The Environmental Impact And Energy Consumption

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Abstract

The question of design a green building has been widely research in architecture field, with scholars such as Hikmat H. Ali and Saba F. Al Nsairat researching developing a green building assessment tool for developing countries. However, these perspectives have not adequately addressed the issue of how to apply green rating systems from the architectural world into particular buildings in a certain country. This paper addresses the issue of green buildings with special attention to elements which can apply into architecture conditions of Vietnam. Specifically, in my project, I will be looking at Europe and Asia green building assessment tools, in order to use their methodologies as a guide to produce green buildings. I will use questionnaires, and an analytic hierarchy process so as to reveal experiences and methodologies. I argue that this study, by closely examining practical experiences and researches, sheds new light on the rarely acknowledged issue of green building in Vietnam.

Introduction

On a global scope, environmental risks such as pollution, climate change, energy and natural resources are happening incredible complex, threatening activities of human-being life; moreover construction and design activities is one of that causes. From these above-mentioned issues, development of green building has become the strategy of many countries in the world. Besides, Vietnam is a developing country, and has to face environment problems in the context of robust urbanization and industrialization. To be more specific, Vietnam is one of the countries that suffer the most serious effects of global climate change. The living space of citizen is on the negative impacts from climate, production activities, and urban development as well as from the pressure of scarcity of resources, increased cost of materials and energy. Therefore, the application issues the principles of green architecture in the actual construction is urgently needed. In this research, the scope is limited in the field of green building assessment tools.

Literature review

Buildings have a huge impact on the environment as they use materials that are extracted from nature, and then transported for long distances consuming the available roads (Mezher, 2006). Later during construction, workers work in a very polluted and noisy environment affecting neighbouring citizens. Building users use up water and energy producing waste water, solid waste, Carbon and Radon. In the end of the building lifetime it is demolished generating demolition waste. Moreover, each stage of the construction process has a different effect on the environment. This is shown in Table 1 and figure 1. It can be observed from table 1 that one of the most dominant impacts of construction stages on the environment is energy consumption as well as CO2 emission. In figure 1, energy consumption levels in different construction stages are compared to the general environmental impact of these stages. As observed from figure 1, it can be noticed that the most environmental impact from a construction is at the life cycle stage. The energy consumption is lower than the environmental impact in almost all the stages as the former is only part of the later. The energy consumption is noticed to be slightly higher during the transportation and distribution stage due to the use of petrol operated vehicles.

Table - Environmental impacts of construction process stages (Attmann, 2010)

Figure 1 - The environmental impact and energy consumption of green construction (Attmann, 2010)

Green building has now become a flagship of sustainable development in this century that take the responsibility for balancing long-term economic, environmental and social health (Yoon & Lee, 2003). Before discussing green building rating systems, first green construction needs to be defined and distinguished from other commonly used terminologies. "Green construction" and "sustainability" are terms that are widely used in referring to environmentally friendly buildings and/or practices. Yet, a clear distinction between these terms is not common. So, in the following section, three theories on "green" and "sustainability" are introduced and explained. Then a final conclusion is drawn from them to have a full view and understanding upon what is meant by those terms in order to be able to know how to reach them later in this research.

Theory #1:

In figure 2 (Yudelson, 2009) the difference between commonly used terminologies is shown on an energy use and effect on environment basis. Figure 2 shows the Trajectory of environmentally responsible design showing a positive upward movement from conventional design through green design to fully restorative and regenerative designs. It can be concluded that green is a step towards sustainability. A green building is defined to be "the one that considers and then reduces its impact on the environment and human health. A green building uses considerably less energy and water than a conventional building and has fewer site impacts and generally higher levels of indoor air quality. It also accounts for some measure of the life-cycle impact of choices between various types of building materials, furniture and furnishings. Green building benefits result from better site development practices; design and construction choices; and the cumulative effects of operation, maintenance, removal and possible reuse of building materials and systems." (Marvin, 2009) . On the other hand, Sustainability is defined to be "about living today in a way that makes it possible for future generations to have as good a life as we do. It’s about living in balance with the earth so resources are used sparingly and turned into products that last a long time" (Yudelson, 2010).

Figure 2 - Trajectory of environmentally responsible design (Yudelson, 2009)

Theory #2:

Yet, another approach views the relationship between sustainability and green to be as shown below in figure 3 (Attmann, 2010). In Figure 3 sustainability is used to describe technologically, materially, ecologically, and environmentally stable building design mainly from the economical point of view. On the other hand green is viewed as an abstract concept that includes sustainability ecology and performance. Ecology in this case is concerned with the relation and balance of the building with the nature. According to this concept a building can be sustainable with low performance or bad impact on the environment making it non green. The same goes with good performance with no ecology or stability…etc.

Figure 3 - Relationship between green, sustainability, ecology, and performance (Attmann, 2010)

Theory #3:

A third approach views the pillars of sustainability to be environmental, social and economic aspects. This is shown in figure 4 (Rodriguez, Roman, Sturhahn, & Terry, 2002). From figure 4, it can be concluded that in order for a sustainable approach to work, one must consider the economic, social and environmental aspects.

Figure 4 - Relationship between Environmental, social, economic and sustainable aspects (Rodriguez, Roman, Sturhahn, & Terry, 2002)

So to sum up all the above mentioned theories and aspects one can say that to achieve successful Sustainability (in this case it is chosen to mean optimum building performance) several aspects are involved: Social, Economic, Environmental impact, Technical performance, and Stability. In order to decrease the large impact buildings have on the environment in Vietnam, there has to be a way to assess the factors that affect the performance of a building environmentally. As shown earlier the use of rating systems is the most appropriate technique to perform this assessment. Yet, each rating system is accommodated to suite the environment for which it was designed. This is why a new special rating system that suites and matches the needs of the construction industry and environment in Vietnam was needed to be developed.

In figure 5, the timeline of developing green building rating systems throughout the world is summed up. This was developed by using the above mentioned information on each rating system. It is can be concluded from figure 5 that several developed countries are the major contributors in this field, while developing countries- such as India, Lebanon and Jordan - are a bit new to that race due to economic and social difficulties or lack of proper plans to make sure those guidelines are properly implemented. (Potbhare, Syal, Arif, Khalfan, & Egbu, 2009). It can also be concluded that every country aims at developing a rating system that suites its environment and construction market.

Figure 5 - green building rating systems - timeline

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

In 1992, a UN conference on Environmental Development held in Rio de Janeiro reintroduced the concept of "sustainability"(advanced by the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development [UNCED] in 1987) and defined it as: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." A year later the U.S. Green Building Council was established to formalize this concept by developing a green rating system - "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (LEED), applicable to new and renovated buildings. The system utilizes 69 certification points dealing with sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, air quality and innovation (Abood, 2007).

GREEN GLOBES

The Green Building Institute's (GBI's) Green Globes can offer specific advantages in terms of affordability and user-friendliness, making it well-suited for smaller, financially limited projects that want to quantify green construction and operation (Skopek, 2006).

BEAM (Building Environmental Assessment Method)

To maintain relevance, Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HK-BEAM) for residential buildings should be periodically updated to incorporate new environmental data, so extensive research on energy and environmental performance should be performed for high-rise residential buildings found in Hong Kong. This embraces various aspects such as building wall, door, window, and shading characteristics, and utilization in time and space patterns of activities in residential units. In this paper various design tools are described, simulation procedures outlined. Preliminary results show energy savings of roughly 8% for an optimally placed insulation, and lower cooling demand of 14% for a provision of additional concrete in the building envelope (Bojic, Burnett, & Yik, 2001). In the Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HK-BEAM), lighting forms a significant part of the assessment. Assessment of lighting consists of two main items: energy consumption, and indoor lighting quality. It has been noted that the day lighting criteria in the current version of HK-BEAM are difficult to achieve (Chung & Burnett, 1999).

GBAS (Green Building Assessment System)

There are unbalanced regional characteristics of green building in China. Therefore analyzing the regional characteristics of the building and adjusted weights of regional factors to establish scientific green building assessment system with local characteristics is needed to be considered urgently (Li, 2010).

In order to create a rating system that suites Vietnam, the first step is to compare relevant as well as known rating systems therefore four rating systems were chosen; two are foreign rating systems, one is the most recent rating system developed in the region and the last one is a foreign rating system that was adapted to the Gulf region. The rating systems chosen were:

GREEN GLOBES

This rating system was chosen because it has an online self-assessment protocol. It is also interactive, flexible, and generates assessment and guidance reports.

LEED V3 for New Construction

This system is one of the most popular rating systems globally –if not the most popular. It features measurable evaluation characteristics and is very practical and user-friendly, as it is available online. The LEED for New Construction Rating System is designed to guide and distinguish high-performance commercial and institutional projects, including office buildings, high-rise residential buildings, government buildings, recreational facilities, manufacturing plants and laboratories.

ESTIDAMA buildings

This rating system was chosen as it was in Abu Dhabi –a country in the region. It is one of the most recent rating systems developed.

BREEAM Gulf

It is a version of the most popular European rating system, available for any country in Europe, but adapted to match the environment in the Gulf region, with measurable evaluation characteristics. It is practical to be implemented by the user.

Research questions:

In relation to the findings of previous published studies, this proposed study will aim to a better understanding of the concept of green building rating system and its role for achieving sustainable development. In addition, it may contribute to the development of effective green building rating system for Vietnam. In particular, the proposed study aims to answer the following research questions:

Do these rating systems need for green building in Vietnam?

Which criteria are suitable for Vietnam’ environmental condition?

Methods

Research design:

This part discusses the methodology of the proposed study. It is planned to perform an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis for the answers of the questionnaire. So, the questionnaire has to be formatted in a way that helps to move to the next step with no further transformations for the questionnaire’s answer. The questionnaire follows the same hierarchy and arrangement as the comparison table, giving eight main categories that cover all the aspects of green buildings. This has been modified later to be eight main categories by moving the "regional priority" category to be part of the "Other sustainable systems & processes" for ease. The main categories that affect the performance of green buildings are developed to be: energy use, water use, pollution (emissions, garbage, sewage…etc.), materials (recycling, durability…), indoor environmental quality, liveable outdoors and transportation promoting use of public transport to decrease CO2 emissions), site ecology (effect of the building and its location on the natural systems in the area), and other sustainable systems & processes (commissioning, innovation, life cycle costing…).

Participants:

In order to get answers that represent the green buildings market in Vietnam, The following criteria for choosing people to validate and - later on – fill the questionnaire will be followed: having a background on green buildings concept and on rating systems, interested in having a green building rating system for Vietnam, uses or wants to use green building rating systems in their work, professional working in the Vietnamese market. The participants in the proposed study will consist of 100 persons, and they are divided into two groups. The first includes 50 experts of sustainable building field, architects, and project managers. The second group are 50 laymen and architectural, environmental and engineering students. The students are chosen randomly from HoChiMinh city Architecture University based on a list from the university office. They should be third year students and studying environmental and sustainable design. The laymen include journalists, economists, politician and others.

Materials:

Form of questionnaires in an interview will be used in the investigation with participants. Investigator will visit the respondents in their offices or their university. A general description of the subject will be addressed and discussed, and then structured questionnaires will be delivered. The questionnaire was filled by an array of professionals from different disciplines covering a large range of the market. The form of questionnaires is divided into three parts, in which the first aims to define the main aspects of green building assessment tool that suit the Vietnam’ residential units local context. The second part defines categories of assessment. And the third is assessment indicators and their parameters. Moreover, the participant has to rank measures in each part according to importance in establishing a green building assessment for Vietnam.

Table 2: Questionnaire format for the general categories

Table 3: Questionnaire format for the energy use

Table 4: Questionnaire format for the water efficiency

After getting all of results of the survey, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) will be used, which is a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions. Based on mathematics and psychology, it was developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s. It has particular application in group decision making, and is used around the world in a wide variety of decision situations. The AHP helps decision makers find one that best suits their goal and their understanding of the problem. It provides a comprehensive and rational framework for structuring a decision problem, for representing and quantifying its elements, for relating those elements to overall goals, and for evaluating alternative solutions. This method allows determining the weights (significances) of hierarchically non-structured or particular hierarchical level criteria in respect of those belonging to a higher level. A computer bases programme will be established to calculate the overall level of greenness.

Conclusion

Each region, countries have their own characteristics on weather conditions and climate. The research is expected to lead to a number of important conclusions about "green architecture" because perspective on this as direction for construction with the application of design principles climate, conserving energy and materials, selection of equipment to provide efficient energy services for the project, using clean and renewable energy is applied the methods of water and waste management. As minimizing the adverse impacts to the external environment, improving the living environment inside, the green building will also provide better facilities for users, improve productivity, reduce operation costs and maintenance, etc. "green house" in each of environmental conditions, specific facilities will be calculated to build the most reasonable way. In the current conditions of Vietnam, it is not eligible for the overall research, development and strategies for green architecture. The learning experience from the world can help shorten the boot steps on this field; moreover, it also is a foundation for later research. Through this study of the method and evaluation technology of green building, we can draw some conclusions as follows: (1) the green building evaluation involves in environmental impact, building materials greening, construction product greening, human health and comfort, the economy of construction, the requirements for sustainable development and many other factors, so the green building evaluation is a multi-goal, multi-factor Hall three dimensions structure system engineering methodology, studies the problems of green building evaluation and established the green building evaluation system theory frame. (2) How to establish a complete, scientific and effective green building evaluation index system is the key point of green architecture evaluation.

2012

2013

Activity

Time period

DEC

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

Finding and reading previous literature

2 months

Designing materials

1 month

Learning how to use method

2 weeks

Designing questionnaire

1 month

Finding participants

2 months

Running tests

1 month

Analyzing data

1 month

Writing up

4 months

Rewriting

1 month

Thorough proof-reading (if possible also by someone else)

3 weeks

Time schedule