2 Green and Efficient Buildings
Introduction
Green buildings preserve and maintain precious natural resources. They also improve the quality of life. In their design, construction or operation, these buildings reduce or eliminate negative impacts and can create positive impacts on our climate and natural environment. There are five basic elements (Louisiana Land Conservation Assistance Network, n.d.) of green and efficient buildings and these are: water conservation, indoor air quality, resource conservation, energy efficiency and livable communities.
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Topic Overview
Traditionally constructed buildings tend to have a large impact on the environment. These were designed and constructed poorly and use a whole lot of energy which heavily contributes to greenhouse gasses and global warming.
“Globally buildings are responsible for 35% of resources, 40% of energy use, consume 12% of the world’s drinking water and produce almost 40% of global carbon emissions”. (How Do Buildings Affect the Environment?, Multi Comfort (Saint-Gobain.co.uk, n.d.)
The World Green Building Council is working to implement solutions in sustainable buildings. They are striving to take an intelligent approach to energy. Their focus is to safeguard water resources, minimize waste and maximize reuse, and promote health and wellbeing. They are leading the way in keeping our environment green, while creating resilient and flexible structures. They understand that sustainability is also about connecting communities and people, and should consider all stages of a building’s life cycle (World Green Building Council, n.d.)
Innovators and Ideas
In the article “The Hidden Power of Equity in Sustainable Building” (Hirsch, 2017), Jennifer Hirsch PhD reviews the project she was heading for the Living Building Challenge. Dr. Hirsch is a cultural anthropologist and associate professor at Georgia Tech School of City and Regional Planning. Hirsch was leading a team to build a sustainable building on the Georgia Tech campus, in conjunction with the Living Buildings Challenge 2015.
Hirsch discussed the process of creating equitable housing and buildings, which means going beyond sustainability into accessibility and inclusion. The Living Building Challenge is a global competition through The International Living Future Institute (The International Living Future Institute, n.d.).The goal of this building is to bring more women and people of colour into STEM.
Living Building´s Equity Petal Work Group, with Hirsch as co-chair, planned to assist and advise the building project team and the university. In order to achieve positive energy and positive equity at the same time, they sought to engage the work group hiring firm that wants to attract under-repre