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M.E. Rinker School of Construction Management

Principle of Sustainable Development & construction

Dr. Charles Kibert

FALL 2015

Blog book 2015By

Aayush Shah

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Table of Contents

S.No Title

7. Sustainable Community and Urban planning

8.. Energy and Carbon

9. Landscaping and Building Hydrological Cycle

10. Green Building Material and life cycle assessment

11. Indoor Environment Quality

12. Cutting Edge Technology

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7. Sustainable Communities and Urban Planning

In the present time sustainable communities are a growing trends. Cities are planned according to the needs and requirements of sustainable community. Many indicators are used to measure the progress of development, and this indicators are known as sustainable indicators. One important factor in developing sustainable community is urban planning. In this designing of an urban environment is done. This is done by proper usage of land and proper designing of land routes, transportation system, communication system, infrastructure etc.

Sustainable community

A sustainable construction is one that is economically, environmentally and socially healthy. Sustainable community tend to focus on urban infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and social equality. It is sometimes also known as “Green cities”, “eco communities” or “sustainable cities”. For a sustainable community there must be a shared vision of sustainable future among the community members, skilled leader, and a strong social capital. By proper planning, a city or town can become a sustainable city.

Visit: http://www.sustainable.org/about

A city is known as sustainable city if,

1. They are Compact and nearby to daily needs2. There is diversity 3. Reuse of resource more efficient4. Visioning in a community

Sustainable community can be attained by following five steps:

1. Partnership: in partnership establishing of an organization is done 2. Community based issue analysis: in this issues are identified which need to addressed3. Action planning: planning is done, strategies are made 4. Implementation and monitoring5. Evaluation and feedback

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On June 16, 2009 the U.S. department of housing and urban development (HUD), U.S. Development of transportation (DOT), and the U.S. environmental protection agency (EPA) joined together to help communities nationwide improve access to affordable housing, increases transportation option and lower transportation cost while protecting the environment. The partnership for sustainable communities (PSC) works to coordinate federal housing, transportation, water, and other infrastructure investment to make neighborhoods more prosperous, allow people to live closer to jobs, save households time and money, and reduce pollution

For more: https://www.sustainablecommunities.gov/mission/about-us

Sustainable indicators

The sustainable community indicators helps the communities to measure progress of their sustainability objectives. Sustainable indicators is a way to measure how well a community is meeting the needs of present and future members. Sustainable indicator is different from traditional indicator. Sustainability indicators reflect the reality that the three different segments are very tightly interconnected as shown in fig:

 

Communities are a web of interactions among the environment, the economy and society.

The purpose of indicator is to show how well the community is working. If there is a problem indicator can help you to take right direction to address the problem.

For more visit site: http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/indicators

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Figure showing how the three different segments are interconnected to each other

There are many projects where people are working to make community more sustainable and to measure the result. This projects include governmental agencies, large collaborative and small groups. United States national agencies includes

1. Interagency working group on sustainable development indicators2. President’s council on sustainable development3. State of the nation’s ecosystems

For more agencies: http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/projects/Sus/Sustainability/5

Many states pass sustainable acts such as:

1. The state of Maryland passed a Sustainable Communities Act in 2010 with the goal of revitalizing and promoting reinvestment in Maryland’s older communities as well working to promote “equitable, affordable housing by expanding energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races, and ethnicity to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation

2. The state of California passed the sustainable communities and climate protection act of 2008, also known as SB 375. The law aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through transportation, housing, and land use planning.

URBAN PLANNING

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Urban planning is process and technique of using land, protection of environment, public welfare, designing of urban environment, designing of infrastructure such as transportation, and communication. Urban planning is also known as city planning or regional planning.

Urban planner is a planner who formulates plans for the development and management of urban and suburban area. City planning enables leaders, citizens and businesses to play a meaning full role in creating a healthy community. For proper land use the development must be compact, pedestrian friendly, transit oriented development

For planning following action must be taken

Land use action

1. Development must be compact development2. Mixed user3. Pedestrian friendly development 4. Transit oriented development5. Daily needs must be at a walking distances

Transit oriented development

Transit oriented development is the exciting fast growing trend in creating vibrant, livable, sustainable community. A transit oriented development (TOD) is a combination of both residential and commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport. TOD generally has center with a transit station (train station, metro station, bus station) surrounded by relatively high density of development with a progressively lower density development outward from the center. TOD generally are located within a radius of one-quarter to one-half miles (400 to 800 m) from the transit stop. There are many cities such as Portland, Montreal, San Francisco and Vancouver which are successfully using the transit oriented development and continue to

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write policies and strategic plans which aim to reduce automobile dependency and increase the use of public transit.

Transit oriented development makes it possible to live a lower- stress life. TOD is also a major solution for the problem of climatic change by creating a dense, walkable community that greatly reduces the need for driving and energy consumption. This type of living can reduce driving up to 85%.

For more information on TOD visit: http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/

Transportation action

1. Reduce vehicle trips2. Use alternate mode of transportation such as bicycles.

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3. Reduce employee and product transport vehicle trip.

Housing and building action

1. Houses must be Solar orientation2. It must be near work place3. Buildings must be constructed with eco friendly materials.

Resourc conservation action

1. Minimize energy use2. Using renewable energy for energy demands3. Promoting recycling of materials4. Develop community gardens

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8. Energy and carbon

Energy is the ability to do work. It is the property of material which can be transferred from one object to another or can be converted into different forms. The U.S. has 4.6% of World’s population but uses 25% of Worlds oil gas and electricity. There are four major energy users in U.S.A. they are

1. Industrial 32%2. Transportation 28%3. Residential 22%4. Commercial 18

Currently in U.S. average energy consumption is 293 (Kwh/m2/year) and for net zero buildings energy consumption is about 100 quads (Kwh/m2/year). This energy is used in electricity (39%), heating fuel (33%), and transportation (28%)

This energy comes from coal (48%), nuclear (19.6%), natural gas (21.6%), hydroelectricity (6%), and oil (1.6%), remaining comes from renewable sources (as can be seen from the bar chart)

For more: http://www.energyjustice.net/solutions/factsheet

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Energy resources from all over the Word are getting depleting. Fossil fuel (coal, oil, natural gas) are the major source of energy all over the world. It is estimated that at present rate of consumption all oil reserves could be exhausted by middle of this century and natural gas by 2070. Apart from the problem of energy resource depletion, energy harnessing and utilization causes an immense amount of environmental damage.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important trace in earth’s atmosphere. It constitutes about 0.04% (400 parts per million) of the earth’s atmosphere. Despite this low concentration, CO2 is potent greenhouse gas and plays an important role in regulating earth’s temperature through radiative forcing and greenhouse effect.

The graph below shows the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide from October 1958-October 2015. It can be clearly seen that during 1958 the concentration of CO2 was about 312 ppm and it has increased to 400 ppm in 2015. We are producing 26 billion ton of carbon dioxide every year with an average of about 5 ton of carbon per person per year. The main cause of increase in amount of CO2 in atmosphere is particularly the burning of fossil fuel and deforestation.

Sources: http://co2now.org/current-co2/co2-now/ http://www.co2.earth/

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Emission and trends1. In United States

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States increased by about 7% between 1990 and 2013. Since the combustion of fossil fuel is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, changes in emissions from fossil fuel combustion have historically been the dominant factor affecting total U.S. emission trends. Changes in CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion are influenced by many long-term and short-term factors, including population growth, economic growth, changing energy prices, new technologies, changing behavior, and seasonal temperatures.

Note: All emission estimates from the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2013.

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U.S. Carbon Dioxide Gas Emissions, 1990-2013

The main sources of CO2 emissions in the United States are described below.

1. Electricity = 37%2. Transportation = 31% 3. Industry = 15%4. Residential and commercial = 10%5. Others = 6%

Bar chart showing the main sources of CO2 emission in United States

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2. In other parts of world

It can be seen that in many countries such as India, and japan the carbon dioxide emission is increasing

day by day. And due to the endeavor efforts of other countries such as Germany, United Kingdom the

emission of carbon dioxide is decreasing.

REDUCING CARBON DIOXIDE EMMISION

As we know that emission of carbon dioxide is mostly due to electricity (37%) and electricity is generated mostly from fossil fuels so the most effective way to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is to reduce fossil fuel consumption. Many strategies for reducing CO2 emissions from energy are cross-cutting and apply to homes, businesses, industry, and transportation.

There are many other ways to reduce carbon emission footprint

1. Using wind energy 2. Photovoltaics3. Battery or Fuel cell4. Using solar energy 5. Net energy buildings

Producing more energy from renewable sources and using fuels with lower carbon content are ways to reduce carbon emission. Renewables such as wind, solar, hydro, biomass are the best source to generate energy. A fuel cell is a device which converts chemical energy into electrical

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energy. Fuel cells are used to store and backup power for commercial, residential, and industrial buildings.

Photovoltaic is the method of converting solar energy directly into electrical energy using semiconducting materials. It is expected that PV will contribute about 14% of the US total energy by 2030 and more then quarter energy by 2050. This will reduce the overall carbon emission to great extent.

For more: http://www.rdmag.com/articles/2015/02/limitless-photovoltaic-future

Fig 1: photovoltaic cellFig 2: Fuel Cell

As due to construction, operation, and maintenance of a building large amount of carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere. To reduce this emission of carbon dioxide and to protect the atmosphere a new type of buildings are constructed, this are known as zero carbon emission buildings.

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ZERO CARBON EMMISION BUILDING

According to the U.S. department of energy’s definition of a zero emission building “A building that produces and export at least as much emission free renewable energy as it imports and uses from emission producing energy source annually”. Zero carbon emission is also known as carbon neutrality. Carbon neutrality concept can be extended to other greenhouse gases measured in carbon dioxide equivalence. In recent years, low/zero carbon buildings have attracted much attention in many countries because they are considered as an important strategy to achieve energy conservation and reduce greenhouse gases emissions. Some examples of the other

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Existing zero carbon buildings in the world include:

Self-sufficient solar house, Freiburg, Germany Plus Energy House, Ministry of Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Town Planning,

Germany Beddington Zero Energy Development, London Pusat Tenaga Malaysia’s ZEO Building, Malaysia BCA Academy, Singapore The Samsung Green Tomorrow House, South Korea

Source: https://zcb.hkcic.org/Eng/Features/whatiszcb.aspx

This ZCB in Hong Kong generates on-site renewable energy from photovoltaic panels and a tri-generation system using biofuel made of waste cooking oil and achieves zero net carbon emissions on an annual basis. Beyond the common definition of a ‘zero carbon building’, ZCB exports surplus energy to offset embodied carbon of its construction process and major structural materials.

Source: https://zcb.hkcic.org/Eng/Features/whatiszcb.aspx

Many conventional energy sources results in emission of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, Sulphur dioxide, etc. a net zero carbon emission building either uses no energy which results in emission or offsets the emissions by exporting emission free energy (typically from on-site renewable energy system )

Grid Connection and Net Zero

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Most Net Zero Energy Buildings are still connected to the electric grid, allowing for the electricity produced from traditional energy sources (natural gas, electric, etc.) to be used when renewable energy generation cannot meet the building's energy load

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is generally the most cost-effective strategy with the highest return on investment, and maximizing efficiency opportunities before developing renewable energy plans will minimize the cost of the renewable energy projects needed. Using advanced energy analysis tools, design teams can optimize efficient designs and technologies.

Energy efficiency measures include design strategies and features that reduce the demand-side loads such as high-performance envelopes, air barrier systems, daylighting, sun control and shading devices, careful selection of windows and glazing, passive solar heating, natural ventilation, and water conservation.

Renewable Energy

Once efficiency measures have been incorporated, the remaining energy needs can be met using renewable energy technologies. Common on-site electricity generation strategies include photovoltaics (PV), solar water heating, and wind turbines.

APPLICATION

Net Zero Carbon Emission Building principles can be applied to most types of projects, including residential, industrial, and commercial buildings in both new construction and existing buildings. A growing number of projects have been designed and constructed across the various market sectors and climate zones

Commercial Examples

NREL Research Support Facilities Building

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9. LANDSCAPING AND BUILDING HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

Introduction

Buildings are causing great harm to ecosystem it can also become a contributory part in developing the ecosystem. Land is a crucial component of built environment and can be designed, planned, developed and maintained to protect and enhance the benefits we derive from the healthy functioning landscape. Moreover, adopting such sustainable practices not only helps the environment but also enhances human health and well-being and is economically cost-effective. Appropriate use of land is a major issue in green building. Well-designed open space creates a sustainable microclimate that in turn reduces building energy use and supports a high-quality interior environment.

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There are four types of land

1. Green fields: these are the properties that have experienced no impact from human development activity.

2. Brown fields: these are the land which has been previously used for industrial or commercial purpose

3. Gray fields: these are obsolete building that are not necessarily contaminated.4. Black fields: These properties are abandoned coal mines

Sustainable Landscape Practice

The landscape features must be selected and configured to suit site conditions and restore habitat using self-sustaining landscape design and site maintenance procedures. Practices should promote the conservation and restoration of existing biological and water resources, including species diversity, soil fertility, and aeration. There are various principles of sustainable landscape construction, like keep sites healthy, heal injured sites, favor living flexible material, conservation of water, etc.

Water issues

Water is the World’s most precious resource. According to US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the United States the amount of water used by per person per day is about 1800 gallons (7000 liters). There is only 2.75% fresh water on the earth, rest is all saline water which cannot be used. Out of this 2.75%, only a small fraction-0.01% of water is surface water found in river and lakes and is readily accessible to drinking and other activities (chart below shows the distribution of global water on earth). There is a serious water problems in many parts of world such as in Western Asia, and Spain. We are extracting water from acquirers with a far greater speed than it is naturally replenished. In the United States, also water crises are occurring almost everywhere.

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Buildings accounts for about 12% of fresh water withdrawals. This high quality portable water mixes with the waste and gets contaminated. Proper selection of plumbing fixtures, equipment, and fittings can minimize end use of domestic water while conserving water quality and availability

Hydrological cycle

Earth's water is always in movement, and the natural water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. Water is always changing states between liquid, vapor, and ice, with these processes happening in the blink of an eye and over millions of years.

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There are many types of water

1. Portable water: water that is safe for drinking2. Waste water: water that is adversely been affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It os

also called as sewage and contaminated from faces and urines from people’s toilet.3. Gray water: Greywater is any household wastewater with the exception of wastewater from

toilets. Typically, 50-80% of household wastewater is greywater from kitchen sinks, dishwashers, bathroom sinks, tubs and showers.

4. Black water: domestic waste water from kitchens and toilets.5. Reclaimed water: Reclaimed water or recycled water, is former wastewater (sewage) that is

treated to remove solids and impurities, and used in sustainable landscaping irrigation, to recharge groundwater aquifers.

High performance building hydrological cycle strategy

High performance buildings maximize operational energy savings; improve comfort, health, and safety of occupants and visitors; and limit detrimental effects on the environment. Proper selection of plumbing fixtures, equipment, and fittings can minimize end use of domestic water while conserving water quality and availability. Designers of high performance buildings have developed strategies which can help to conserve water. It includes three strategies

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1. to minimize the consumption of potable or drinking quality water from wells or municipal wastewater systems

2. to minimize wastewater generation3. to maximize rainwater infiltration into the ground;

Water Reuse

To achieve overall water conservation goals, it is important to limit the use of potable water for non-potable purposes. On-site water reclamation and reuse should be encouraged and facilitated wherever possible.

1. Rainwater use. Collect and use rainwater for landscape irrigation, urban gardening, toilet/urinal flushing, roof cooling (for uninsulated roofs), and for other purposes as appropriate.

2. Green roofs. Plant roof areas to reduce the discharge of storm water and to reap the benefits of increased green space (recreation, bird habitat, roof shading, etc.).

Figure: Green roof

3. Graywater use. Collect and use graywater for water closets and urinal flushing, as well as for washdown of floor drains.

4. Excess groundwater. Recover excess groundwater from sump pumps for use as a source of recycled water.

5. Steam condensate. Collect and use utility district steam system condensate for toilet/urinal flushing, cooling tower make-up, and other non-potable uses (applies to Manhattan projects only).

6. ’Vacuum-assist’ systems. Consider a ‘vacuum-assist’ system (in lieu of a standard system) for flushing of water closets and urinals.

By practicing this methods we can conserve about 34-90% of portable water used in residential and commercial buildings. Substantive steps must be taken to conserve the use of potable water by the innovative reuse of gray water.

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One of the motivators for such projects is the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED green building certification program. Under LEED 2.2 water conservation and innovative reuse were prime areas rich in LEED points, and under the new LEED 2009 it is weighted even more heavily. The use of non-potable water can contribute up to 10 LEED points on a project, an astounding 25% of the points needed to achieve a LEED certified building.

There are various other national green building programs such as:

1. USGBC LEED Rating Systems2. ASHRAE Standard 191 for Water Efficiency3. Green Globes-Green Building Initiative draft standard (commercial & residential above 3 stories)4. U.S. EPA WaterSenseSM for New Homes

Referencehttp://www1.nyc.gov/assets/ddc/downloads/Sustainable/high-performance-building-guidelines.pdf

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html

http://www.cwp.org/2013-04-05-16-15-03/stormwater-management

http://landscapeforlife.org/new/downloads/publications/The%20Case%20for%20Sustainable

%20Landscapes_2009.pdf

http://opus.mcerf.org/application.aspx?id=-6228344935996635278

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10. Green Building Material and life cycle assessment

Green building material

Green building is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Use of green building material for the construction purpose is one of the major strategies in creating green buildings. It aims to reduce environmental impacts of buildings. Such materials are intended to be environmentally friendly, with such characteristics as low toxicity, minimal chemical emissions, ability to be recycled, and durability of the material. In addition, green materials often contain recycled and/or bio-based contents.

Material using recycled content not only requires less virgin resources, they also use less energy and chemicals to process. For instance recycled aluminum has 90% less embodied energy than virgin aluminum. There is a rapidly expanding market for green building materials.

Figure: projected US total green building market value

Green building material selection criteriaThere are various criterial for selecting green building materials

1. Resource efficiency: the material must have recycled content, naturally available, renewable, reusable recyclable, and durable

2. Indoor air quality: low or non-toxic, minimal chemical emission, and moisture resistant.

3. Energy efficiency4. Water conservation5. Affordability

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Fig: criteria for selecting green building material

Ideally Green building material must follow a cardinal rules for a closed loop building strategy. The cardinal rules states that if complete dismantling of a building is done then all its material and its component can be recovered and used again at the end of building’s useful life. A very few materials and product follow this rule. Ideally it is very difficult for materials to follow this rule.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Building Material and ProductsLCA is the most important tool used

to determine the impact of building material. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the process that investigate the impact of a product at every stages of life, from preliminary development to obsolescence. It is also known as cradle to grave or cradle-to-cradle analysis. Life stages include extraction of raw material, processing and fabrication, transportation, installation, use, maintenance and disposal (as shown in fig.). At each stages in its life the material is analyzed for its energy consumption, global warming, potential, water use, other nonrenewable resource use, air pollution produced and waste produced. Figure shown below completely illustrate the complete LCA methodology

Total energy of product is composed of embodied energy, operational energy and disposal energy. Embodied energy include energy invested in extraction, manufacturing, transportation, and installation of product. Operational energy includes energy used during the operation of product. And disposal energy is the energy used to dispose-off the product at the end of its life span. For an average building operational energy is 5 to 10 times its embodied energy. Figure below shows the embodied energy of some construction material. Embodied energy of concrete and steel are notable. This is because they are produced in highly developed plants which require lots of energy for their manufacturing.

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Fig: Embodied energy of construction material

To date there is no single accepted LCA methodology. Groups as diverse as the EPA, ASTM international, the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) each have worked on creating an outline of the process. LCA consist of several steps which are defined in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14000 series of standards. These steps include inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation of the impact, as shown in figure.

Fig: steps involved in LCA

Goal and scope• In this step goal and scope of the study is defined.• Goal and scope document therefore includes technical details, assumption

and limitation, system boundaries, and the impact categories chosen. Inventory analysis

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• Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) analysis involves creating an inventory of flows from and to nature for a product system.

• Inventory flows include inputs of water, energy, and raw materials, and releases to air, land, and water.

Life cycle impact assessment• This phase of LCA is aimed at evaluating the significance of potential

environmental impacts based on the LCI flow results. Interpretation

Life Cycle Interpretation is a systematic technique to identify, quantify, check, and evaluate information from the results of the life cycle inventory and/or the life cycle impact assessment.

The Athena Environmental Impact Estimator (EIE) is a LCA tool used for assessing building assemblies such as walls, roofs, and floors. Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) is another LCA tool specific to United States only. Selection of material is only one part of making a green building. The LCA methodology help us to visualize the link between the big picture and the details, while bringing us that much closer to the goal of living sustainably. A future version of LEED green building rating system is scheduled to include LCA methodology as well.

Environmental product declaration (EPD)An environmental product declaration is voluntarily developed set of data that assures third-party about the environmental performance of the product. EPDs are developed from the LCA studies of the product. This are just like the nutrition label on the box of food items but instead of nutritional value it indicates raw material used, embodied energy, water used, waste generation, disposal energy etc. EPDs are not a certificate, it is just assurance about the quality of product. EBD can be considered to be the sum total of EPDs for all the products and materials in a building and represents its total impact.

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Fig: various stages of EPD

LCA studies of some common building materials

1. Bricks and tilesPrimary energy consumption, global warming potential, and water demand for

ceramic tiles are much more than other types of tiles

1. Cement and concrete

It can be seen that environmental impacts of cement is more than cement mortar and concrete This is because when cement is mixed with low impact material such as gravel, sand, and water helps reduce impact.

2. Steel and other products

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This all product have significant impact on environment. They all consume great quantity of energy and raw material for their production. This product are made in fully globalized industries which increase their impact related to transportation.

Among all this products aluminium has high energy demand especially electricity which considerably increase primary energy demand and GWP. There is significant water demand for the production PVC.

Reference

1. Ignacio ZB, Antonio VC, Alfonso A. Life cycle assessment of building materials: Comparative analysis of energy and environmental impacts and evaluation of the eco-efficiency improvement potential. Building and Environment 46 (2011) 1133-1140.

2. http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/greenbuilding/materials/CSIArticle.pdf 3. https://books.google.com/books?

hl=en&lr=&id=VFg3iSOBPVYC&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&dq=green+building+materials&ots=8byJI0J53T&sig=89ly2Hgt12G1ATQbIgrsDgXH5wM#v=onepage&q=green%20building%20materials&f=false

4. http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/greenbuilding/materials/ 5. https://www2.buildinggreen.com/article/life-cycle-assessment-buildings-seeking-holy-grail

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11. INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) refers to the quality of a building’s environment in relation to the health and wellbeing of occupants living in the building. For creating high performance green building it has become very important to provide excellent indoor air quality (IAQ). IEQ is determined by many factors, including lighting, air quality, daylighting, acoustic, noise, and thermal comfort, portable water monitoring and damp conditions. Better indoor environmental quality can enhance the lives of building occupants, increase the resale value of the building, and reduce liability for building owners.

Figure: factors affecting indoor air quality

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If you are at home or work place and you are not feeling comfortable, you are not very productive. High-quality indoor environments is very important in enhancing productivity. You may invest more money in making indoor environmental quality, but at the same time you will save a lot of money because employee are much more productive. American spend the majority of their time indoor; not surprisingly, studies have shown an increase in worker productivity when improvements are made to a space’s IEQ. Better indoor environmental quality can also enhance the lives of building occupants, increase the resale value of the building, and reduce liability for building owners.

Indoor environments are highly complex and building occupants may be exposed to a variety of contaminants (in the form of gases and particles) from office machines, cleaning products, construction activities, carpets and furnishings, perfumes, cigarette smoke, water-damaged building materials, microbial growth (fungal, mold, and bacterial), insects, and outdoor pollutants. Other factors such as indoor temperatures, relative humidity, and ventilation levels can also affect how individuals respond to the indoor environment. According to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), air quality in buildings can be up to 100 times worse than the quality of outside air.

Thermal Comfort

Workspaces should be designed to provide the optimum level of thermal comfort for the occupants. Comfort criteria are the specific original design conditions that at a minimum include temperature, humidity, and air speed as well as outdoor temperature design conditions, outdoor humidity design conditions, clothing, and expected activity. Comfort criteria should be based on ASHRAE Standard 55.

Noise PollutionNoise pollution comes from improperly functioning HVAC equipment, street noise, or the

conversations of others. Besides the fact that it is obnoxious and distracting, noise pollution can be detrimental to human health. It is therefore important to consider ways to eliminate noise pollution in project planning.

http://www.epa.gov/air/noise.html

Daylighting

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Daylighting uses natural daylight as a substitute for electrical lighting. While it will likely be counterproductive to eliminate electrical lighting completely, the best proven strategy is to employ layers of light - using daylight for basic ambient light levels while providing occupants with additional lighting options to meet their needs.

In order to provide equitable access to daylight ensure the space is optimized to disperse daylight well. Locate private offices toward the core of the space and specify low workstation panels. Use glass walls and light-colored surfaces on walls and desks to disperse daylight throughout the space. In all daylighting strategies, it is important to consider glare and to take steps to minimize it. Find more strategies below.

Saving Energy through Lighting and Daylighting Strategies PDF

FinishA finish is the final covering material in an arrangement of building components. It can

refer to the finish on the floor, countertop, wall, or piece of furniture. Similar to adhesives and binders, finishes must also be used with care. They can emit high levels of harmful Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which can be dangerous to human health and the environment. Lower VOC finishes are preferable, and all spaces where finishes are applied should be well ventilated.

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the state of the air within a space. A space with good

indoor air quality is one that is low in toxins, contaminants and odors. Good air quality possible when spaces are well ventilated (with outside air) and protected from pollutants brought into the space or by pollutants off-gassed within the space. Strategies used to create good IAQ include bringing in 100% outside air, maintaining appropriate exhaust systems, complying with ASHRAE Standard 62.1, utilizing high efficiency MERV filters in the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, installing walk-off mats at entryways, prohibiting smoking with the space and near operable windows and air intakes, providing indoor plants, and using only low-emitting / non-toxic materials and green housekeeping products.

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/

Low VOCVOCs (volatile organic compounds) are toxins found within products (paints, adhesives,

cleaners, carpets, particle board, etc) and that are released into a space’s indoor air, thus harming its quality. Low VOC products are those that meet or exceed various standards for low-emitting

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materials. Low-emitting standards include Green Seal, SCAQMD, CRI Green Label Plus, Floor Score, etc.http://www.wbdg.org/resources/greenproducts.php?r=mou_rc

Moisture ControlMoisture control is the process of regulating where, when and how much water and water vapor collect in a building. Mold and other air borne contaminates develop when there is too much moisture.

VentilationVentilation is the process of "changing" or replacing air in any space to control temperature; remove moisture, odors, smoke, heat, dust, airborne bacteria, and carbon dioxide; and to replenish oxygen. Ventilation includes both the exchange of air to the outside as well as circulation of air within the building. It is one of the most important factors for maintaining acceptable indoor air quality in buildings.

SICK BUILDING SYNDROME

Sick building causes are frequently pinned down to flaws in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Other causes have been attributed to contaminants produced by outgassing of some types of building materials, volatile organic compounds (VOC), molds, improper exhaust ventilation of ozone, light industrial chemicals used within, or lack of adequate fresh-air intake/air filtration.

SBS, also known as tight building syndrome is the condition in which at least 20 percent of the building occupants display symptoms of illness for more than two weeks, and the source of these illnesses cannot be positively identified.

Symptoms of SBS may include headache; fatigue and drowsiness; irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat; sinus congestion; and dry, itchy skin.

Quality IEQ can be provided through

1. Value aesthetic decisions2. Providing thermal comfort3. Supply adequate levels of ventilation and outside air4. Prevent airborne bacteria, mold, and other fungi5. Use materials that do not emit pollutants or are low emitting6. Use materials that do not emit pollutants or are low emitting7. Create a high-performance luminous environment

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CommissioningThe process that focuses on verifying and documenting that the facility and all of its

systems and assemblies are planned, designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained to meet the Owner's Project Requirements. This means testing all systems (HVAC, lighting controls, domestic hot water systems, etc.) to ensure they function as intended. Proper commissioning saves energy, reduces risk, and creates value for building operators. It also serves as a quality assurance process for enhancing the delivery of the project.

http://energy.gov/eere/femp/commissioning

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12. Cutting Edge Technology

In the present time, green buildings are gaining momentum in United States and in many parts of World. Every building specially commercial and institutional buildings in US are constructed according to high performance green building codes, suggested by US Green Building Council (USGBC). But there is no long term vision for the high performance green building and this slow down the progress of sustainable environment. To stimulate the progress we need to introduce some cutting edge technology in sustainable construction. This would be very helpful for the future development of high performance green building.

Passive survivability

Weather conditions are very unpredictable. Buildings must be designed to protect their occupants from any natural disasters such as heat waves, hurricanes, flood, drought, vulnerability of electricity and fuel distribution system earthquake etc. passive survivability is a term used for buildings. This word has come from US and because of hurricane Katrina in 2005 It tells us how the buildings should be designed to protect its occupants from any natural disasters or any services (such as power, energy, heating fuel, water, or terrorism) break down for any extended period of time. This buildings must act as a refugee for the occupants. Buildings must have certain key features that ensure passive survivability of the building. This key features include proper cooling system, natural ventilation, thermal insulation, daylighting, high efficiency thermal envelope, passive solar design. Different regions have different approaches to passive survivability and it depends on climate of that region and natural hazards in that region.

For more visit: https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/docs/for_partners/bbd_presentations/2008/Passive%20Survivability_Wilson.pdf

Cutting edge in urban development

There are various cutting edge strategies for the urban development some of them are

1. By offering tax rebates to those who make their property green, through solar panel, rainwater harvesting etc.

2. Introducing bike lanes3. Introducing tools to reduce number of cars on road4. Update building codes5. use less carbon emitting material6. Implement and enforce a minimum greenspace to-building ratio.7. Investigate whether some energy intensive goods could be 3D-printed locally. 8. Create an urban garden to increase local food production. 

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The challenges

According to Chrissna du Plessis, a research architect from national building research institute of South Africa, there are three main challenges in defining the future of built environment. These challenges are:

1. Taking the next technology leap 2. Reinventing the construction industry 3. Rethinking the products of construction

Taking the next technology leap

Technology plays a great role in development, assisting and even accelerating changes. The challenge is to foster technology whose benefits are great and impacts are low. There are three general approaches for the built environment

1. Vernacular vision2. High technology approach3. Biomimetic model

Vernacular vision, uses historical wisdom and cultural knowledge to design buildings in contrast the high-technology approach generally follows the path of current trends in society. By developing new technologies all our problem such as resource problem, carbon problem can be solved. New technologies can bring changes in energy, water, material, design and home health.

REINVENTING THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

The construction industry need to be changed to meet the future challenges of building. Today’s mind set of owners is to build the building at the lowest possible cost due to this quality, design and material receives minimal attention. Changing the mind-set of this cast of actors is an enormous challenge. There are several changes such as education, technology, policy, incentive, and construction process which can bring change in the mind set of people.

RETHINKING THE PRODUCT OF CONSTRUCTION

As buildings are segregating by type such as residential, commercial, industrial, cultural etc. people are now forced to travel from one point to another to meet their daily requirements. A

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new concept of urbanism is changing this concept and mixing building types and uses. The aim is that all daily needs must be available within ten minute of walk from the home.

Let us now look at the present advancements in high performance green building movement. There are various fields in which high performance green building has made significant developments in past decades. These fields are

1. Green building standards2. Net zero built environment concept3. The living building challenge4. Environmental product declaration5. Carbon accounting for the built environment

High performance green building standards

There are many green buildings standards which are introduced after the development of Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) in the United Kingdom. One such standard is ASHRAE 189.1-2009 which is based on LEED. This standard is basically for the design of high performance green building except low rise residential buildings. Another green building standard is ANSI/GBI 01-2010, it was developed using ANSI standards development process and is based on the Green Globes building assessment system.

There is one green building code also which is gaining momentum since 2009, it is International Green Construction Code (IgCC), it is also based on LEED building assessment system. This code was developed as a model building code for new and existing commercial buildings.

Net zero built environment

Now a days the idea of net zero environment is developing very rapidly. Net zero environment basically focuses on the use of natural resources by the human being for their survival. According to net zero built environment, for the energy purpose the human being can use photovoltaic to convert solar radiation into electricity. This can be designed to generate at least the same amount of energy which they consume in a year. In this way they can create a net zero energy building (NZEBs). The second concept is net zero water. According to this concept buildings can be designed to reduce and reuse and water. Rainwater can be used for irrigation, gardening, washing utensils etc.

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Living building challenge

Living building challenge is the most difficult building assessment system. The LBC require many stringent measure such as net zero energy, net zero water, and processing of sewage on site. Unlike other building assessment system, LBC either offers the certificate to the building or just reject there is no intermediate level of certification.

Environment product declaration

Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardized way of quantifying the environmental impact of a product intended for construction. It is provided by the third party system. It has developed a sense of competition among the producers to develop eco-friendly products. It becomes very helpful for the life cycle assessment of building.

Carbon accounting for built environment

The amount of energy consumed by built environment is increasing day by day. This energy comes from combustion of fossil fuels and as a consequence, an increase in energy consumption also tends to increase the carbon footprint of the activity. This led to change in climatic condition of environment. Due this reason many building are now constructed before doing the carbon accounting for that building. Building using renewable energy for all its need can reduce the carbon footprint to a great extent. Other ways of reducing carbon footprint are by reusing of existing buildings and material.