenges facing the planet. It is not enough for us to build better buildings in Australia. We must broaden our focus to ensure we support our entire region.

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Source: Architecture & Design, 2009-09-24, Link

Buildings Seen as Critical to Emissions Goals

Buildings Seen as Critical to Emissions Goals

The New Zealand Green Building Council says the Emissions Trading Scheme is missing a major opportunity to reduce New Zealand’s emissions and the cost burden for New Zealand from the ETS.

In a discussion paper launched to coincide with World Green Building Day (23 September) New Zealand Green Building Council CEO Jane Henley said the building industry can lead in the development of a low carbon economy and decrease the need for offsetting strategies.

The paper calls for a range of complementary measures to be investigated to kick-start emissions reductions, given that the ETS alone is insufficient to achieve the full carbon reduction potential within a short timeframe.

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Source:Scoop, 2009-09-23,
Link

Eco-friendly Buildings Gaining New Ground In India

India's expanding real estate sector is posing a major threat to the environment. But there is hope as more and more people are becoming aware of the need to design eco-friendly buildings.

Leh is a remote mountainous region in the Himalayas with freezing temperatures throughout the year. Children studying in a school there are lucky to receive warm sunrays all through the day.

The "green school", as it is called, uses solar panels to trap sunlight from all directions. It is also designed to withstand earthquakes.

Jack Armitage, architect of Druk White Lotus School, said: "We use woodwork construction for the inner skin of the cavity walls. The solar panels were installed last year. The school is now running on those solar panels, so we don't have to rely on the grid. It is very good for the environment, too."

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Source: Channelnewsasia, 2009-09-22, Link

2009-09-19

Green Building Grabs Eyeballs

Among many projects displayed in the three-day property show, Gujarat's first green residential building in the affordable housing category has attracted many people. The green project has also addressed the possible parking problem looming over many existing building with the launch of common man's dream Nano car.

For the first time in the state, the developers have come out with a solution with multi-level basement parking facilities for around 350 dwelling units situated in four 12-storeyed towers in Motera. Of the 17,000 sq yard area of the project (Solaris), 75 per cent land has been kept open for adequate ventilation to each housing unit and to provide lush green landscaping garden, children play area, club house among other facilities, said Jaxay Shah, developer of the scheme. "Instead of using normal bricks made of soil, we will use flyash bricks. Installation of sewage treatment plant for the recycling of water will be used for maintaining landscaping. Top solid conservation for deck gardens and water meters will add value to the green concept," said Shah.

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Source: The Times of India, 2009-09-13, Link

Green Building Council of Indonesia Issues Guidelines

The Green Building Council of Indonesia (GBCI) launched on Wednesday guidelines for environmentally friendly buildings to increase the public's and business community's awareness of sustainability issues.

"Buildings emit a large amount of carbon dioxide, thus we need a platform to raise awareness about this issue and the GBCI is building it," council head Naning S. Adiningsih Adiwoso said.
Dubbed the Greenship, the guidelines list a number of aspects to take into consideration when constructing a building, which affect the environment and the building's users. The checklists includes energy-saving mechanisms and indoor air quality.


"The Greenship is an initial step towards developing a rating system. The guidelines include a list of desirable features *to make buildings environmentally friendly* but does not include scores, points or standard references," said Rana Yusuf Nasir, the council's chairman for equipment and skills.

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Source: The Jakarta Post, 2009-09-12, Link

2009-09-13

Green Design Is More Than Just Gadgets

A BRITISH politician once remarked that a wind turbine should be put on top of an airport building not because it could produce much power, but because it would make the building look 'green'.

The incident, says the Malaysian ecologist and architect Ken Yeang, is typical of 'greenwashing', where eco-friendly gadgets are there for the cachet they bring rather than the environmental good they do.

Dr Yeang, 61, who has spent most of his 35-year career pinning down what exactly it takes to create ecologically sensitive buildings, reckons he knows only a couple of dozen designers worldwide who are clued-up on the subject.

A general lack of understanding means he comes across misconceptions 'all the time'.

Dr Yeang, who will be in Singapore later this month for a sustainability conference organised by lifestyle company The Annix Group, thinks building owners and architects like to flash figures on energy consumption and recycling rates to prove that their buildings are environmentally friendly.

'The belief is that if you stuff a building with enough eco-technology, gadgets and low-energy or zero-energy systems, you have a green building,' he says.

'The second misperception is that if your building is rated or accredited with a high score, for example Singapore's Green Mark Platinum rating, it is automatically a green building.'


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Source: PropertyGuru, 2009-09-09, Link

BCG and NRDC Release New Report on Green Buildings and Sustainable Growth

Improving Building Energy Efficiency by 2015 Could Cut China’s Energy Use by 170 Billion kWh and Reduce CO2 Emissions by 170 Million Tonnes Annually According To A New Joint Report by The Boston Consulting Group and The Natural Resources Defense Council

BCG and NRDC Provide Suggestions On How Government, Building Developers, Commercial Building Tenants, Media and Other Organizations Can Help Improve China’s Environment by Improving Building Efficiency


Improving the energy efficiency of China’ s buildings can help achieve sustainable urbanization and economic growth according to a new report jointly published today by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

In From Gray to Green: How Energy-Efficient Buildings Can Help Make China’s Rapid Urbanization Sustainable (Chinese version available now, English version coming soon), the authors set out the case for improving building efficiency, including estimated potentials of benefits. They also identify the key stakeholder groups in China and suggest actions for each group.

“What is not commonly understood is that building operational use accounts for around 25% of China’s total energy consumption”, said Justin Fung, co-author of the report and a Project Leader in BCG’s Hong Kong office. “That is more energy than China’s cement, iron and steel sectors combined. And if you include energy used for manufacturing and transporting building materials and products, China’s buildings consume 30-40% of the country’s total energy.”

As China’s middle class continues to grow and the population continues to urbanize, the energy consumption of buildings will continue to increase: city residents typically use three times as much electricity as their rural cousins.

Fortunately, as Beijing’s Agenda 21 Building and many similar green buildings in different parts of China have shown, it is feasible to achieve 70% savings in energy consumption by applying existing building efficiency technologies. So the benefits from an aspirational but potentially achievable greening of buildings could be substantial. For example, if by 2015, the end of China’s 12th Five-Year Term, 5% of existing buildings and 60% of new buildings were to achieve levels of energy consumption 50% below those of comparable non-green buildings in similar climate zones, the subsequent annual energy savings would be 170 billion kWh electricity, equivalent to turning off all the lights in America for one month. CO2 emissions would be cut by 170 million tonnes.


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Source: NRDC, 2009-09-07, Link

2009-09-02

Melbourne Convention Centre Sets a New Global Standard for Sustainability

In the highly competitive Business Events market, hundreds of cities around the world are vying to attract global attention and a larger slice of the meetings market. Melbourne, one of the World's Most Livable Cities -- according to The Economist -- has found a way to not only be noticed, but to set a global benchmark. Responding to the international call for sustainability, the Australian city has opened the 'greenest' convention center in the world, described in superlatives everywhere for its architectural design, cutting-edge technologies and comprehensive 'Earth-friendly' services.

Opened in June 2009 and integrated with the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, the Melbourne Convention Centre (MCC) is the first convention center to earn a '6-Star, Green-Star' environmental rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. To put that rating in perspective, it's higher even than the Platinum LEED certification, the highest level recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council.

"The Victorian government set out to raise the bar another notch, to build a center that defied all earlier definitions of green," says Leigh Harry, the chief executive of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), of which the convention center is now a part. "We're confident we have achieved that goal."

NH Architecture and Woods Bagot designed the MCC to surpass existing centers when it came to environmental sustainability and innovation. The wood veneer paneling used throughout the facility comes from sustainable timber. The building's mechanics are no less cutting-edge, the result of years of planning, research and, in some cases, pure invention.

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Source: MarketWatch, 2009-09-02, Link

How Green is Green?

The need to address the environmental problems caused by industrialization has long been overdue.

In the case of the Philippines, buildings are estimated to account for 40 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, a major culprit behind the climate change that everyone is witnessing.
Nonetheless, it is still better to be late in delivering solutions to this pressing problem than not do anything at all.


"Environmental sustainability is not only a concern for the Americans or the Europeans. It is also an issue that developing countries like the Philippines should face," Christopher dela Cruz, chair of the Philippine Green Building Council, said in a briefing held last week.

PGBC (a private-sector group advocating for environmental awareness among the country’s construction, architecture, and related industries) is pushing for the adoption of a "Green Ratings System."

Under the system, the environmental sustainability of buildings will be evaluated based on a set of criteria.

Dela Cruz said it would be a prudent move for the government to adopt and implement this system in regulating building construction and maintenance.

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Source: Inquirer, 2009-08-30, Link