What Makes a Building Green

Sustainable Architecture and its Features

A green building is a structure that eliminates negative environmental impacts with the help of its design, construction, and operations. It in fact creates a positive impact on the climate and the environment it sits in. They preserve natural resources, in turn improving the quality of life. Green buildings are resource-efficient in their construction, thereby producing healthier buildings that cost less to maintain. It is a sustainable approach for the building’s lifecycle – from siting, to design, construction, operations, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.

 

There are comprehensive rating systems that certify green buildings such as LEED, BuildGreen, and Living Building Challenge. These systems measure the sustainability of a building basis various criteria.

5 Features of a Green Building

Co-production

Also known as CHP (Combined head and power), this system is one that produces heat and electricity simultaneously. Several electricity generation methods release heat as a secondary product and this is normally wasted. This system recovers the heat and puts it to use for space heating, domestic hot water and other processes.

Solar Panels

Solar doesn’t emit any greenhouse gases thereby making it the cleanest and most viable solution to prevent environmental degradation. Solar energy also doesn’t emit toxic substances or contaminants into the air which could damage the environment.

Central Chiller Plant

Chillers are one of the most efficient air-conditioning systems for green buildings. They work well especially for water-cooled chillers. The modern units are equipped with high level AI (Artificial Intelligence) and adjust their cooling output to match the load of the building. Chiller plants achieve economies of scale by consolidating air conditioning compressors in a single location and make sure they’re efficient.

Rainwater Harvesting

Rainwater harvesting has become imperative with the shortage in water supply. Rainwater harvesting is a system wherein you collect and store rainwater. The water retained is then subtracted from the normal municipality supply. This water can then be used to water plants, flush toilets, or supply cooling towers. Aside from the free water supply the building gets, rainwater harvesting also decongests the sewage systems during storms. The system is fairly simple to retrofit into any property.

LED Lighting & Daylighting

LED lighting is a cost-effective upgrade for any green building that offers a short payback period with a long service life. The saved light is subtracted from the building’s overall space cooling load – this further leads to savings in air conditioning. Daylighting is another design method that is used in green buildings in order to optimise the use of the sunlight indoors while preventing glare within the space.

Building Automation & Artificial Intelligence

Understanding building automation and control systems in a green building are important in order to collect, use, and analyze information. Building automation systems use access card readers, motion sensors, light sensors, close circuit cameras to determine whether an area is occupied and how occupied it is. These automation systems share the compiled information with the building’s other control systems. This input is further used to adjust their controls within the building. For instance, reducing energy waste in an area is controlled while making sure the occupants are still comfortable – thereby being energy efficient. Integrated building automation limits environmental impact, optimizes energy efficiency, and improves building safety and security. The system compiles data to help the building managers’ costs and increase the efficiency of the building without compromising comfort.

 

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to improve the occupant experience, increase operational efficiency, and optimize asset and space usage.

 

Green buildings don’t just contribute towards sustainable construction and the environment but also give the building owners a plethora of advantages — Lower development costs, lower operating costs, healthier indoor environment, enhanced durability, and lowered maintenance costs are some of the benefits of a green building.