An overview of green buildings and its concepts

1. Vishal Duggal
7812/5, Passi Road, PATIALA.
Ph.: 9876605933, 9814005933
email: visduggal@gmail.com, mailto@allianceers.com

2.  Also known as green construction or sustainable
building
 A structure and using process that is environmentally
responsible and resource-efficient throughout a
building's life-cycle
 from siting to design
 construction
 operation
 maintenance
 renovation
 demolition
 The Green Building practice expands and complements
the classical building design concerns of economy,
utility, durability, and comfort

3.  New technologies are constantly being developed to
complement current practices in creating greener
structures
 The common objective is that green buildings are
designed to reduce the overall impact of the built
environment on human health and the natural
environment by;
 Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources
 Protecting occupant health and improving employee
productivity
 Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation

4.  A similar concept is natural building
 usually on a smaller scale
 tends to focus on the use of locally available natural materials
 Related concept – sustainable design and green
architecture
 The green building movement originated from the
need and desire for more energy efficient and
environmentally friendly construction practices
 Motives for building green, including (but not limited
to) – environmental, economic, and social benefits
 Modern sustainability initiatives call for an integrated
and synergistic design to both new construction and in
the retrofitting of existing structures

5.  Sustainable design approach integrates the building
life-cycle with each green practice employed with a
design-purpose to create a synergy among the
practices used
 Green building brings together a vast array of
practices, techniques, and skills to reduce and
ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the
environment and human health
 Emphasizes taking advantage of renewable/reusable/
regenerable resources

6.  While the practices, or technologies, employed in
green building are constantly evolving and may differ
from region to region, fundamental principles persist
from which the method is derived;
 Siting
 Structure Design Efficiency
 Energy Efficiency
 Water Efficiency
 Materials Efficiency
 Indoor Environmental Quality Enhancement
 Operations and Maintenance Optimization
 Waste and Toxics Reduction

7.  On the aesthetic side is the philosophy of designing a
building that is in harmony with the natural features
and resources surrounding the site
 There are several key steps in designing sustainable
buildings;
 specify “green” building materials from local sources
 reduce loads
 optimize systems
 generate on-site renewable energy

8.  LCA can help avoid a narrow outlook on environmental,
social and economic concerns by assessing a full range of
impacts associated with all cradle-to-grave stages of a
process – from extraction of raw materials through
materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair
and maintenance, and disposal or recycling
 Impacts taken into account include (among others)
embodied energy, global warming potential, resource use,
air pollution, water pollution, and waste
 Although LCA is widely recognized as the best way to
evaluate the environmental impacts of buildings, it is not
yet a consistent requirement of green building rating
systems and codes, despite the fact that embodied energy
and other life cycle impacts are critical to the design of
environmentally responsible buildings

9.  Foundation of any construction project rooted in the
concept and design stages
 The concept stage is one of the major steps in a project
life cycle – has the largest impact on cost and
performance
 In designing environmentally optimal buildings, the
objective is to minimize the total environmental
impact associated with all life-cycle stages of the
building project
 However, building as a process is not as streamlined
as an industrial process - varies from one building to
the other, never repeating itself identically

10.  Buildings are much more complex products,
composed of a multitude of materials and components
each constituting various design variables to be
decided at the design stage
 A variation of every design variable may affect the
environment during all the building's relevant life-
cycle stages

11.  The most significant single aspect include measures to
reduce energy consumption – the embodied energy
required to extract, process, transport and install
building materials as well as operating energy to
provide services such as heating and power for
equipment
 As high-performance buildings use less operating
energy, embodied energy has assumed much greater
importance – and may make up as much as 30% of the
overall life cycle energy consumption
 To reduce operating energy use, details that reduce air
leakage through the building envelope (the barrier
between conditioned and unconditioned space) are
used – specify high-performance windows and extra
insulation in walls, ceilings, and floors

12.  Use of passive solar building design
 orient windows and walls and place awnings, porches, and
trees to shade windows and roofs during the summer while
maximizing solar gain in the winter
 effective window placement (daylighting) can provide more
natural light and lessen the need for electric lighting during the
day
 solar water heating reduces energy costs
 Onsite generation of renewable energy through solar
power, wind power, or biomass can significantly
reduce the environmental impact of the building
 power generation is generally the most expensive feature to
add to a building

13.  Reduce heating, cooling and lighting loads
 Utilize active solar energy and other environmental
heat sources and sinks
 Increase efficiency of appliances, heating and cooling
equipment and ventilation
 Change behaviour
 Utilize system approaches to building design
 Consider building form, orientation and related
attributes
 Minimize halocarbon emissions

14.  Minimize exposure on the south and west
 Select high performance glazing with low U-value,
low Shading Coefficient and high VLT (Visual Light
Transmittance)
Thermal Envelope
 Insulation
 Windows
 Air leakage

15.  Includes reducing water consumption and protecting
water quality
 Critical issue of water consumption may be - the
demands on the supplying aquifer exceed its ability to
replenish itself
 To the maximum extent feasible, facilities should
increase their dependence on water that is collected,
used, purified, and reused on-site – designing for dual
plumbing
 Water use and wastewater generation may be
minimized by utilizing water conserving fixtures
 Bidets help eliminate the use of toilet paper, reducing
sewer traffic and increasing possibilities of re-using
water on-site

16.  Point of use water treatment and heating improves
both water quality and energy efficiency while
reducing the amount of water in circulation
 Use of non-sewage and greywater for on-site use such
as site-irrigation minimize demands on the local
aquifer

17.  Building materials typically considered to be “green”
include;
 lumber from forests (that have been certified to a third-party
forest standard)
 rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo and straw
 dimension stone, recycled stone
 ecycled metal
 other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or
recyclable – e.g., Trass, Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made
from paper flakes, compressed earth block, adobe, baked earth,
rammed earth, clay, vermiculite, flax linen, sisal, seagrass,
cork, expanded clay grains, coconut, wood fibre plates, calcium
sand stone, concrete (high and ultra high performance

18.  Other recycled industrial goods suggested for use are
- coal combustion products, foundry sand, and
demolition debris in construction projects
 Building materials should be extracted and
manufactured locally to the building site to minimize
the energy embedded in their transportation
 Where possible, building elements should be
manufactured off-site and delivered to site, to
maximise benefits of off-site manufacture –
minimising waste, maximising recycling (because
manufacture is in one location), high quality elements,
better OHS management, less noise and dust

19.  Building materials typically considered to be “green”
include;
 lumber from forests (that have been certified to a third-party
forest standard)
 rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo and straw
 dimension stone, recycled stone
 ecycled metal
 other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or
recyclable – e.g., Trass, Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made
from paper flakes, compressed earth block, adobe, baked earth,
rammed earth, clay, vermiculite, flax linen, sisal, seagrass,
cork, expanded clay grains, coconut, wood fibre plates, calcium
sand stone, concrete (high and ultra high performance

20.  IEQ is significant – provide comfort, well-being, and
productivity of occupants
 Most commonly include;
 indoor air quality (IAQ)
 thermal quality
 lighting quality
 IAQ seeks to reduce VOCs, and other air impurities such
as microbial contaminants
 Buildings rely on a properly designed ventilation system
(passively/naturally or mechanically powered) to provide
adequate ventilation of cleaner air from outdoors or
recirculated, filtered air as well as isolated operations
(kitchens, dry cleaners, etc.) from other occupancies

21.  Most building materials and cleaning/maintenance
products emit gases, some of them toxic – can have a
detrimental impact on occupants' health, comfort, and
productivity
 Also important to indoor air quality is the control of
moisture accumulation (dampness) leading to mold
growth and the presence of bacteria and viruses as
well as dust mites and other organisms and
microbiological concerns
 Water intrusion through a building's envelope or
water condensing on cold surfaces on the building's
interior can enhance and sustain microbial growth

22.  A well-insulated and tightly sealed envelope will
reduce moisture problems but adequate ventilation is
also necessary to eliminate moisture from sources
indoors including human metabolic processes,
cooking, bathing, cleaning, and other activities
 Personal temperature and airflow control over the
HVAC system coupled with a properly designed
building envelope also aids in increasing a building's
thermal quality
 Creating a high performance luminous environment
through the careful integration of daylight and
electrical light sources improves on the lighting
quality and energy performance of a structure

23.  No matter how sustainable a building may have been
in its design and construction, it can only remain so if
it is operated responsibly and maintained properly
 It is in the O&M phase that green practices such as
recycling and air quality enhancement take place

24.  Green architecture also seeks to reduce waste of energy,
water and materials used during construction and
subsequent use
 Reduce the amount of material going to landfills – help
reduce the amount of waste generated by the occupants by
providing on-site solutions such as compost bins to reduce
matter going to landfills
 Deconstruction is a method of harvesting what is
commonly considered "waste" and reclaiming it into useful
building material.
 Extending the useful life of a structure also reduces waste
 Water use efficiency – reduce the impact water and
wastewatee treatment plants
 Storm water management for its effective reuse – including
aquifer recharge
 Avoiding centralized water/wastewater treatment systems

25.  Green buildings are costly
 Green buildings take more time in implementation
 Green buildings require mechanized HVAC
 Greening the buildings have no tangible benefits

26.  Tangible benefits;
 Energy savings – 30-50%
 Water savings – 20-30%
 Intangible benefits;
 All good aspects associated to green
 Better indoor ambience
 Improved health & productivity

27.  LEED through IGBC/TERI
 Site selection and planning
 Energy and atmosphere
 Water & wastewater
 Material and resources
 Waste management
 Indoor environment quality
 Transport
 Socio-economic
 ECBC

28.  Stakeholders
 Architects & designers – deliver green buildings
 Builders & developers – attract environmentally conscious
individual and corporates & eventually higher premium
 Government – attract new options of investment, reduced
burden on infrastructure
 Institutions – networking and capacity building
 Manufacturers – position their products and generate new
businesses

29.  Emerging new services (CII estimates)
 Energy & lighting simulation – Rs. 100 Cr
 Commissioning authority – Rs. 100 Cr.
 LEED advisory services – Rs. 120 Cr.
 Creation of new employment opportunities –
professionals required in thousands in next 3 years
 Opportunity for green building materials & products
(rated Green Buildings & other buildings) by 2020 –
Rs. 30000 Crores

30. Factor Existing Desired
Extent of glazing in façade 60-90% <50%
U-value (W/m2°K) – double
glazed
3.0-4.0 1.8-2.2
Shading co-efficient –
double glazed
0.4-0.5 0.2-0.25
AC design (sq. ft/TR) 200-250 350-400
Chiller COP 4.0-4.5 >6.1