Financial Advantage of Green Construction Methods Essay

Having faced with the growing threat of global climate change, depletion of natural resources and the collapse of the global ecosystem, currently in particular the global construction industry is under unprecedented test of stability. The fact is that the buildings around the world use about 40% of the total consumption of primary energy, 67% of all electricity, 40% of all raw materials and 14% of all drinking water supplies, and produce 35% of all carbon dioxide emissions and nearly half of all solid municipal waste (Vorwald 2011).
Green Building, Green Construction and Sustainable Building is the examples of construction and operation of buildings, aiming to reduce consumption of energy and material resources while maintaining or improving the quality of buildings and the comfort of their internal environment. Green Building has the following challenges:
– To reduce the total (over the entire operating cycle of a building) negative impact of construction activities on human health and the environment, what is achieved using new technologies and approaches;
– To create new industrial products;
– To reduce the stress on the regional energy network and to improve the reliability of their work;
– To open new jobs in the intellectual sphere;
– To reduce the cost for maintenance of buildings of new construction (GhaffarianHoseini 2011).
Another goal of Green Building is to maintain or improve the quality of buildings and the comfort of their internal environment. This practice expands and complements the classical building design with the concepts of economy, utility, durability and comfort. While new technologies are constantly being improved for being used in the current practice of creating Green Constructions, the main concern of this approach is to reduce the overall impact of construction on the environment and human health, what is achieved through:
– Efficient use of energy, water and other resources;
– Attention to support of health of residents and improving productivity of employees;
– Reducing waste, emissions and other environmental impacts (Yudelson 2008).
Similar approach to natural building, which has a smaller scale, lies in the usage of natural local materials. Nowadays a world’s number of buildings constructed on the principle of Green Building is developing (Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Singapore 2010 «ZEB», «Adnams» brewer in the UK, «Mayak» in Copenhagen, etc.) (Hillestad 2010). Green Building is a system of measures to create, maintain and use green planting to improve living conditions. Green Building includes:
– Creation of parks, gardens, squares, boulevards, lawns and other structural elements;
– Creation of new green areas;
– Reconstruction and updating of existing plantings with maximum preservation of natural landscapes.
The complex of Green Building is allocated into:
– Planting inhabited localities;
– Landscape architecture;
– Landscape art.
There is a need to discuss the benefits from implementing this approach. Benefits for investors, property owners, developers, planners and managers of companies from certification of buildings, facilities and products in accordance with the green standard are the following:
– Stronger competitiveness in the advancement of the project or solution as one that is an environmental friendly and consistent with the principles of sustainable environmental development;
– Guarantee that during the construction of facilities, the technology used meets the basic principles of sustainable development of territories;
– Enhanced search of innovative solutions that minimize environmental impact;
– Reducing of maintaining costs and improving the quality of the working and living environment (Makarechi 2010);
– Compliance of the object with standards, which demonstrate progress towards the corporate and organizational environmental purposes and give the right to be publicly called as a Green Real Estate Company. In other words, the certification in accordance with the Green Standards and achieving high levels of energy efficiency becomes a significant competitive advantage that increases the profitability of the project through the rent raise and cost reduction what is highly valued by potential investors.
Benefits of Green Construction for the environment are:
– Significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, waste and polluted water;
– Expansion and protection of the natural habitat and biological diversity;
– Conservation of the natural resources (Hartman 1997).
Benefits of Green Construction for health and society are:
– Creating of more comfortable indoor conditions of the air quality, as well as thermal and acoustic characteristics;
– Reducing of pollution getting into water, soil and air, and as a consequence, reducing of the tension on the urban infrastructure;
– Improving the quality of life through optimal urban design – placing applications work close to residential areas and social infrastructure (schools, health facilities, public transportation, etc.).
Economic benefits of Green Construction are:
– Operation of Green Constructions comparing to common buildings is more economical. Thus:
– Power consumption is reduced up to 25% , and consequently a decrease in energy costs is achieved;
– Reducing of water consumption up to 30% naturally leads to a significant reduction in costs for water supply (Boxer 2010);
-Reducing of the cost of building maintenance is achieved through a higher quality of modern management, effective monitoring and optimization of all systems;
– Current net revenues increase (for instance, 3%-prize at an average rate of the lease) and the value of the property (for instance, 10%-prize in the commercial value) may lead to lower financial and insurance costs;
– Reducing of the number of refusals from renting and property, increase of tenants’ satisfaction may also lead to lower costs;
– Implementation of the principles of Green Building is perfect for attracting public attention, contributes to the speedy recovery of rental space and a greater loyalty from the tenants;
– According to the social and economic research analysts predict the growth of the market of Green Building materials up to 5% annually, from $455 billion in 2008 to $571 billion in 2013. Most of the world’s largest construction companies in 2013 plan to sign at least half of their contracts for the Green Constructions;
– Constructions built using Green Technologies help to keep the health of people who work in them, that can reduce the loss of payments for health insurance;
– Today the principles of building of Green Constuctions match the expected tightening of environmental laws to limit carbon emissions;
– Constant cost reduction. Most Green Constructions are more expensive than usual ones for no more than 4%, and in the near future the use of Green Technologies will be the most effective means to reduce construction costs. Currently, additional costs can be amortized during the operation of the building, and it is usually compensated due to lower maintaining costs during the first 3 or 5 years.
– Now most investors consider the construction of common buildings as increasing their risk and accountability increase (Knowles 2011).
It is necessary to clarify that the longer a person lives, the more he thinks about the quality of his life. Finally, he tries to use an opportunity to improve the way of living and health, and simultaneously take care of the environment. Construction involves buildings with materials and processes that are environmental friendly and effective due to the participation of inexhaustible resources. In addition, Green Constructions will be environmentally worthy throughout the construction and service life. It means that the design of the facility, its actual construction, operation, maintenance, repair, renovation and dismantling will be harmless to the environment. In addition to health benefits and clean planet, this kind of building is economical itself and with regard to utility costs, green buildings are durable, stable and comfortable.
These buildings are characterized by efficient use of solar, wind and other resources energy; they protect and improve human health and productivity, reduce waste, polluting and destroying the environment. This became possible due to the materials for building which are re-used, recycled or from renewable resources. Materials themselves contain a minimum of pollutants and they are complemented with the role of gardening (the use of plants that do not require extra watering and clean the air).
It is important to understand that “Green Building” is not associated with the color of the building or landscaping. Buildings constructed by the standards of Green Building, use renewable energy resources (solar, wind, heat and cold of water and earth), collect rain water and convert waste. Three goals are achieved in environmental construction:
– The first one is reducing the cost of operating the building due to saving energy and water.
– The second one is improving the microclimate in the building to preserve people’s health.
– The third one is minimizing the negative impact of buildings on the environment (Mapes 2010).
Unfortunately, most consumers think about the environment only when it comes to choosing where it will be more pleasant to live. Technologies that reduce the harm caused to the environment still have less interest. It is true that environmental responsibility comes in a fashion, and in public policy in most countries. In the new millennium the international community care about the environment has become particularly topical. Many states are increasingly focusing on ecology of the home and Green Building. Over the past ten years, the U.S., Canada, and many EU member states have tightened the requirements for new homes. In many countries, eco-housing developers are granted various privileges. Green construction methods and materials have a lot of advantages in the modern world. They provide not only financial privileges, but help the environment. Green technology is just at the beginning of its development, but will become more popular and available in the nearest future.