Green Building Handbook: Volume 1

A Guide to Building Products and their Impact on the Environment

Tom Woolley, Sam Kimmins, Rob Harrison, Paul Harrison

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• ISBN:
  9781135811594
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Environmentally responsible building involves resolving many conflicting issues and requirements. Each stage in the design process from the fundamental decisions about what, where and even whether to build has implications for the environment.
Evolving out of the success of Green Building Digest, a publication described by Building Design as well-researched, authoritative and exhaustive, this practical new handbook considers the environmental issues which relate to the production, use and disposal of key building products and materials. It is designed to help specifiers and purchasers gain awareness of the potential environmental impact of their decisions.
Chapter by chapter Green Building Handbook looks at a different sector of the trade from flooring to roofing, comparing the environmental effects of commonly available products with less well known green alternatives. A Best Buy section then ranks these products from lowest to highest impact.

Part 1
Introduction

1
Green Building

The body is a complex thing with many constituent parts, and to understand the behaviour of a whole living body you must apply the laws of physics to its parts not to the whole. ¼We peel our way down the hierarchy until we reach units so simple that, for everyday purposes, we no longer feel the need to ask questions about them.

Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (1)

1.1
The Nature of Green Building

There is a lot of general and rather superficial literature on green issues, much of it about social and economic policy or doom and gloom on the future of the planet. Many people who want to behave in an environmentally friendly way find such literature frustrating because it is often preaching to the converted. What they want to know, is not so much the general picture, though this is of course important, but more practical information on how to actually do things. They may come up against gurus who talk about holistic theories or a strange new esoteric language. Instead we have tried to create easy-to-manage packages which allow specifiers and clients to understand what is going on and to take responsible decisions about what to do. This is one of the main objects of the handbook. In this chapter, the background to this approach is explained through a brief review of the theories and basic principles of green building.

1.1.1
What is a Green Building?

It is necessary to explain the meaning of the term Green Building, why we are concerned with it and to set in context the writing of the digests which follow. We have to explain the methodology which underpins the assessment of products and materials and how you can decide whether something qualifies as green or not. In order to deal with these questions it is necessary to examine the philosophies which underlie environmental thinking and to warn the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about the issues raised rather than simply accepting that anyone has the final answers at this stage.

Plate 1. London Wildlife Trust Education Centre, Marsden Road, East Dulwich, South East London.

Photo: Architype Ltd

The relationship between this work and the fundamental principles of community technical aid and user participation in design are also examined because we firmly believe that genuine environmental action is only meaningful if it involves ordinary people taking charge of their environment at a local level.

Most people buying this book may already have concern for the environment. Though the word Green may have put some people off as it has political connotations, others deride it as a passing architectural stylistic fashion of buildings made out of unseasoned timber and grass roofs.

We assume that buildings are green if they if they look hand made and are built of natural materials…but working in aluminium and glass might in the long run create a more genuinely sustainable architecture.

Deyan Sudjic²

Sudjic’s viewpoint comes from an attitude to architecture in which stylistic questions tend to be considered more important than environmental ones. But Sudjic alerts us to the danger of assuming that because a building looks superficially green it is creating less damage to the environment than one that looks ‘high tech’ or post modern.

For a building to be green it is essential for the environmental impact of all its constituent parts and design decisions to be evaluated. This is a much more thorough exercise than simply adding a few green elements such as a grass roof or a solar panel. The purpose of the digest is to help designers, specifiers and clients to make relatively objective decisions about the environmental impact of materials, products and building solutions with some reasonably hard facts, at least as far as the current state of the art (or science) permits.

Many people avoid the use of the term green altogether, especially those operating in a more commercial environment. They will talk about environmentally friendly buildings or sustainable development. Are these terms euphemisms or do they mean something different? There is undoubtedly a need for some people to distance themselves from activists who climb up trees or dig tunnels in the path of new roads. There are many who fear that such associations will frighten off the relatively conservative construction industry which is just as involved in road construction as building houses or visitor centres.

Our approach is far less timid. The word green is unequivocal, it is a symbol of a desire to create a built environment which meets a whole range of criteria, without any fudging or attempts to soften the blow. Sadly there are those whose concern for the environment only extends to possible fresh marketing opportunities and it is not uncommon for companies to add environmental credentials to their advertising literature. So we don’t apologise for talking about Green Buildings. On the other hand we have tried very hard to ensure that the information which has been digested is as objective as possible and relies on scientific and practical evidence, not ideological commitment. The aim has been to allow the reader to make ideological decisions rather than mixing this up with the practical data. Where there are questions about the issues being raised then this is made very explicit in the text.

We have also had to deal with the question of opposition from manufacturers and other vested interests in the current construction industry who might object to their product or material not being presented in the best light. Our approach has not been to launch attacks on companies, nor focus on the environmental crimes of particular companies, even though such activity is, sadly, all too common. This would have given the digest too negative an edge and is perhaps better done elsewhere. The negative environmental impacts of materials is a key issue in the digest and even this could be seen as being antagonistic to industry. In the case of PVC, the British Plastics Federation objected to our draft of the issue on rainwater goods and we decided to print their response in that chapter, so that readers can make up their own minds about both sides of the argument.

1.1.2
Defining Green Building

So how do others define green building?

Robert and Brenda Vale say:

“that a green approach to the built environment involves a holistic approach to the design of buildings; that all the resources that go into a building, be they materials, fuels or the contribution of the users need to be considered if a sustainable architecture is to be produced.”³

Stuart Johnson talks about

“how the environmental impact of individual properties can be mitigated.”⁴

Sim Van Der Ryn and Stuart Cowan tell us we must

“infuse the design of products, buildings and landscapes with a rich and detailed understanding of ecology.”⁵

There are many such statements, too many to review here, but a comprehensive bibliography on the subject can be found at the end of the book. However, from a review of the literature the conclusion can be drawn that the words Green, Sustainable, Environmental, Ecological and so on are interchangeable. The nuances of their use depend on the context and the audience and thus the novice in the field will not get too much clear guidance from these labels. On the other hand it is important to be as clear as possible about the methodology employed to assess materials and products and methods of building and we cannot assume that everyone is talking about the same thing. There are undoubtedly many different shades of green!

In any case, general statements do not bring us much closer to a detailed understanding of how to create green buildings and as clients increasingly ask for their buildings to be green or environmentally friendly, professionals and construction industry bodies are having to wrestle with these issues. For instance, the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), a mainstream construction industry body, defines ^asustainable construction^o as

“the creation and responsible management of a healthy built environment based on resource efficient and ecological principles”.⁶

BSRIA tell us that these principles include:

• Minimising non-renewable resource consumption
• Enhancing the natural environment
• Eliminating or minimising the use of toxins thus combining energy efficiency with the impact of materials on occupants.

Consultants, Sustainable Development Services in Seattle, USA, who provide a special consultancy service to clients, tell us that they provide analysis and integrated solutions in the following functional areas:

• Energy conservation
• Pollution prevention
• Resource efficiency
• Systems Integration
• Life Cycle Costing

They try to interpose themselves between clients and architects and builders to ensure that capital development proposals “reconcile the cultural, ecological and economic needs of society,” before a brief or designs have been prepared.⁷

An examination of these statements makes it clear that producing green buildings involves resolving many conflicting issues and requirements. Each design decision, even the decision about what to build or where to build or even whether to build at all has environmental implications. Decisions about layout, relationship with site, the effects of wind and weather, possible use of solar energy, orientation, shading, ventilation, specification of materials and structural systems, must all be evaluated in terms of their impact on the environment and the occupants of buildings.

Green building is not simply about protecting the biosphere and natural resources from over-exploitation or over-consumption, nor is it simply about saving energy to reduce our heating bills, it considers the impact of buildings and materials on occupants and the impact of our lives on the future of the Earth.

1.2
Principles of Green Building

Because of the complexity of these issues it has been found useful to group consideration of green building under four headings. These are set out below with examples of the sorts of green building measures that can be taken under each of the headings:

(a) Reducing Energy in Use

for example

Use maximum possible low embodied energy insulation, but with good ventilation

Use low energy lighting and electrical appliances

Use efficient, low pollution heating

Make use of passive and active solar energy wherever feasible

Use passive and natural ventilation systems rather than mechanical

(b) Minimising External Pollution and Environmental Damage

for example

Design in harmonious relationship with the surroundings

Avoid destruction of natural habitats

Re-use rainwater on site

Treat and recycle waste water on site if possible

Try to minimise extraction of materials unless good environmental controls exist and avoid materials which produce damaging chemicals as a by product

Do not dump waste materials off site but re-use on site

(c) Reducing Embodied Energy and Resource Depletion

for example

Use locally sourced materials

Use materials found on site

Minimise use of imported materials

Use materials from sustainably managed sources

Keep use of materials from non renewable sources to a minimum

Use low energy materials, keeping high embodied energy materials to a minimum

Use second hand/recycled materials where appropriate

Re-use existing buildings and structures instead of always assuming that new buildings are required

(d) Minimising Internal Pollution and Damage to Health

for example

Use non toxic material, or low emission materials

Avoid fibres from insulation materials getting into the atmosphere

Ensure good natural ventilation

Reduce dust and allergens

Reduce impact of electromagnetic fields (EMFs)

Create positive character in the building and relationship with site

Involve users in design and management of building and evaluating environmental choices

1.2.1
Embodied Energy

An important principle in the above four principles is that of Embodied Energy. This is a topic of concern to many academics and researchers but as yet there is no internationally agreed method for calculating embodied energy. The term has already been mentioned in this chapter but it is worth examining it more closely as it is so central to the understanding of green building thinking. Essentially, calculating embodied energy enables one to evaluate the global rather than the local impact of particular materials and products. For instance an energy conscious householder may wish to install UPVC double glazing under the impression that this will be an environmentally friendly thing to do. However an embodied energy calculation might show that the energy used in manufacturing and transpor...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Part 1 Introduction
• Part 2 Product Analysis & Materials Specification