https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Green buildings can play role in meeting climate commitment

12th August 2016

By: Anine Kilian

Contributing Editor Online

  

Font size: - +

There is a direct correlation between climate change and nongreen buildings, with 98% of the world’s megacities already experiencing climate risks, World Green Building Council (WGBC) CEO Terri Willis said at the country’s ninth yearly Green Building Convention, held in Sandton recently.

She explained that these climate risks included flooding, heatwaves and other dramatic weather events. “Green buildings can help combat climate change, owing to the positive environmental impact they have on the planet,” she said.

Willis pointed out that at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s twenty-first Conference of the Parties, held in Paris, in December, world leaders signed an agreement to combat climate change and limit global warming to 2 °C above preindustrial levels.

She highlighted that buildings were featured prominently at that event for the first time.

“We were able to communicate to countries that the WGBC is here as a movement to help them reach their targets as part of the Paris agreement,” she said.

“Sectors that have a significant impact on climate change include buildings, transportation and [traditional] energy suppliers,” she said.

She added that, if people continued with business-as-usual practices across these sectors, the planet was headed towards global warming of 6 °C, the results of which would be catastrophic.

“We can get to the 2 °C target, but that means that, in the buildings sector, we have to reduce 84 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2050, the equivalent of eliminating 22 000 coal-fired power plants.

She added that, if the 2 °C reduction target was to be reached, “we need to get to net zero building as quickly as possible and we need to build green cities to ensure that buildings that are being constructed are green”.

Willis explained that a net zero energy building is or one with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on a yearly basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site.

“We also have to work with national governments on policies that can create a positive environment for green building,” she said.

Last month, the WGBC launched a new project entitled Advancing Net Zero, with eight green building councils committing to introducing a ‘net green zero’ certification.

“To get to the 2 °C target, all green buildings and renovations should be at net zero starting in 2030; that means no buildings should be built below net zero standards beyond 2030.”

She highlighted that all buildings should be net zero buildings by 2050.

The WGBC has studied analyses of the power of megacities around the world and it found that cities had a lot of power, compared with national governments, when it came to building regulations.

“Fifty-seven per cent of the world’s megacities have strong power when it comes to building regulations, meaning that the world’s mayors can set standards, benchmarks and regulations over buildings.”

Meanwhile, Willis noted that the WGBC had been gathering evidence that outlined why green building was better for people from a health and wellbeing perspective.

“We have looked at the average operating cost of companies around the world. People often think that a green building’s impact is mainly focused on energy, but, looking at companies, usually only about 1% of their overall operating costs come from energy,” she stated.

Willis pointed out that 90% of overall operating costs related to people, including staff costs and benefits and the productivity and happiness of employees, “which is critical to the success of a company”.

She said the WGBC had seen that green buildings have a tremendous impact on these operating costs.

“Statistics, evidence and case studies that we have been collecting show that people who sit next to a window, on average, sleep 46 minutes more at night than those who don’t,” she said.

She explained that this resulted in staff who were more rested and more productive and engaged.

Air quality was also very important, she noted, adding that studies showed that, through improved air quality, productivity could increase by more than 11%.

A Harvard study, the ‘COG Effect Study’, compared people working in green buildings with people working in nongreen buildings, and found that the cognitive performance of the former improved by 300%, owing to lower CO2 levels and fresher air flow.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Showroom

GreaseMax
GreaseMax

GreaseMax is a chemically operated automatic lubricator.

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Flameblock
Flameblock

FlameBlock is a proudly South African company that engineers, manufactures and supplies fire intumescent and retardant products to the fire...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.084 0.144s - 137pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now