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Features of a Green Building

A green building incorporates environmental considerations into every stage of the buildingconstruction and focuses on the design, construction, operation and maintenance phases. The keyprocess difference between green and conventional buildings is the concept of integration,whereby a multi-disciplinary team of building professionals work together from the pre-designphase through post-occupancy to optimize the building for environmental sustainability,performance, and cost saving.

Green buildings offer widespread benefits to a number of building industry stakeholders, includingbuilding occupants and society as a whole. Green buildings typically incorporate superior airquality, abundant natural light, access to views and noise control which benefits buildingoccupants, making these building better places to work or live. The major considerations takeninto account are the lot design and development efficiency, energy and water efficiency, resourceefficiency, indoor environmental quality and the buildings overall impact on the environment.

An integral characteristic of a green building is its stress on protecting existing ecologies, andimproving ecologies that may have been damaged in the past. Green buildings are usuallyconstructed on environmentally sensitive lands or previously developed property, with measures

taken to restore plant life. Green buildings also utilize fewer materials, through efficient designand elimination of unnecessary finish materials. In addition, green building operations promotematerial as well as water recycling in their operation.

Energy efficiency is one of the most important factors in almost all green building programs.Careful window selection, building envelope air sealing, duct sealing, proper placement of air andvapour barriers, use of clean energy-powered heating/cooling systems contribute towards anenergy efficient building. Use of renewable energy, such as solar, wind or biomass energy, tomeet energy requirements can significantly reduce carbon footprints of such buildings.

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Green homes lay stress on water conservation by implementing more efficient water delivery andrecycling system. Minimization of water use is another characteristic feature of a green buildingwhich helps in reducing the detrimental effects of water use and its effects on local ecologies,such as aquatic life.

An increase in respiratory ailments and allergies and the use of chemicals that can give off gasfrom materials have greatly contributed to sensitive awareness of the air we breathe inside ourhomes. The green building also focuses on reducing respiratory ailments and allergies by improving

the quality of in-house air by controlling the contamination source, diluting the source, andcapturing the source through filtration.

Green Building Rating Systems

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), BREEAM (BRE Environmental AssessmentMethod) and Green Globes are popular green building assessment and rating systems used aroundthe world. Sustainability is now a top priority in MENA region and countries like Qatar, UAE andLebanon have come up with their own green building rating system to incorporate socio-economic,environmental and cultural aspects in modern architecture. Qatar's Global SustainabilityAssessment System (GSAS) is billed as the world's most comprehensive green building rating systemwhile Abu Dhabi's Pearl Rating System (PRS) has carved a niche of its own in global green buildings

sector.

Green Buildings in the Middle East

The Middle East region has been witnessing rapid developments in the green buildings industry,primarily driven by concerns related to environmental degradation, fossil fuel depletion andenergy inefficiency. Buildings in the Middle East consume more energy than those in other parts ofthe world mainly on account of extremely hot weather and rampant use of glass exteriors.Countries in the region are increasingly promoting energy efficiency as a means to ensure energysecurity which has become a boon for the green buildings industry. The number of LEED-registeredbuildings has increased rapidly across the region, especially in GCC, in the past few years. Some ofthe notable examples of green buildings in the Middle East are Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, KAUST in

Saudi Arabia and Msheireb Downtown Doha in Qatar.

Conclusions

To sum up, green buildings not only contribute towards a sustainable construction andenvironment but it also brings lots of benefits and advantages to building owners and users. Lowerdevelopment costs, lower operating costs, increased comforts, healthier indoor environmentquality, and enhanced durability and less maintenance costs are hallmarks of a typical greenbuilding.