Green building is cost-effective

1. Upfront investment in green building makes properties more valuable, with an average expected increase in value of 4 percent. By virtue of lowered maintenance and energy costs the return on investment from green building is rapid: green retrofit projects are generally expected to pay for itself in just seven years. 3

Addressing energy use in the built environment is just one aspect of the carbon reduction challenge, according to The Footprint Company chief executive Dr Caroline Noller. Addressing the embodied carbon in building materials is also vital.

Dr Noller told The Fifth Estate international data showed that more than 50 per cent of global carbon emissions ended up in a building or infrastructure material of some kind.

The Living Building Challenge™ is an attempt to dramatically raise the bar from a paradigm of doing less harm to one in which we view our role as a steward and co-creator of a true Living Future. The Challenge defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment today and acts to rapidly diminish the gap between current limits and the end-game positive solutions we seek.

The original policy issued by The Science Council of Japan was in Japanese, and this English article summarises the policy that outlined a roadmap to realize a healthy low-carbon society. The aim of the policy is to build a low carbon footprint and high environmental performance. There are four parts as below: 

(1) Increasing motivation for new, healthy, low-carbon lifestyles and behavioral changes

Cities need to become ‘smarter’ if we are to save the planet. John Dora, editor of a special issue of ICE Engineering Sustainability journal on smart cities, says the ingenuity of civil engineers will be essential for their delivery.

Covering roofs and walls of buildings with vegetation is a good way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And these green roofs and walls make cities look nicer. Toronto’s central business district adopted a policy of establishing green roofs on around half of all city buildings in 2009. Research shows this could reduce maximum city temperatures by up to 5℃.

Read the full article on The Conversation.