Sustainable Building Principles
Reuse-Reduce Strategies and Green Technology in Sustainable Design
Jun 27, 2008
Forget feeling guilty about the car you drive or the way you get to work. The big villain when it comes to energy consumption and CO2 emissions is architecture: where people live, work, play and spend time in transit. Becoming sustainable means addressing the design, construction and operation of buildings first and foremost.
Architecture To Blame for Rising CO2 Emissions
John Straube is a civil engineer and green building science expert who trains engineers and architects to design more responsibly. In his presentations, he demonstrates architecture accounts for 48 percent of energy consumption in the U.S. Industry and transportation use the rest in nearly equal proportions. Gas-guzzling cars may be a problem for the environment, but buildings are bigger villains.
Compared to Europeans and Asians, North Americans produce more than twice as many tonnes of CO2 per capita per year. Housing is a major contributor. Straube shows that in the 1950’s, a typical North American home measured about 1600 square feet or 400 square feet per person. By 2000, a typical home was 2400 square feet, and accommodated 3.2 people for a figure of 750 square feet per person. In the decade between 1995 and 2005, residential energy use increased by a factor of three, a reflection of larger homes and operational inefficiencies. At a time when other cultures in the developed world have reduced their per capita consumption, North Americans are continuing to increase theirs.
Green Architectural Solutions Begin with Good Questions
Before investigating green building options, ask: Is a new building required, or could an existing edifice be renovated to meet current and future needs? Buildings consume resources; new ones require materials and processes that further increase the burden on the environment, and demolishing buildings adds to landfills. Many buildings can be renovated to meet green building standards and provide quality of life solutions.
In Vancouver, architects Busby Perkins + Will renovated an existing Telus office building. The retrofit is aesthetically pleasing, has enhanced air circulation and light qualities, and has significantly reduced energy consumption, from 1348 MJ/m2/yr to 560 MJ/mw/yr. The building employs a double-glazed, fritted glazing system with operable windows, for energy savings of 30 percent.
If a new building is required, build sustainably with green technologies. Good questions to guide design include:
• How big does this building need to be? Smart design adheres to the motto “less is more.” The construction of a smaller building makes less of an impact environmentally because it consumes less in building materials and cuts back on transportation of materials to the building site.
• Will this building use eco materials which can be recycled for future use, and will materials be sourced and produced locally to avoid transportation over long distances? Do some research to ascertain the green content of a building.
• What kind of energy does this building use: non-renewable energy or renewable energy like solar, geothermal or wind energy? Green technologies can diminish if not eliminate the use of non-renewable energy sources in homes, offices and industry.
Thoughtfully produced and attractive green design can easily cut back on energy consumption by 30 percent, without incurring additional costs. For a modest investment in sustainable technologies, savings of 50 percent can be realized. Once power needs are reduced, alternative energy systems become economical. Architecture may be the culprit, but it’s also one of the most easily addressed parts of the energy equation.
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