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Research Paper On Green Architecture
Research Paper On Green Architecture
For
English X-WFX2
By
5 December 2014
Abstract
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Architects are both the shapers of the built environment and the molders of the natural
environment. That is why they have the most tangible impact on the latter. Evidence proves that
buildings bear negative effects on nature, possibly more than we humans have initially thought.
In the rise of the global concept of sustainability, building professionals came up with a solution
called Green Building or Sustainable Architecture, a building approach that minimizes the
pollution caused and energy needed, therefore mitigating the impacts and bringing various
benefits to the end users. How does architecture leave a mark on nature? How can architects solve
environmental problems? What does ‘sustainability’ mean? How are sustainable buildings
‘sustainable’? What could mankind do in order to continue development while keeping the future
generations in mind? This paper explores the consequences the construction industry bring to the
planet, the definitions of the controversial terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘green’ in the context of
architecture as a discipline, and the actions mankind should take according to the opinions of
professionals.
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13321 ].
Smith (2001) argued that architecture is a vital element in the battle to avoid the worst
Climate change, according to Drexler (2012), provided architecture with new challenges.
Architects are perhaps the professionals having the most potential to leave a tangible
mark in the natural world. Architecture is both a boon and a bane to the environment. Buildings
aim to enrich the world but at the same time impart unwanted consequences.
Building design professionals such as architects are responsible. They care for the natural
environment since their work is within the interconnected realm of an eco-system. Understanding
a site and what a building does to it has been a primary concern of architects, engineers,
landscape architects, and contractors, as well as many other professionals, for decades
Architects, being three dimensional problem solvers, have the ability to lead the change
toward sustainability. Other professions do not work three dimensionally and most people do not
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think spatially, that’s why architects are central to the resolution of nonlinear, spatial
Architects can make a real difference because buildings and the influences that indirectly
radiate from them have such a vast impact on our future[ CITATION Gre08 \l 13321 ].
Decisions about buildings, towns and their spatial distribution are the key to
creating a future built upon the concept of ‘sustainable development’. Decisions made by
architects are crucial to the achievement of a sustainable future [ CITATION Edw96 \l
13321 ].
Mazria (2007) insisted on the value of the building sector and the architecture sector on
the topic of climate change. He said every time we [architects] design a building, we set up its
energy consumption pattern and its greenhouse gas emissions pattern for the next 50-100 years.
Professionals in the building and engineering industry need to cooperate with the
authorities to comprehend and fulfill the local needs and limitations of environment,
incorporating passive solar heating, water tanks and composting toilets into designs; decreasing
or eradicating external water or energy requirements; using local and recycled materials wherever
safe and possible, and minimizing the use of materials, using those with low energy or impact on
Most sustainability-aware architects try to design buildings that make more efficient use
of energy and resources. This is why the world is baffled: “Is being less bad the same thing as
being good? Does mere efficiency meet our need to connect with the natural world or does it just
slow down ecological destruction? And if sustainable architecture falls short of fulfilling our
needs, what would a sustaining architecture look like [ CITATION Gis03 \l 13321 ]?”
Kim & Rigdon (1998) expounded that professionals in the architectural industry have to
accept the fact that as a society’s economy improves, its demand for architectural resources such
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as land, buildings, building products, energy will increase. This in turn results to the combined
impact of architecture on the global ecosystem made up of both organic and inorganic elements,
“Architects have a larger share of responsibility for the world’s consumption of fossil
fuel and global warming gas production than any other professional group… Both global
warming and ozone depletion are directly the result of decisions made by architects [ CITATION
Global environmental crises have already killed a lot of people and reduced millions
redistributing climatic systems and so annihilating ecosystems and their life forms, as well as
bringing violent storms and summer brush fires, desertification, famine and the spread of killer
tropical diseases, along with rising sea levels and the eventual inundation of many of the most
densely populated parts of the globe and its greatest cities. Planet-wide pollution and
contamination are exterminating species and damaging immune systems leading to disease in
both humans and other living creatures. Ozone layer holes cause cataracts and skin cancer and
threaten to blind insects responsible for pollination process on which all food cycles depend
crisis the mankind is facing in this age. “Virtually all other serious problems such as
overpopulation, hunger, social breakdown and inequality, the rise of diseases such as cancer and
the spread of others, increasingly frequent and devastating ‘natural’ disasters such as storms and
flooding) are part of this larger crisis, or closely related and subordinate to it [ CITATION Buc \l
13321 ].”
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The manufacturing and transport of building materials entail the burning of fossil fuels.
Buildings are implicated in the process of human activity in releasing carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere that ultimately cause climate change, accounting for about 47 percent of the carbon
dioxide emissions across the 25 nations of the European Union [ CITATION Smi01 \l 13321 ].
They account for nearly half the energy consumption of developed countries, and therefore are
During the course of the life cycle of a building (from raw material extraction,
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) account for about a half of the damage in the ozone layer.
They are used in connection with air-conditioned, high-energy buildings [ CITATION Edw13 \l
13321 ].
amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, exploit the most wasteful construction procedures,
and have poor air quality that can cause various numerous diseases [ CITATION Gis03 \l
13321 ].
Using the available information in Spain from the Parameters of Sustainability by Albert
Chuchi et. al., Reyes, Pohl, and Pirillo attempted to quantify the environmental impact of the
construction of housing through the measure of the flows of energy, water, materials and
an equivalence in energy of 5.754 mega joules, roughly equal to about 150 liters of gasoline.
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Under usual conditions, in the period of a year the use of the same building can reach an amount
of energy represented by 12 liters of gasoline. With a 50 year-long lifespan, the building uses up a
total value of 29.429 mega joules per square meter. Simply put, the energy consumption of a
building can roughly be represented by almost 5 barrels of crude oil for each square meter.
Of all the energy consumed by our society, houses represent up to 15%. They consume
about 18,000 kW/h per year. This is just like having 22 bulbs of 100 W always turned on.
by each person daily. Around 90% is consumed only to transport waste far from the house and
only 10% is used to drink or cook, although later it is transformed to gray water (wasted water
that is not suitable for any other use). Simply put, every day, each person consumes around twice
Of all the water we use, houses represent up to 16%. The amount is about 50,000 liters
per year per person. This is just like the volume of a pool measuring 8 meters by 4 meters with a
depth of 1.5m.
Of all the total mineral extractions of the planet, houses and buildings spend up to 25%.
The extraction of aggregates, clay, chalk and limestone all alter the face of the land
creating gravel pits and quarries that can either be left as wildlife areas or used for landfill sides –
either way, valuable land is lost and the percentage of degraded landscapes in earth increase
Avoiding needless consumption, using thermal inertia and apt windows and framework,
improving the performance of mechanical air conditioning devices and appliances, taking
advantage of the conditions of the natural climate by means of natural ventilation and collection
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of solar energy, choosing clean energy, and making rehabilitating buildings energy-wise, it is
With efficient irrigation and low consumption sanitary devices, using fixtures with flow
reduction discharges, utilizing rainwater, recycling wastewater, and using natural treatment, it is
Including only real necessary building elements, designing constructive solutions that
minimize the quantity of materials to be used, using natural materials and of local origin 1,
recycling construction and demolition waste, and buying materials that neutralize waste, it is
possible to save significantly on the materials consumed and their environmental impacts.
Integrating natural ventilation in the design of the building avoids ozone damage
There has been the meeting of 163 nations at the Climate Conference in Kyoto Japan
trying to hammer out a global strategy to manage climate change and reduce carbon emissions. A
reduction of emissions, as proposed at Kyoto, to about 5% universally below 1990 levels and 8%
below in the case of the US by 2010 or shortly after will be difficult to achieve. For such progress
to be made, major reductions in energy consumption and dependence on fossil fuels will need to
take place. Architecturally, the necessity and opportunity for design and technological innovation
These problems aren’t insurmountable, but they are substantial. They require a change in
the way those in the building-industry professions do their business[ CITATION Gre08 \l
13321 ].
Architecture can, however, make a major contribution to the pressing quest to devise ways of life
1
Using materials of local origin will drastically minimize the waste incurred from transportation
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that are less taxing on the earth's resources and capacities for regeneration[ CITATION Buc \l
1033 ].
Gerardo Wadel, an architect specialized in sustainability, told how the world opened its
For the first time, the environmental problem caused by industrialism reached the world
and stirred up the public in the 60’s, when protests on the massive use of nuclear energy were
done. Because of the petroleum crisis and fossil fuel shortage in the 70’s, the whole world was
alerted, what if energy ceased to be available? Many people started to take the consequences on
the natural resources into account whilst thinking about economic development because of Club
Our Common Future, a United Nations report, gave birth to the first world agreement on
sustainability and sustainable development through many fields including Architecture. Both
1992’s The Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg 2002 spread sustainability
burst onto the international scene in the 1970s as a response to the perceptible evidence of
environmental damage and rising fuel prices. Single-family homes were the first green buildings,
although there were office buildings too. In the later years, environmentally aware architects
directed their efforts at large-scale buildings such as skyscrapers, apartment buildings, convention
Gissen, as cited, revealed the concept of sustainability is traced back to United States
President Theodore Roosevelt (1910) “I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop
and use the natural resources of our land, but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob,
United Nations defined sustainability as the “development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
the “promises of things that will last—buildings with long and useful lives, forms of energy that
The mankind’s development by the consumption and the contamination caused by the
combustion of petroleum based fuels is not sustainable. Exhausting a natural resource and
contaminating the environment “severely determine the possibilities of future generations, whom
Come 1990s, environmentally sensitive architects from the Europe and America
supported a theoretical concept they called “sustainable development” or, more commonly,
“sustainability”. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Building Research
environmental impact and address the issues that first catalyzed the environmental movement in
inhabit, more intelligent in the way they balance their energy flows, more respectful of
nature and the resources it offers, and more understanding of buildings having a life span
during which they undergo substantial change and adaptation. Put together, it simply
equates to better designed places in tune with the environment. [ CITATION Sco98 \l
13321 ]
The global concept of sustainability gave birth to the green building movement in the
discipline of Architecture.
The green building movement is one born of passion-of the desire to make a radical
The concept began with the environmental movement in the 1960s which started a ‘back
to nature’ concept in the design of houses then moved to energy-conserving office buildings in
conservation of resources such as energy and water and contributes to the health of its occupants.
13321 ]
“Sustainable” or “green” building can be defined as those buildings that have minimum
adverse impacts on the built and natural environment, in terms of the buildings themselves,
their immediate surroundings and the broader regional and global setting. [ CITATION
Sal10 \l 13321 ]
Wil03 \l 13321 ].
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Idealistically, green building is about turning the promises of sustainability into reality.
Sustainable architecture is a design that uses natural building materials (not involving
pollution in its treatment) that are energy efficient and that make little or no impact on the
The definition of a green building is still evolving. Some green-certified buildings have
been found to ironically use high energy or pollute in some other way. Conversely, many zero-
energy or near zero-energy buildings have been successfully designed and built but have not been
Today, the concept of a green building is so diverse that it is difficult to give only one
Sustainable buildings not only have a less harmful effect on the environment, they can
A typical, conventional, vernacular building that complies with the Building Codes
actually makes minimal efforts to address energy, water issues and totally ignores material waste,
resource conservation, and impacts on the construction site because these issues are not specified
No simple list can cover all the requirements of sustainable buildings – especially as
scientists continue to evaluate the environmental impact of these structures but there are now a
number of rating systems used to evaluate sustainable architecture in general terms [ CITATION
Gis03 \l 13321 ].
that utilizes renewable sources to generate energy; that uses passive techniques for ventilation and
lighting; that integrates, sustains, and recycles greenery, water, and waste; that advances the use
of environmentally conscious construction techniques; and that promotes a livable and feasible
Unlike the ordinary building, green building puts primary importance on ecosystem
protection and resource usage efficiency [ CITATION Sal10 \l 13321 ]. A green building places a
high priority on health, environmental and resource conservation performance over its life cycle
The ultimate goal and challenge of sustainable design is to find win-win solutions
that provide quantitative, qualitative, physical, and psychological benefits to building
users. There are many possibilities for achieving this seemingly difficult goal. The three
principles of sustainable design — economy of resources, life cycle design, and humane
design — provide a broad awareness of the environment issues associated with
architecture.[ CITATION Kim98 \l 13321 ]
Green buildings offer the promise of greater protection from temperature extremes and
the other forces of nature, with less pollution, greater comfort, and a greater connection to the
The earth’s environment is going through alarming changes especially due to human
intervention, i.e., one of which is the rapid development being done all over the world. Green
architecture is a solution to both the need of rapid development and environmental sustainability.
Cooperating, rather than competing, with the planet Earth's natural processes will have a
Smith P. F. (2001) urged “that the design and construction of buildings should be a prime
God created a beautiful earth. Man has been charged with the stewardship of the earth.
Great architecture finds the best solution to a design problem by using both creativity and
architecture is the combination of many separate forces into a harmonic whole.[ CITATION
Jon \l 13321 ] Architecture is the synthesis of art and science utilized to develop a solution to a
challenge in the built environment.[ CITATION Kal \l 13321 ] Architecture is a method to solve
should not be considered special but instead be the new ‘conventional’ or ‘vernacular’. All
buildings should ‘tread lightly on earth’, following Glenn Murcutt’s building philosophy, and
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have small ecological footprints. They should also make a positive and appropriate contribution
to the social environment they inhabit, by addressing people’s practical needs while enhancing
their surrounding environment and their psychological and physical well-being. [ CITATION
Sas06 \l 13321 ] That way, those in the building profession can mitigate the damage dealt. If we
continue building without regard to the activity’s impact to the environment, we humans will just
There aren’t any practical or ethical reasons for not designing and building
sustainable buildings. … it is feasible to create architecture that is socially responsible
and desirable, economically viable in the long term, and that respects and protects the
environment.
The environmental problems we face today are not as simple as to be solved by subtle
reminders to “turn off the lights when not used”, by pageants that “advocate” environmental
awareness, nor by lessons on elementary Science textbooks on how to save the Earth through
and example.” The law guides the builders with fresh parameters; education establishes the
opinion of the people; and examples set precedents and bench marks.
resource conservation will achieve a minimum 50 percent reduction from the current level of
consumption of fossil fuels used to construct and operate new and renovated buildings by the year
The environmental impact of architecture is not a minor problem for the whole of society,
and much less for the construction sector itself. It is an activity with great incidence on the
The earth’s environment is going through alarming changes especially due to human
intervention, i.e., one of which is the rapid development being done all over the world. Green
architecture is a solution to both the need of rapid development and environmental sustainability.[
We should realize that the problems associated with sustainable development are global
as a result the issues need worldwide attention. If we work together we can bring change
A leading innovator in the field of green design, sustainability’s best known proponent,
architect of Lloyd’s of London Richard Rogers (2003) told in an interview that ecology-conscious
buildings have the potential to change modern architecture more radically and drastically than
perhaps any movement since the beginning of modernism. He claimed that we will see a
tremendous revolution in the next 20 to 25 years as gas-guzzling cars will disappear and the
streets will change. He hoped that we will recognize the need to reconsider buildings as well. He
professed that green building is not difficult. When asked “Are you still optimistic about the
environment?” he replied “as long as we recognize that there are problems that we have to get
over … and if we can fuse social concerns, technological and structural innovation, and
environmentally responsible design, I believe we can create architecture that properly reflects the
13321 ].
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