Green Building Initiatives Research Articles

SUSTAINABLE GREEN BUILDING INITIATIVES IN MALAYSIA: ISSUES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION PRACTICES

In recent years, green building practices have received tremendous global attention for their ability to protect the environment and foster sustainable development, and Malaysia, one of the fastest-growing countries, is enthusiastically embracing the green building movement. However, throughout the construction period of this green building, many issues occurred that contributed to the deterioration of the performance of the building itself. This research aims to identify the main issues faced by green building projects in Malaysia to ensure the performance of the building can be maintained and improved, by using a questionnaire survey that collects the views of 72 experienced participants. The findings reveal that operation and maintenance are urgent issues that need to be addressed in Malaysian green building projects, underscoring the need for policy intervention. Overall, this study can support the regulation of green building maintenance, underlining the critical nature of recognizing and addressing these issues collectively to foster the growth and success of green building initiatives in the Malaysian construction industry, thereby contributing to a more sustainable construction environment throughout the country.

A Model for Implementing Green Building Techniques in Indian Public Sector Constructions

Abstract Green building’s development reduces the reliance on fossil fuels and reduces the total negative environmental effect. The main objective of this research is to develop a model for the implementation of green practises in the public sector constructions in India. We aimed to assess local construction professionals' knowledge and comprehension of green building construction in the public sector by distributing an empirical questionnaire to them. Participants were asked to rate their knowledge, understanding, and importance of the eight withholding factors and six contributing factors identified in the seminal literature. We use analysis techniques like descriptive and factor analysis such as descriptive and factor analyses to analyse the survey responses. A comprehensive model proposed to facilitate the purpose of promoting the successful adoption of green building practises within India's public sector construction projects was primarily based on the insights gained from factor analysis. Based on the findings of this study, the author suggests a model for implementing green building techniques in Indian public sector constructions. The model discusses obstacles to green building initiatives, considers implementation variables, and offers suggestions such as policy ease, and green building promotion.

Green buildings and their impact on health outcomes and dietary intake: What do we know?

Background: While numerous research has been conducted on the energy efficiency advantages of green buildings, there remains a limited exploration of their effects on individuals’ health conditions and dietary intake. Green building’s structure and design aim to reduce the impact on the surrounding environments while also helping to improve the quality of health of individuals who live within them.Aim: The objective of this study was to examine the impact of green buildings on health outcomes and dietary intake.Method: Using four databases (Agricola, EBSCO, PubMed, and Web of Science), search of literature was directed with the following keywords: green buildings, green homes, built environment, housing design, health outcomes, dietary patterns, dietary intake, eating behavior, food choices, and others. We reviewed 33 articles, and 19 met our inclusion criteria.Results: The synthesis of literature revealed four overarching themes: the association between green buildings and respiratory diseases, mental health, dietary intake, and physical activity level. Our findings suggest an association between green buildings and the improvement of certain health conditions, including asthma, depression, and obesity.Conclusion: The results emphasize the necessity for additional research to investigate the sustained impact of green buildings on residents’ health and dietary habits over an extended period. The implications of the findings are significant for policymakers, urban planners, and researchers, underscoring the potential of green building initiatives in promoting healthy living environments.

The effect of carbon regulation initiatives on corporate ESG performance in real estate sector: International evidence

This study contributes to the existing literature by examining how carbon regulation initiatives influence corporations' ESG actions in the real estate sector, with a special focus on Environmental (E) performance. Specifically, it investigates if stringent carbon regulations like emissions trading systems (ETS) enhance corporates' ESG performance by analyzing data of listed real estate across 37 countries rated by MSCI. Our findings indicate that implementing ETS leads to heightened environmental responsibility in the real estate sector. This supports North's (1990) institutional theory, highlighting the impact of regulations on organizational behavior and business strategies. Our channel analysis suggests that listed real estate leverages ETS-driven regulations to participate in green building initiatives. However, the study does not find comparable effects on carbon taxes. This research highlights the pivotal role of carbon regulations in shaping sustainable practices in the real estate sector.

Current energy recycling technology for agricultural waste in Malaysia

This article examines the production and use of biomass as a renewable energy source in Malaysia, focusing on the agricultural processing industry. Malaysia produces approximately 168 million tonnes of biomass, including palm oil waste, rice husks, coconut debris, sugar cane waste, urban waste, and forestry waste. The abundance of biomass resources provides a competitive advantage over other renewable energy sources. However, the industry faces restrictions and challenges, such as high disposal costs, high electricity consumption, and related expenses. To address these issues, it is crucial to study the types of biomass available, current technology for biomass energy production (waste-to-energy), and relevant environmental motivations, initiatives, and legislation. This paper analyses the agricultural waste available for energy generation, existing technologies for converting waste into energy, and the role of environmental policies in the agricultural processing business. Energy recycling, which involves utilizing agricultural waste to generate electricity and thermal energy, is proposed as a viable solution. Several technologies are explored, including anaerobic digestion, gasification, incineration/combustion, and pyrolysis, each with advantages and disadvantages. Thermochemical processes are highlighted for their effectiveness, requiring minimal pre-treatment, shorter reaction times, and adaptability to various biomass feedstocks and climatic conditions. The implementation of incentives, initiatives, and policies by the Malaysian government serves as guidelines for the agricultural processing industry to adopt energy recycling practices. By emphasising energy sustainability and promoting green building initiatives, the industry can contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly energy landscape.

The Green Mirror: Reflecting on Sustainability Reporting Practices of Indian and Australian Real Estate Stakeholders

Within the real estate sector, the concept of sustainability has traditionally been associated with green building initiatives. This study broadens the scope by examining environmental disclosure practices across a spectrum of stakeholders, including developers, financiers, suppliers, and advisors, within the real estate sectors of Australia and India. Utilizing the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards to evaluate environmental reporting, this research scrutinizes publicly disclosed company data to assess the sector’s engagement with sustainability. The findings reveal a pronounced focus on emissions and energy, with less attention to other critical factors like biodiversity, materials, and supplier environmental assessment. This selective disclosure suggests a need for a more holistic approach to sustainability reporting. This study also investigates the influence of regional nuances and the integration of international reporting standards, shedding light on the varied practices of sustainability reporting within the industry. Furthermore, this paper examines the relationship between environmental disclosures and financial performance, measured by the economic value added (EVA). It was observed that environmental disclosures do not show a significant correlation with EVA for companies in either country, indicating that current reporting practices do not directly impact financial outcomes as captured by this metric. These findings offer actionable insights for enhancing reporting practices, encouraging a collective approach to address the environmental impacts of real estate, and contributing to the discourse on responsible environmental stewardship.

Obstacles to green building accreditation during operating phases: identifying Challenges and solutions for sustainable development

ABSTRACT Due to environmental benefits, green architecture has become increasingly popular, but many green building assessment systems predominantly evaluate design and construction rather than operational stage. This study seeks to identify the impediments to green building accreditation during the operational phases and investigate potential solutions to these issues. To reach this objective, the study compared international green building standards such as LEED, BREEAM, and Green Star with Chinese green building evaluation guidelines. The study also included functional case studies of certified buildings in order to investigate the obstacles encountered by green building initiatives in greater depth. According to the study, the greatest obstacles to green building accreditation during operating phases are inconsistencies in government regulations, market constraints that impede the developers’ interests, and difficulties in meeting technological criteria. These findings emphasize the imperative need for policymakers, market participants, and technology developers to collaborate and resolve the identified challenges in order to ensure the longevity of green buildings. Overall, this study contributes to the expanding corpus of knowledge on green building practices and offers stakeholders insights to facilitate the development of sustainable structures. By addressing the identified obstacles, the study can maximize the benefits of green buildings and promote eco-friendly building practices.

Spatiotemporal distribution of green-certified buildings and the influencing factors: A study of U.S.

Green building development is a global strategic plan aimed at addressing environmental burdens and reducing energy consumption in the building sector. Currently, research does not adequately reveal the spatiotemporal patterns of green-certified building development and the factors that influence it. To address this gap, this study investigates the dynamic distribution of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified projects in the U.S. by incorporating time effects into spatial regression models. The results reveal that (1) significant regional variations in the spatiotemporal distribution of green-certified buildings (global Moran's index for 2017, 2019 and 2021 are 0.0172, 0.0327 and 0.0622 respectively). (2) Demographic, socioeconomic, environmental, and policymaking factors explain the observed patterns (the mean values of the coefficients of population size, the Caucasian demographic proportion to the total population, income inequality, regional price parity, and average annual temperature were 8236.1383, −18.9113, −533.1024, 365.1813 and 227.1735 respectively). (3) Expedited permitting, reduced fees, and property tax credit or exemption (p-values less than 0.01) are significant policy instruments that promote the implementation of LEED certified projects. The findings offer pivotal insights that enable targeted interventions, informed decisions, and effective resource allocation. Furthermore, it furnishes a reference for strategically siting green building initiatives in the next phase, encompassing zero-energy buildings, green technologies, and low-carbon solutions. Enhancing understanding of complexities in U.S. green-certified building practices, this research acts as an evidence-based cornerstone across sectors. Urban planners can leverage these insights to allocate resources efficiently and steer green-certified projects, for impactful environmental sustainability and community progress. Policymakers can customize incentives based on drivers of adoption, promoting equitable distribution. Meanwhile, construction stakeholders can optimize strategies through decoding temporal and spatial adoption patterns, leading to prudent resource use and project success.

The Evaluation of Green Building’s Feasibility: Comparative Analysis across Different Geological Conditions

Green building materials have nontoxic properties and are made from recycled materials. This means they are, in most cases, created from renewable resources in comparison to non-renewable resources. This research aims to further improve the justification of green buildings and their materials. This is undertaken to determine the validity of such construction techniques. This research utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods through five Australian case studies. The case studies, which are based on new and redeveloped structures, are selected via different geological locations and are evaluated via logical argumentation along with correlation research. Further, the research will address the problem by identifying a variety of green building materials that can be used to substitute non-green building materials. With careful comparisons among the five buildings, the green signs and implementation advantages and disadvantages will be evaluated. The result of this comparison will assist in improving the current education around the topic of green building and benefit the overall response to positive change within the construction industry. Although green building initiatives are not difficult to apply, they can be cost efficient. To maximize their cost efficiency, these initiatives need to be fully adopted. This includes the adaptation of specific building orientation, design, and sealing off penetrations to greatly improve passive heating and cooling. Further, the use of rainwater tanks also assists with energy efficiency by reducing the amount of mains water used. The utilization of natural lighting along with an advanced solar power system would further reduce the overall energy usage.

Analyze the development trend of green building in China

The development of green buildings has emerged as an unavoidable trend in the construction industry in response to the public's demand for a gradual increase in the environmental standards for home building during the emergence of the epidemic. The author collected the number of green building initiatives and green building development policies over the years to analyze the development tendency of green buildings in China. The findings indicate that green construction has a bright future in China. China places a great priority on the construction of green structures and has made it a cornerstone of its national strategy.

Enhanced Indoor Environmental Quality and the Link to Individual Productivity and Organisational Performance: A Scoping Review

This paper provides a scoping literature review of research methods that seek to measure individual productivity and organisational performance in office buildings containing enhanced green building features and initiatives that focus on Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). The paper follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework and includes thirty-nine academic papers for the period 2000 to 2020. Different research instruments are discussed, including post-occupancy evaluations (POE), longitudinal surveys, and interviews. Furthermore, a narrative focuses on specific measures, including location, amenities, comfort, engagement, individual productivity, and organisational performance. This provides insight into common research approaches and highlights where lesser used research approaches could be applied in the field of green building features and initiatives (GBFIs), including the assessment of individual productivity and organisational performance. Key findings highlight that individual productivity was measured via self-assessment in previous research. At the same time, there has been no research that has successfully measured organisational performance within the context of GBFIs. Gaps have been identified in the literature concerning the relationship between knowledge-based building occupants and measuring/monetising the implementation of GBFIs. Implications of this research indicate that there are common approaches that highlight both strengths and, more importantly, weaknesses concerning linking GBFIs to individual productivity and organisational performance. Addressing weaknesses that predominantly encompass measuring organisational performance creates the opportunity for future research in this field.

Assessing contextual factors for sustainable development: a case study of LEED-certified projects in Jordan

PurposeThe researchers analyzed factors affecting the adoption of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green-building certification system in Jordan, including financial performance of certified projects along with broader barriers that may impact developers’ interest in LEED.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first reviewed online data for all LEED registered and certified projects in Jordan, recruited LEED-certified project stakeholders, collected documents related to LEED projects and conducted LEED category credit summaries, financial cost-benefit analyses and spot-checking reported values in local markets. The authors then visited projects sites and interviewed various project stakeholders to understand better stakeholders' decision-making processes concerning LEED and relevant factors (financial, branding, cultural, political, etc.).FindingsObtaining LEED certification in Jordan was financially feasible as evinced in both the quantitative analysis and interviews. However, the authors found that there was very limited interest in LEED among Jordanian developers. Barriers included widespread cynicism toward green building concepts as well as a lack of local expertise in installing and maintaining green technologies. To overcome these barriers, the authors recommend that green building initiatives place a greater emphasis on education and public-promotion activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe research data were limited to projects that had successfully achieved LEED certification. Broader qualitative research conducted across the Jordanian building community could provide additional insights, but such an investigation is beyond the scope of the current study.Originality/valueThe complexity of adapting a Western green building standard (LEED) to a non-Western context is discussed in detail. The findings suggest that understanding regional development challenges, local markets and cultural differences is vital for successfully implementing green building certification systems.

Implementation Strategies of Building Information Modelling towards Sustainable Residential Construction Project in Malaysia

There are major challenges in regards to building information implementation strategies in achieving sustainable residential construction projects in Malaysia, namely project management team's lack of knowledge, the high cost in training, lack of technology infrastructure and software readiness, no support for the management to change from conventional method to BIM application. Therefore, this paper is aimed to appraise the BIM implementation in achieving sustainable residential construction in Malaysia in terms of its challenges and implementation strategies. This paper is undertaken based on data gathering via literature review, which is then analysed and validated by an expert focus group inclusive of 2 developers, 2 consultants, and 1 contractor with more than 20 years of experience in the BIM application. It is found that the challenges in BIM to achieve sustainable residential construction projects in Malaysia are lack of BIM technical knowledge, difficulties in accessing BIM technology and its framework, absence of appropriate BIM guidelines, and insufficient government support for BIM regulation and its implementation. Hence, it is important to propose good implementation strategies in implementing BIM to achieve sustainable residential construction projects in Malaysia, which include proper governments support for BIM initiatives and awareness within the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry players, and provide an incentive for the relevant parties utilising BIM in their project and implement BIM in all government and private projects. The proposed BIM implementation strategies can serve as a guide for the industry player who is involved in the construction project in Malaysia to drive the Public Work Department Strategic Plan 2021-2025 and to support the green building initiatives by The Malaysia Green Building Council (MGBC) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG).

Wool and coir fiber reinforced gypsum ceiling tiles with enhanced stability and acoustic and thermal resistance

An attempt has been made to enhance the properties and applications of gypsum ceiling tiles by utilizing the excellent thermal insulation and flame resistance properties of wool and the durability and strength of coir. Gypsum based ceiling tiles are ubiquitously used for false ceiling applications but have several limitations. Different types of additives, finishes and chemicals have been used to overcome the lack of structural integrity under large impacts, poor resistance to moisture and limited acoustic resistance of gypsum ceiling tiles. Few studies have shown that reinforcing gypsum with natural materials provides better performance properties. Wool and coir are biodegradable natural fibers that are available in large quantities at low costs and have some unique properties suitable for developing green building materials. In this study a blend of wool and coir were used to enhance properties and performance of gypsum ceiling tiles. Composites were manufactured by using 30% fiber and 70% gypsum and varying the proportion of wool and coir between 25–75%. The reinforcing fibers were combined with gypsum using water and no other chemical or additives are necessary, making the production of tiles simple and environmentally friendly. Fiber reinforced gypsum showed higher strength (up to 90% higher) and modulus (up to 7%) and also better resistance to moisture. Wool fibers provided substantially higher moisture resistance while coir provided better strength. A blend of the two fibers provided a flame resistance rating of V1 compared to V0 for pure gypsum. Reinforcing gypsum with coir and wool would not only improve thermal and acoustic properties but will also help to reduce cost and make a major portion of the gypsum ceiling tiles biodegradable and thereby decrease environmental burden and helps towards promoting green building initiatives.

Grease the Green Wheels: A Framework for Expediting the Green Building Movement in the Arab World

It has been over three decades since the term “sustainable development” was coined in Brundtland’s report in 1987, and 28 years have passed since the world’s first sustainability assessment method for buildings was founded by the Building Research Establishment in UK in 1990. During these three decades, many sustainability standards, codes, and rating systems were created and used to help in designing, constructing, maintaining, rating, and labeling buildings with attaining the principles of sustainability. Yet by looking at the Arab world at the beginning of 2019, one can argue that, although the Arab countries have dedicated the effort and budget to save energy, water, and natural resources, the region as a whole is still struggling to shift the paradigm of the building industry from conventional to sustainable. This struggle raises some questions; are there any challenges that Arab countries must overcome to leap forward to a prosperous sustainable building design and construction practices? Why are existing green building rating systems such as Estidama in United Arab Emirates, global sustainability assessment system (GSAS) in Qatar, and ARZ in Lebanon lagging behind the trends of green building rating systems in the developed countries? What are the coordinated steps needed to expedite this movement across the region? The current study explores the limits and potentials of the green building industry in the Arab world through analysis of the green building initiatives, academic scholarship activities in architecture and engineering sectors, and feedback from green building professionals across the Arab world. This article introduces a theoretical framework to expedite the green building movement in the Arab region; the framework is shaped by the environmental, social, and economic factors that are crucial to the transformation of the building industry from conventional to sustainable. The study seeks to support a line of research that could help governments in the Arab world catch up with the global green building trends.

Campus green buildings: Policy implications for the implementing, monitoring and evaluation of campus green building initiatives

Universities play a significant role in creating a sustainable future and transforming societies. As universities move towards environmental sustainability, a valuable contribution from the higher education sector is expected to accelerate the transformation of our cities. Campus green building initiatives are dramatically changing the way campuses are planned, designed, built and managed. However, prioritizing and evaluating campus green building initiatives seems understudied. The study offers an insight into the advantages of implementing green building initiatives in building operation and maintenance in campuses and provides an excellent proving ground to enhance the performance of campus buildings. A set of frameworks and policy implications in terms of investment decision making, facility management, operational quality control, and planning and design are proposed to improve the effectiveness of green building initiatives at higher education buildings. This study sheds light on performance evaluation of campus buildings, which could be used as a reference for the design, construction and operation of sustainable campus buildings. Energy dashboards, revising the automated operation of buildings, facilitating changes in staff and student behaviours, and operational energy performance certification were identified as important campus-wide energy policies.

Data-driven building load profiling and energy management

Commercial buildings consume a lot of energy and contribute a significant part of greenhouse gas emission. Many energy-saving or green-building initiatives were compromised by equipment and human-related faults under the umbrella of poor facility management. Data-driven building energy management is a cost-effective approach to improve energy efficiency of commercial buildings, and gains more and more popularity worldwide with the deployment of smart metering systems. This paper developed a systematic process of using smart metering data to quantify building daily load profiles (i.e. energy consumption patterns) with a set of statistics, e.g. base load, peak load, rising time and so on. Then prediction models of these building load statistics are constructed from historical training data consisting of energy consumption, environment and holiday information. At last residuals of the prediction models are analyzed to form statistical control charts. As a result anomaly energy consumption could be detected by comparing the predicted statistics and observed ones, which will help building managers to locate problems just in time. The effectiveness of the proposed solution is verified through real-world data analysis and computational studies.

Green Buildings: A Need of Future Cities

Growing population, urbanisation, consumption of energy and building construction are directly proportional to each other. Urban expansion scale in India is enormous and this has enhanced building construction sector in many folds, resulting into tremendous pressure on natural environment. Urbanisation in India is less advanced than many other countries. This shows lot of opportunities to change ourselves from energy intensive and resource intensive users to smart and efficient energy users. Such energy and resource efficient infrastructure development will lead towards green buildings. Green building promotion has already begun in India. This work presents authors understandings and learnings about India’s green building initiatives, aspects of green building and the need of green buildings in connection with future cities.

The Challenge of Greening the Existing Residential Buildings in the Egyptian Market Base Case

Existing buildings are the massive percentage of the building stock, and therefore, are the key to improving efficiency; buildings account for an enormous share of the climate change crisis, and approximately 40% of the world total energy consumption (McArthur & Jofeh, 2015). The Egyptian stock of buildings includes about 12 million buildings. 60% of these buildings are residential. The final electricity consumption of the residential buildings in 2010 was 51370 GWh and increased in 2014 to reach 62441 GWh. Thus the share of total energy consumption was 18.8% in 2010 and increased to reach 21.55% in 2014 ("Technology Roadmap - Energy efficient building envelopes.", 2013). Therefore, the residential sector plays an important role in the mitigation of energy consumption crisis, which is expected to increase. The research field and initiatives in Egypt on the green buildings and green buildings retrofits are rare and, if existing, are weakly applied. Unlike in developed countries, there is a large research on building retrofits, e.g., the Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (R-PACE) program and the weatherization assistance program (WAP) of the department of energy (DOE). Both are examples of the incentives to green building initiatives globally. This paper discusses the challenge of greening the existing residential buildings in Egypt by demonstrating an analysis of the motives and the barriers to applying green measures in the Egyptian market. The research methodology comprises the analytical-comparative method. In the analytical part; the paper identifies the current situation of the residential sector energy consumption in Egypt, and the benefits of greening existing buildings for tenants, investors, and owners. In the comparative part, the current situation of Egypt's Green Market Business Case is compared with the international one, discussing the challenge of greening the residential buildings. The paper summarizes the opportunities to improve the building energy efficiency, incentives, and policies that are developed to address significant financial and technical awareness to building efficiency. These policies will help enable critical market actors to make decisions to promote energy efficiency in existing buildings.

A Study of Potential Retroffiting Existing Sultan Ibrahim Heritage Building to Green Building

Green building amount in Malaysia is still in small percentage compared to the other countries. Heritage buildings in one of the old buildings that preserved, carefully, but still not achieved sustainability because there are few factors that will become the barriers. This paper is to identify the potential and the barrier of retrofitting that Sultan Ibrahim building toward green building initiatives. All the information obtained is from the study of literature, distributing questionnaires, and preliminary interviews. The respondents were selected from green building experts, contractors, engineers, and Sultan Ibrahim Building’s staffs. The result of this study shows availability some components in Sultan Ibrahim Building that have potential retrofit and know how far the building availability for retrofit according to green building guideline. Moreover, there are some barriers had been analyzed may be happened during retrofitting Sultan Ibrahim building towards green building.