Environmental Reasons for Building Green – According to World GBC Research
At Varming Consulting Engineers, we are always interested when the results of studies relating to green building design or any green aspect of construction has been released. Everything our M&E engineers do is carried out with long term sustainability in mind.
In this blog, we take a brief look at the results of a 2018 World Green Building Council study which surveyed industry professionals about the main environmental reasons behind building green. Taking into account the opinions of designers, contractors, developers, engineering firms, specialist consultants and architects, the study put questions to respondents in both 2015 and 2018 and were asked to rank the following reasons in order of importance.
- To reduce energy consumption
- To protect natural resources
- To reduce water consumption
- To lower greenhouse gas emissions
- To improve indoor air quality
The results of the study make interesting reading for building services design consultants and M&E Consulting Engineers around the world, as factors like the lowering of greenhouse gas emissions are considered less important than others.
In both 2015 and 2018, the results were largely the same, with the voting showing the reduction of energy consumption as being easily the most important, however there were some notable differences. Asked to give their top 2 reasons why building green is important, the most popular answers were ranked as follows:
- To reduction energy consumption
- To protect natural resources
- To reduce consumption of water
- To lower greenhouse gas emissions
- To improve indoor air quality
The WGBC’s survey took answers from respondents in 20 countries, with results varying from country to country. Various different local factors would seem to be influencing how people view the issue. For example, 63% of respondents in Ireland viewed greenhouse gas emissions as being important when compared with just 18% in Brazil.
What is clear though, is that the reduction of energy consumption is the top reason in whichever country the surveyed was carried out. What’s also seen is that since 2015, there has been a sharp rise in those who think that reduced water consumption, lower greenhouse emissions and improved air quality are important, perhaps suggesting that a more holistic understanding of what green building represents is becoming more widely known on a global basis.
This is a positive sign, as the more widely-understood the reasons for green building are, it would stand to reason that it should lead to increased adoption of green building methods. Time, of course, will tell.
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If you would like to learn more about sustainable design, green buildings or anything else discussed here, please visit us online at www.varming.ie where you’ll find lots of useful information.
However, if you’d like to speak to us directly about your specific needs, call us on +353 (0)1 4872300 where our team of experts is ready and waiting to take your call.
