An Introduction to

Green Construction

Emma Akmalah, Ph.D.

L/O/G/O
 Global Warming and
Climate Change
 Global warming and climate change are terms for the
observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of
the Earth's climate system and its related effects.
 Global warming has become a major concern. The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported
in 2014 that global warming is being caused mostly by
increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and other
human (anthropogenic) activities.
 Global Warming and
Climate Change
 Future climate change and associated impacts will differ
from region to region around the globe.
 Anticipated effects include warming global temperature,
rising sea levels, changing precipitation, and expansion of
deserts in the subtropics.
 Warming is expected to be greatest in the Arctic, with the
continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice.
 Other likely changes include more frequent extreme
weather events including heat waves, droughts, heavy
rainfall, and heavy snowfall; ocean acidification; and
species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes.
 Effects significant to humans include the threat to food
security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment
of populated areas due to flooding.
 Global Warming and
Climate Change
 Possible societal responses to global warming include
mitigation by emissions reduction, adaptation to its effects,
building systems resilient to its effects, and possible future
climate engineering.
 Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), whose ultimate
objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate
change.
 The UNFCCC have adopted a range of policies designed to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to assist in adaptation
to global warming. Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that
deep cuts in emissions are required, and that future global
warming should be limited to below 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) relative
to the pre-industrial level.
 The Concept of Sustainability

 Sustainability is an economic state where the demands

placed upon the environment by people and commerce can
be met without reducing the capacity of the environment to
provide or future generations.
 A diagram indicating the relationship between the "three
pillars of sustainability", in which both economy and society
are constrained by environmental limits.
 Sustainable Development
 Sustainable development consists of balancing local and
global efforts to meet basic human needs without destroying
or degrading the natural environment.
 The sustainable-building movement tries to encourage the
use of renewable resources instead of depleting the ones we
have been consuming in our construction components.
 “Going green” in building projects has become especially
important in the urban environment, where large projects
and large corporations want to focus on sustainability and
environmental responsiveness during the construction
process.
 More and more owners as well as private and public
construction programs are realizing the benefits of being
recognized for their environmentally friendly approach to
building or renovating structures.
 The Green Building Concept

 Green building (also known as green construction or

sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the using
of processes that are environmentally responsible and
resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from
siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance,
renovation, and demolition.
 The green-building concept attempts to reduce our
dependence on energy and make those buildings more
energy-efficient.
 Green building is based on designs that are more
environmentally sensitive — those that tend to lessen the
impact on our environment.
Green and Sustainable Building
 The Purpose of Green Building

The intention of green environmentally friendly buildings is to

provide environment, economy, health and community benefits
by constructing buildings that reduce energy consumption,
improve air and water quality, reduce solid waste, conserve our
natural resources, have the potential for reducing operating
costs, protect our ecosystems and biodiversity, improve
employee productivity and satisfaction in the workplace and
home, enhance the comfort and health of building occupants,
optimize life cycle economic performance, be socially
responsible, minimize the demands on the infrastructure of the
world and our country, and make a positive contribution to the
overall quality of our lives.
 The Purpose of Green Building

 There are a number of motives for building green, including

environmental, economic, and social benefits. However,
modern sustainability initiatives call for an integrated and
synergistic design to both new construction and in the
retrofitting of existing structures.
 Also known as sustainable design, this 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 Design

 The foundation of any construction project is rooted in the

concept and design stages.
 The concept stage, is one of the major steps in a project life
cycle, as it 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, and varies from one building to the other,
never repeating itself identically.
 In addition, 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.
 Green Building Design

 Green building design involves finding the balance between

homebuilding and the sustainable environment.
 This requires close cooperation of the design team, the
architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages
but a whole-building design process that takes into account
the site on which the structure is to be built.
 This whole-building approach focuses on the following
features:
■ Reducing energy costs
■ Reducing maintenance costs
■ Reducing the impact of the structure on the environment
■ Providing building occupants with a healthier and safer
environment
■ Creating a more productive environment
 Green Building Design
 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.
It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable
resources, using plants and trees through green roof, and
reduction of rainwater run-off.
 Many other techniques are used, such as using low-impact
building materials or using packed gravel or permeable
concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to
enhance replenishment of ground water.
 Green Building Design
 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 and structure design efficiency,
energy efficiency, water efficiency, materials efficiency,
indoor environmental quality enhancement, operations and
maintenance optimization and waste and toxics reduction
 On the aesthetic side of green architecture or sustainable
design 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, and generate on-
site renewable energy.
 The Benefit of Building Green

 The approach to building green buildings is to provide

benefits to the environment, economy, people’s health, and
the community.
 The buildings that we build have a very significant impact on
our natural environment, economy, productivity, health, and
quality of our lives.
 Numerous studies have shown the measurable benefit of
green building initiatives on worker productivity. Specifically,
worker productivity can be significantly impacted by certain
aspects of green building design such as improved lighting,
reduction of pollutants, advanced ventilation systems and
the use of non-toxic building materials.
 Cost and Payoff

 Although there are many benefits of building green, based

on construction industry research the overall cost to
construct a project to conform to Green LEED (Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design) standards is
approximately 10% to 15% higher than a conventional
project. In addition, given that many Green LEED projects
are new, there is not a lot of history on the durability and
maintenance of these building systems.
 Cost and Payoff

 The most criticized issue about constructing environmentally

friendly buildings is the price.
 In regards to the financial benefits of green building, over 20
years, the financial payback typically exceeds the additional
cost of greening by a factor of 4-6 times. And broader
benefits, such as reductions in greenhouse gases (GHGs)
and other pollutants have large positive impacts on
surrounding communities and on the planet.
 The stigma is between the knowledge of up-front cost vs.
life-cycle cost. The savings in money come from more
efficient use of utilities which result in decreased energy
bills.
 Also, higher worker or student productivity can be factored
into savings and cost deductions.
The Benefits of Building Green
to the Environment
The Benefits of Building Green
to the Environment

(Lambeck & Eschemuller, 2009)

The Benefits of Building Green
to the CM/GC

(Lambeck & Eschemuller, 2009)

 Green Building Construction
 Owners, developers, legislators, environmentalists, and
community organizations are asking construction
managers/general contractors (CMs/GCs) to construct green
buildings using environmentally friendly materials to
minimize the “carbon footprint” that we are leaving in the
construction process.
 The term “carbon footprint” means the amount of fossil fuels
that we burn to produce a project, directly or indirectly. This
means that people have to build smarter, more efficiently,
and more effectively, and look for materials that are
environmentally friendly and readily available locally to
minimize the impact on the environment.
Environmentally Responsible
Construction
Environmentally Responsible
Construction
Environmentally Responsible
Construction
Environmentally Responsible
Construction
 Standards, Codes, and
Rating System
 A number of organizations have developed standards, codes
and rating systems that let government regulators, building
professionals and consumers embrace green building with
confidence.
 Green building rating systems such as BREEAM (United
Kingdom), LEED (United States and Canada), DGNB
(Germany), CASBEE (Japan), and VERDE (Spain), help
consumers determine a structure’s level of environmental
performance. They award credits for optional building
features that support green design in categories such as
location and maintenance of building site, conservation of
water, energy, and building materials, and occupant comfort
and health.
 Indonesia applies the GREENSHIP rating system developed
by the Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI)
 References

• Jackson, Barbara J. (2010), Construction Management Jump

Start, 2nd edition, Wiley Publishing Inc., Indiana, USA.
• Lambeck, Richard and John Eschemuller (2009), Urban
Construction Project Management, McGraw-Hill Co., NY,
USA.
• Levy, Sidney M. (2010), Construction Process Planning and
Management, Elsevier inc., Oxford, UK.
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