Sustainable Building and Construction - International Environmental ...

Sustainable Building and Construction
programme and the initial concept phase is indispensable. This should involve
officials and professionals from all scopes, users and could even include discussions
with residents or neighbours.
Social Equity
and Cultural
Issues
Resources
Economic
Constraints
Emissions Biodiversity
Environmental
Quality
Illustration 9: The
“Sustainability Triangle”,
connecting ecological, economic
and social dimensions.
Another leading point for sustainable building is also the indoor air quality of
buildings. Buildings can be called the human beings third skin (clothes can be named
as the second skin). The indoor conditions of buildings play a significant role for the
heath and well being of their users, because people do spend generally a lot of their
lifetime in buildings for residential or working purpose, especially in urban areas and
in regions where the outdoor climate is out of the comfort zone for human beings.
Thus the building envelope is generally closed and the conditioning of a building
required. The building design and the selected technology for heating, cooling,
ventilation and lighting are interacting and directly linked to the health and wellbeing
of the users as well as the energy consumption of the building. The use of “healthy”
materials and appropriate technologies can avoid the so called “Sick Building
Syndrome” and therefore reduce monetary and non-monetary costs.
“Ventilation and air infiltration into buildings represent a substantial energy
demand which can account for between 25% to over 50% of a building's total
space heating (or cooling) needs. Unnecessary or excessive air change can therefore
have an important impact on global energy use. On the other hand insufficient
ventilation may result in poor indoor air quality and consequential health problems.”
(AIVC, Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre, available at :
http://www.aivc.org/About_Aivc/about.html
The estimated loss of productivity through health costs and absence of work in the
European Union amounts between 5 and 15%. (According to Carrie, Fr., Andersson,
P., Wouters, P.; Improving Ductwork – A time for tighter air distribution systems;
AIVC publication 1999)
All aspects of sustainability including questions such as urban planning, city
infrastructure (energy and water supply, transport, waste and sewage management),
Site development (decentralised measures for sewage and water management),
planning law, building regulations (stability and fire safety) and architecture as well as
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