Buildings: Environmental Challenges
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, buildings account for 39% of total energy use, 12% of the total water consumption, 68% of total electricity consumption, and 38% of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. These statistics clearly demonstrate the extensive impact that buildings have on the environment.
The traditional approaches to building construction, operations and maintenance, and demolition pose significant environmental challenges including the following.
First Costs
Initial capital investments, perceived and actual, can have a big impact on whether or not a green building project is pursued.
- The real and perceived first costs associated with sustainable design and construction often deters building design and construction professionals from green building projects.
- Green building technologies and products that are in fact more expensive serve as barriers in the industry.
Knowledge Gap
Within the building industry, there is a lack of education on green building. Professionals need to be educated on both the environmental impacts of products and practices and the feasibility of green building projects. In the current market:
- Building professionals are becoming more aware of the environmental impacts of certain products and practices, but the need for education is still present (life cycle assessment as one mechanism).
- There exists a knowledge gap between perceived and actual costs.
- Developers see new practices as a risk.
- Professionals are more comfortable with the status quo.
- Budget, not an integrated design process, is seen as the primary determinant.
In contrast, actual market research shows that green building cost premiums may be less than perceived, considering the following: A study by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative estimates that the average premium for green buildings is slightly less than 2%, or $3 - $5/sq ft.
The vast majority of current research shows that early stages planning in the design phase is the crucial element in successful green building projects, not project budget.
Investment in Operations & Maintenance
Investment in operations & maintenance is a barrier to more sustainable buildings. Green operations and maintenance require investment in capital and human resources. To increase the efficiency of a building and lessen its environmental impact, building owners must:
- Make investments in capital to improve the systems and equipment in a building
- Spend time training building occupants to maintain the building properly
- Allocate administrative time to create operations and maintenance policies
