Roses are red, violets are blue, your house should be green, and everyone else’s too! I am not talking about the colour; I’m talking about sustainably built buildings engineered to conserve energy and reduce negative impacts associated with infrastructure development.
How Important are green buildingS?
Buildings contribute to nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions and are therefore contributing more to global emissions than the entire transportation industry. A recent study attempted to quantify the contributions of green buildings to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) outlined by the united nations. Their study revealed that green buildings will help meet the SDGs 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and 12 (Consumption and Production).
An image tweeted by the World Green Building Council outlines how buildings need to be net carbon zero by 2050 to meet emission goals, illustrating the importance of advancing green building technology. Image Credit: World Building Council
Where do building emissions come from?
The emissions from buildings can be divided into two sections: construction and operational costs. There is an upfront emission cost associated with the materials and infrastructure development during construction that accounts for 28% of the building’s emissions. Building operations include the energy used to heat, cool and light buildings, accounting for the remaining 72% of building emissions.
The carbon emissions in buildings can be divided into ‘upfront’ embodied carbon and operational carbon. Image Credit: Interface
What makes a green building “Green”?
Green buildings use different strategies to reduce the carbon footprint created by the structure: reducing energy costs, utilizing higher insulation, or collecting all necessary water on site. However, green buildings do not just apply to new buildings. Existing buildings can be made more sustainable by investing in renewable energy to replace fossil fuels or adding a green roof and solar shading devices.
Right in downtown Vancouver, the Vancouver Convention Centre is one of the leading green building designs. This building uses many creative tactics to meet net-zero carbon emissions and even provides positive feedback. This building’s roof has two distinct features that aid in decreasing its environmental impact: indigenous plants and grasses that acts as an insulator to help the building use less energy in heating and cooling and four beehives that pollinate the plants and provide honey for the kitchen. The building also has a restored marine habitat that is helping improve the water quality in the surrounding area, a water recycling system, a seawater heating and cooling system, and many other features. The architecture of this building is truly a marvel to see. See the video below to learn more about the roof of the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Video tour of the roof of the Vancouver Convention Centre and its functions. Video Credit: Vancouver Convention Center
Along with the Vancouver Convention Centre, there are many other green buildings all around the world: the Pixel Building (Melbourne, Australia), Museum of Tomorrow (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Bosco Verticale (Milan, Italy), and many more all around the world. As green building technology develops, hopefully, this list will grow until all buildings in the world are considered green buildings.
One response to “Sustainable Infrastructure Development? You Can Have Your Cake and Eat it too!”