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EcoARK Pavilion by Miniwiz

 

• Companies are driven by concern for the environment, which is depleted of resources, but also by cost concerns. A green or eco-friendly building saves 8% in operating costs in the first year alone through energy efficiency.
   
• The main goal of green building — also known as sustainable design — is to avoid gobbling up natural resources like energy, raw materials, and water.
   
• Energy-Saving Design in a Green Building- Most green buildings do rely on renewable energy. It’s a key part of what makes a building green and sustainable.
   
• This type of building uses only the energy it can produce on-site, such as solar design and natural cooling. The lighting system integrating modern technology together with the water saving options are designed to avoid unnecessary waste.
   
• Sustainable Building Materials- The green movement uses novel, trendy building materials like reclaimed wood and stone, upcycled aluminum cans, and recycled glass or plastic bottles.
   
• Studies show that fresh air has a bracing effect on employee performance. Some smart buildings have sensors that adjust the fresh air intake according to how many people are in the room.
   
• Here are some uber-creative materials that green builders make out of waste: NewspaperWood, AshCrete, Diaper Roofing, Bark Siding.
   
• One force driving eco-friendly building is government funding. — LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification is designed to ensure best practices for energy use, water efficiency, and renewable resources.

 

 

PARKROYAL on Pickering, Singapore | Video credit WOHAarchitects

 

Cities are major consumers of energy and natural resources, so businesses are turning more often to green buildings. These energy-saving structures are exploding in popularity worldwide. Just 27% of builders were planning mostly green buildings in 2018. By 2021, that number is expected to jump to 47%.

 

Companies are driven by concern for the environment, which is depleted of resources, but also by cost concerns. A green or eco-friendly building saves 8% in operating costs in the first year alone through energy efficiency. If you factor in government incentives to go green, the lure is even stronger.

 

Businesses also care about their employees, who breathe better and live healthier lives in green buildings. Windows flood workspaces with natural light while better ventilation pumps in fresh, clean air.

 

Most of all, green design is creative, with cutting-edge features like rooftop gardens and lights you can control from an app on your phone.

 

The Need for Green and Sustainable Design

The main goal of green building — also known as sustainable design — is to avoid gobbling up natural resources like energy, raw materials, and water.

 

Most buildings are huge consumers of water and electricity. More than a third of global energy consumption comes from buildings and the raw materials they’re made from. While cities cover only 2% of the world’s landmass, they pour out 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

 

The good news is that many countries now encourage green buildings by offering tax breaks and other incentives.

 

Energy-Saving Design in a Green Building

Green buildings excel at fuel efficiency. A zero-energy building is the pinnacle of design for a green building. This type of building uses only the energy it can produce on-site.

 

Not every structure can reach this standard, but most green buildings do rely on renewable energy. It’s a key part of what makes a building green and sustainable.

 

Renewable power sources are the way of the future. They’re expected to increase by 50% by 2024, led by solar energy. That’s a huge increase — equal to the total installed power capacity of the U.S. today.

 

Solar Design

Passive solar design takes advantage of free, abundant sunlight. Solar water heaters circulate water through collectors that capture the sun’s energy. The heated water is then stored in tanks, saving up to two-thirds on the building’s heating bill.

In a technique known as “daylighting,” solar panels and windows are strategically placed to let in light as the sun makes its rounds in the sky.

 

Natural Cooling

Buildings can also be cooled using natural design. Trees and vines planted on the south side of a building provide refreshing shade. And since a hot roof can reach temperatures of 150 degrees Fahrenheit or more in the summer, green design features light-colored roofs. They stay cooler by bouncing the sun’s energy back into the atmosphere.

Since most energy flows into a building through its windows, high-tech windows are now embedded with a thin coating of silver to reflect heat out but still let the light in.

 

 

Photo EcoMENA

 

The Future of Lighting

Most people realize that green buildings are more in tune with nature. But they may not be aware of the cutting-edge technology involved. Green design embraces the latest breakthroughs in science and engineering, along with trendy materials.

When it comes to lighting, green buildings use modern technology to solve old problems. The incandescent bulb is now fading into history. Newer buildings rely on energy-efficient LEDs and smart lights you can control with a swipe of your phone.

Older fluorescent lights plagued offices with harsh lighting that washed out the room and everyone in it. New fluorescent lights use a broad spectrum of colors for a more natural effect while also being energy efficient.

 

Green offices target lighting to specific workstations instead of flooding the room. To turn off those lights when everyone’s gone home, smart building systems use timers and motion sensors.

 

Water Conservation and Green Building Design

Water is an increasingly scarce resource throughout the world. Because it blankets 70% of the earth, there’s a tendency to think it’ll last forever. However, fresh water is quite rare — only 3% of water is potable.

 

It’s expected that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will experience water shortages. That makes water a precious — and expensive — resource.

 

One celebrated feature of green design is the water-saving green roof.

 

Offices with green roofs grow sustainable plants on the tops of their buildings. They’re very popular with employees, who enjoy a lush haven that brings peace and tranquility. They also add an unexpected pop of green amid a sea of steel and glass.

 

But how do these roofs conserve water? When it storms, water runs off traditional buildings, pushing dirt and debris into the street. This stream of water eventually flows into rivers and oceans, causing pollution.

 

In contrast, green roofs absorb water like a sponge. They slowly release it back into the atmosphere, cooling the air and dampening the urban heat island effect. These small oases of greenery make great pollution filters, too — they pull particulates from the air and release life-giving oxygen.

 

As far as the pocketbook goes, green roofs tend to pay for themselves. They’re usually cooler than the surrounding air and can slash the cost of air conditioning by 25%.

Other water-saving options include:

 

• Low-flow toilets and faucets: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that when the average person turns on a water tap, they use 2.2 gallons per minute. Low-flow faucets limit the flow to 1.5 gallons per minute, which could save billions of gallons of water.
• Drip irrigation: This method of watering landscaping reduces water loss compared to traditional sprinkler systems. Irrigation waters plants at their roots so moisture won’t evaporate as quickly.
• Xeriscaping: This form of landscaping reduces water use from a torrent to a trickle. It uses succulents while shying away from plants that are thirsty for water. Local species that don’t require much pampering with a water hose are also an option. Or, just scatter rocks or mulch that don’t need water at all.

 

Healthy Buildings, Healthy Workers

Green design is as beneficial to employees as it is to business owners. People today spend a lot more time indoors breathing air that can be contaminated with gases, chemicals, and hazardous building materials. For instance, chemical gases released from carpet, adhesives, and paint can trigger headaches, breathing problems, and eye irritation.

 

Hazardous materials that have been used in buildings include asbestos, lead, and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). They’re proven to be toxic and are banned in many countries.

 

Eco-friendly construction tries to eliminate these hazards along with the chemical gases known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Traditional wood-finishing chemicals often include these compounds. Green designers might instead choose products from nature like clay, plant dyes, or linseed oil to finish wood.

 

Sustainable Building Materials

The green movement uses novel, trendy building materials like reclaimed wood and stone, upcycled aluminum cans, and recycled glass or plastic bottles.

 

Bamboo is another common component of green construction. Fast-growing trees can still take 50 years to reach harvesting size, but bamboo is the fastest-growing plant in the world. It can grow 4 inches in a day and regrows quickly when cut down, making it the ultimate renewable resource. It’s also stronger than many steel alloys and is immune to termites.

 

For upholstery, natural fibers like linen, cotton, and flax are more environmentally conscious choices. While synthetics are mostly made of plastic that can emit chemical gases, natural fibers don’t emit anything. They can add texture and a soothing vibe to the office interior or even.be used for insulation in the walls.

 

Bringing in Light and Air

Light and air are key design elements in many green buildings. Light is supplied by the sun, and fresh air is brought indoors by cross-ventilation or air exchange systems.

 

Since people can spend up to 90% of their time inside, indoor air quality is in the spotlight. Energy-efficient design might save money, but it can sometimes lead to polluted indoor air. Without ventilation, office workers will be breathing in concentrated forms of everything from mold spores to their colleague’s perfumes.

 

Solutions to this problem can be low-tech, like designing windows for cross-ventilation. They can also be state-of-the-art. Some smart buildings have sensors that adjust the fresh air intake according to how many people are in the room.

 

Good ventilation can sometimes mean slightly higher heating and air-conditioning bills because of energy leakage, but it’s still worth the expense — particularly if the building also uses other energy-efficient design elements to compensate. Employees in buildings with poor air experience everything from fuzzy-headedness to sick building syndrome.

 

Studies show that fresh air has a bracing effect on employee performance:

• Employees in well-ventilated offices can double their brain function.
• Those with windows in their offices sleep better at night.
• Good air can improve work performance by around 8%.

 

Re-Inventing Trash in Green Buildings

It’s a sad truth that the world is awash in trash — humans generate 1.3 billion pounds of it a year. Recycling is on the rise, but people still toss mountains of bottles, cans, and plastic straight into the garbage can. It ends up rotting in landfills or washed into oceans, where it harms sea life.

 

Green builders, however, believe that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Here are some uber-creative materials that green builders make out of waste:

 

NewspaperWood

NewspaperWood is layered paper with a rainbow-colored grain that looks like beautiful tree rings. It’s a tree come full circle — cut down to make paper, then recycled back into a material with wood grain. Some people would rather have the original tree, but it’s better when it’s recycled. It can be used in myriad ways, from wallpaper to building materials.

 

 

IBA AND COMBINED ASH TRANSFORMATION INTO BENEFICIAL STRUCTURES by Ashcrete Technologies

 

AshCrete

Ash from burned coal, which is a hazard in landfills, can be mixed with cement to make a substance called ashcrete. It keeps the ash out of the landfill and conserves cement.

A creative process encapsulates any toxins in the ash so they are never released into the environment. The result: more durable concrete and a chance for the builder to earn green building credits.

 

Diaper Roofing

The world’s first diaper recycling program is called Knowaste. It uses the towering piles of diapers thrown away each year to create plastics, including roofing tiles.

 

Bark Siding

When lumber companies harvest wood, they usually toss the bark. Bark House re-uses the beautifully-textured bark to make durable siding that protects your home just like it once protected a tree.

 

 

Introducing LEED v4 by USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council)

 

Green Building Certification

One force driving eco-friendly building is government funding. There are many regional and national programs that provide grants or low-cost loans for green energy projects. But to score some funding, you usually need green building certification.

 

Certification guarantees you’re using an eco-friendly building process. It starts with picking a building site and continues until the ribbon-cutting after the project is done.

 

Worldwide, there are hundreds of green certification programs. One of the best-known is LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This is managed by the U.S. Green Building Council. It’s the most widely used green rating system in the world. LEED certification is designed to ensure best practices for energy use, water efficiency, and renewable resources.

 

But how does LEED certification help your business? Here are some benefits:

• $1.2 billion in energy costs saved from 2015–2018
• $149.5 million in water costs saved
• $715.3 million in reduced maintenance costs saved
• $54.2 million in savings from recycled waste products

 

Green Buildings Are for Visionaries

While a green building may cost a bit more to design and construct, the energy savings alone will bring a return on the investment in about six years. Green buildings are for visionaries who don’t want to scrimp on costs at the beginning of a project only to pay more in the long run.

 

They’re also for businesses that take employee satisfaction and the health of the environment seriously.

 

If you’re a visionary, too, take a look at the innovative design at Miniwiz. Our award-winning engineering with a global reach creates high-functioning style that’s built to last. We transform single-use plastic, metal, glass, and other waste materials into cutting-edge architecture, building products, fabrics, and furniture. You can find our resource guide here.

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