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In developed nations, 20-40% of greenhouse gas emissions and more than one-third of energy consumption are attributable to buildings. Among various available strategies, the building sector has the greatest potential for carbon emission reduction. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) took early action to promote sustainable designs in buildings and has become the most well-known rating system in the field of building sustainability. However, little research has evaluated the effects of LEED on occupant pro-environmental behavior. To examine this, a Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) was conducted in a traditional, green featured, and LEED certified building case to compare the similarities and differences in environmental awareness, perceptions, and perceived ease or difficulty of pro-environmental behaviors, as well as to assess the degree to which pro-environmental behaviors were exhibited by occupants. This was used to determine if the aforementioned factors influence occupant behavior in different building cases. Ease or difficulty of pro-environmental behaviors and environmental awareness were found to be significant factors in influencing pro-environmental behavior in the LEED certified and green featured building cases. In addition, being in a LEED building appears to influence occupant pro-environmental behavior in a positive way. Also, there is evidence to suggest that being in a green featured building appears to influence occupants to exhibit pro-environmental behavior as well. These findings are valuable for owners and designers that want occupants in their buildings to exhibit pro-environmental behavior. / Master of Science

Water conservation efforts have led to a decrease of flow rates in buildings, increasing water retention time (WRT) and sometimes opportunistic pathogens (OPs) growth. A novel experiment with replicated distal pipes operated at commonly used flow rates was designed to evaluate the effects of water age, flush frequency, flow rate, pipe diameter, water temperature, disinfectant residual presence, and microbial regrowth in hot and cold pipes. In cold water, total bacterial regrowth was a function of water age, plateauing after approximately 6 days at cell counts 20 times higher than influent water with minimal disinfectants. In warm (40 °C) water, most regrowth occurred in the heater tank, reducing the relative growth in the pipes. When cold water with ~1 mg/L chloramine was present, cold-water total bacteria regrowth plateaued after about 2 days WRT with cell counts 14 times higher than influent water, but regrowth still occurred in the heater tank. With 1 mg/L chloramine and elevated heater temperature (60 °C), regrowth in the tank was suppressed and cell counts in the pipes increased 82 times above cold-water influent levels at 7.5 days WRT. Legionella spp. and Mycobacterium spp. demonstrated opposite responses to flow rate with chloramine minimization. The highest levels of Legionella spp. (1.7 log higher than influent) were present when flow velocity was >2 feet per second (fps), but the highest levels of Mycobacterium spp. (1.5 log higher than influent) were observed at the lowest flow velocity (0.33 fps). This study highlights the tradeoffs between water conservation and water quality. / Master of Science / Regulations that decrease flow rates of faucets and showers have driven water conservation in buildings, increasing the time water sits in pipes and tanks (i.e., water retention time or WRT) elevating the likelihood of harmful bacterial growth. A novel faucet rig was designed to carry out a comprehensive experiment revealing the combined effects of WRT, flush frequency, flow rate, pipe diameter, water temperature, and disinfectant residual presence on water quality at the tap. In water without disinfectant, growth in cold water pipes increased with WRT, but in hot water the growth of bacteria occurred mostly in the warm water tank at 40 °C, which is a temperature known to leave a system vulnerable to bacterial growth. Cold pipes with a disinfectant residual saw a decrease in bacterial regrowth in comparison to cold pipes without disinfectant. However, if there was a disinfectant residual and an elevated water heater temperature set point in the tank, regrowth occurred when water was in the pipes at room temperature and there were lower disinfectant residuals. Potentially harmful bacteria, like Legionella spp. and Mycobacterium spp., which cause Legionnaires' disease and nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) infections, grew more readily at higher flow rates, whereas others grew less readily, but all harmful bacteria were reduced by lowering WRT to less than ≈ 2 days and maintaining the water at 60 °C with a disinfectant. This study has important implications for regulations requiring minimum disinfectant levels to buildings, faucet flow rates regulations, and design and operation of building plumbing systems.

Environmental sustainability in regards to infrastructure and the built environment is a significant consideration for the Department of National Defence (DND). As the 2nd largest landowner in Canada, the DND is making great efforts to operate in a sustainable manner through the creation and implementation of sustainable building policies. Meeting the green/sustainable buildings requirements of the recent Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, and the 2006 DND Sustainable Development Strategy to achieve accreditation within generic green building systems, has proven to be extremely challenging given the mandate and the nature of Canadian Forces (CF) operations, both domestically and overseas. This line of research was conducted in order to identify the unique requirements and the sustainability factors/criteria that are applicable to the CF / DND and to investigate how to best align these requirements within the context of sustainable development strategies. Input data was obtained through an analysis of literature and relevant documents, as well as a series of interviews with individuals at all levels within the Federal Government. The result of this research undertaking was, in part, the creation of a Sustainable Development for DND based on a thorough, comprehensive and internationally-investigated factor selection process. These results illustrate the importance for the DND to consider implementing a department-specific sustainable building strategy; one that is more representative of the unique type of infrastructure DND owns and operates. The results of such an investigation can surely be used to assist with best practices and strategic policies within DND and to potentially influence policies at the Federal level of governance in this regard. The ultimate goal of this thesis was to establish the policy framework with a view for DND to develop and implement its own unique Sustainability Standard. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-29 14:21:37.63

Sustainable construction projects are expanding in the market and green codes andstandards are advancing giving the ground for development of technology and materialsapplied. With every new material and technology utilised in the field, also risks aregrowing. The importance of risk management in sustainable construction projects isthus increasing and more experience and expertise is needed. So, the purpose of thisthesis is to examine and gain deeper understanding of project related risks in sustainableconstruction projects in Swedish companies operating in built environment. It is crucialto gain knowledge of good practices within the industry to be able to propose furtherinvestigation of the subject that could improve the existing risk management andsustainable construction project goals.This thesis examines the existing theory of the risk management process and sustainableprojects by shedding light on the trends within the construction industry. The intentionof the thesis is to add value to the existing gap in the theory that suggests thatconstruction industry is exposed to more risks and uncertainty than perhaps otherindustries, and that introducing sustainability adds more uncertainties and risks. Thisphenomenon is claimed to be due to the lack of knowledge and experience in the areaand, thus, practitioners seek for new ways how to tackle the arising issues. This thesisattempts to display how Swedish companies who are working with green and highperformance buildings identify and deal with risks.Two Swedish companies operating in built environment were chosen in order toinvestigate different ways of dealing with risks and the trend of sustainability inconstruction. Those in charge of risk and sustainability within the companies wereinterviewed applying semi-structured interviews and additional information wasgathered through multiple sources, such as annual reports, web pages and otherdocuments. This thesis has exploratory and qualitative research design and appliesabductive approach for the purpose and the nature of phenomena.The findings showed the different tools how risk management is applied in thecompanies and how it is related to the risks faced in green building construction. Theresults showed the importance of tools applied tackling sustainable construction projectsthat companies have applied and added to their processes in order to manageuncertainties that could occur if these processes were not implemented. As regards thegeneralisability towards findings, there still could be added more companies and futureresearch could imply also maturity of the companies to make findings more precise.However, after consideration of the processes learnt from companies, the proposedmodel for achievement of successful sustainable construction projects can be followedand applied in other companies operating in this industry.

<div> <p>The residential building sector is one of the most energy intensive sectors in today’s civilization. With population growth and a rise in number of homeowners the effect is bound to worsen. A wave of green and sustainable strategies is on the rise hoping to moderate some of the negative effect on the environment. From embracing renewable sources of energy as an alternative to fossil fuels, to improving existing home systems to become more efficient, the construction industry is evolving into becoming more energy conscious. One of the biggest obstacles to this wave is a lack of awareness and a fear of initial costs among contractors, homeowners and clients alike. This research will use Life Cycle Cost Analysis on a varying combination of residential energy systems and the researcher hopes to establish the trade-off between initial investment and long-term benefits. The case being considered is a residence located in Indiana, US. Using past and current utility bills and energy simulation data of different energy consuming systems in the residence over its lifetime, economic models are generated. This research establishes that a combination of passive and active energy conservation measures results in the lowest life cycle cost. The study will be beneficial for further research and as a framework for residential life cycle cost analysis.</p></div>

This paper explores how education for environmental literacy can be integrated into America's public school system. It investigates the benefits of environmental education and how green school buildings, sustainable cafeterias, school gardens and environmental education curriculum can be used to teach for environmental literacy at all grade levels. Includes sample lesson plan.

Plug loads—traditionally viewed as behaviorally motivated and beyond the control of designers and operations—are now seen as an integral part of achieving low-energy building targets. Higher education institutions are increasingly recognizing the environmental impacts of campus facilities through holistic approaches to energy savings including energy efficient design and occupant engagement. Residence halls are a compelling example because students bring large numbers of electronics to their rooms and have unlimited access to power for an all-inclusive room rate and resource usage competitions and campaigns are commonplace. However, limited research exists on residence halls plug loads. This dissertation asked the following of residence halls: (1) What are the measured plug loads and how do they compare with design estimates? (2) What role do building design characteristics play in plug loads? (3) What are the specific occupant behaviors that could influence future design? (4) How can plug loads be better understood in terms of behavior, design, and operations? To answer these questions, a sequential mixed methods study included field measurements and student surveys in six residence halls on three Oregon campuses followed by 24 interviews with designers, operators, and students. Findings suggest that plug loads in occupied residence halls are higher and usage profiles differ from design predictions. Results do not show significant correlations between design characteristics and plug loads but suggest that some room/suite level features may play a somewhat stronger role. Survey responses indicated that students are doing more with fewer smart devices, which suggests opportunities for students sharing energy intensive devices. Lighting emerged as both a practical and a social consideration. Finally, the data revealed “balance of power” as a coherent process that explicates the relationships between design, operations, and behavior. Designers have the power to recommend plug load strategies and technologies but are limited by costs, maintenance, and political concerns; operations personnel have the power to impose limits on student power usage but are often reluctant to interfere with the overall living experience; and students have the power to use plug load electricity with few restrictions. This suggests that the balance may be skewed toward student behavior.

As the world becomes aware of its limited resources it is increasingly important to consider the development of buildings which could respond to the requirements of sustainability. During the last decades the development of the so-called green buildings has been gaining momentum through the implementation of appropriate reference standards, new technologies, innovative design strategies and processes. Such changes introduced new challenges for all subjects involved and, most of all, the need of working with new technologies and services through fully-integrated processes. Designers are also affected by such issue and, within this scope, project management plays a key role for the optimization of the design-project development. This research analyzes the design process of four case-study projects from the project management perspective taking into consideration all sustainability-related tasks and activities that negatively affected the project design development. A new methodology was created in order to analyze the design process and evaluate the effect of detected project-management issues under three main independent variables related to costs, time and sustainability. The research makes full use of the Lean approach to classify the issues, or wastes, experienced during the different design processes and to identify possible solutions for the process optimization. The four case studies are referred to four real projects developed in different European countries under the LEED and BREEAM reference standards. More specifically the four projects are: - One nursing-home located Northern Italy certified under the LEED reference standard. - One school-complex located in Northern Italy certified under the LEED reference standard. - One office building located in Barcelona (Spain) certified under the LEED reference standard. - One office building located in South-East of Spain certified under the BREEAM reference standard. The final scope of the research is to develop a methodology for the analysis of the green-building design processes from the project management perspective in order to identify the problems occurred, optimize the process and provide a tool to prevent unnecessary wastes of money, time and sustainability features. / Cada vez mas el mundo toma consciencia de que la disponibilidad de recursos naturales es limitada y el desarrollo de edificios sostenibles se está convirtiendo en una necesidad. Durante las últimas decadas el desarrollo de edificios sostenibles ha sido impulsada por el desarrollo de protocolos especificos, nuevas tecnologias, diseños y procesos inovadores. Dichos cambios han implicado nuevos retos para todos los sujetos involucrados y, sobretodo, la necesidad de operar con nuevas technologías y servicios a través de procesos integrados. Los proyectistas también quedan afectados por dichos cambios y el project management juega un papel imprescindible de cara a la optimización de procesos de diseño integrados. Esta investigación analiza el proceso de diseño de cuatro casos de studio desde el punto de vista del project management enfocando la atención en las actividades relacionadas con la sostenibilidad que afectaron negativamente el desarrollo de los procesos. Se desarrolla una nueva metodología para analizar el proceso de diseño y evaluar los efectos de eventuales fallos experimentados durante los procesos de project management desde la perspectiva de tres variables independientes relacionadas con: costes, tiempos y sostenibilidad. La investigación implementa los conceptos de la metodología Lean para la clasificación de los fallos, o desperdicios, occurridos durante el desarrollo de los varios procesos y para identificar posibles soluciones de cara a la optimización del proceso. Los cuatro casos de estudio están relacionados a cuatro proyectos reales desarrollados en diferentes estados Europeos a través de los protocolos LEED y BREEAM. Mas en detalle los proyectos son - Una residencia para mayores ubicada en Italia del Norte y certificada a través del protocolo LEED. - Un complejo escolar ubicado en Italia del Norte y certificado a través del protocolo LEED. - Un edificio para oficinas ubicado en Barcelona (España) y certificado a través del protocolo LEED. - Un edificio para oficinas ubicado en el Sureste de España y certificado a través del protocolo BREEAM. El objetivo final de la presente investigación es el desarrollo de una nueva metodología para el análisis de los procesos de diseño para edificios sostenibles desde el punto de vista del project management para identificar los problemas occurridos, optimizar el proceso y proporcionar una herramienta a los futuros técnicos para prevenir el desperdicio de dinero, tiempo y caracteristicas de sostenibilidad. / Cada vegada més el món té una major consciència que la disponibilitat de recursos naturals és limitada i el desenvolupament d'edificis sostenibles s'està convertint en una necessitat. Durant les últimes dècades el desenvolupament d'edificis sostenibles ha estat impulsat pel desenvolupament de protocols específics, noves tecnologies, dissenys i processos innovadors. Aquests canvis han implicat nous reptes per a tots els subjectes involucrats i, sobretot, la necessitat d'operar amb noves tecnologies i serveis a través de processos integrats. Els projectistes també queden afectats per aquests canvis i el project management juga un paper imprescindible de cara a l'optimització de processos de disseny integrats. Esta investigació analitza el procés de disseny de quatre casos d' estudi des del punt de vista del project management fixant l'atenció en les activitats relacionades amb la sostenibilitat que van afectar negativament el desenvolupament dels processos. Es va a desenvolupar una nova metodologia per analitzar el procés de disseny i avaluar els efectes d'eventuals errors experimentats durant els processos de project management des de la perspectiva de tres variables independents relacionades como son: costos, temps i sostenibilitat. La investigació implementa els conceptes de la metodologia Lean per a la classificació dels errors, o deixalles, aparegudes durant el desenvolupament dels diversos processos, per identificar possibles solucions de cara a l'optimització dels processos. Els quatre casos d'estudi estan relacionats a quatre projectes reals desenvolupats en diferents estats Europeus a través dels protocols LEED i BREEAM: - Una residència per a gent major situada a Itàlia del Nord i certificada mitjançant el protocol LEED. - Un complex escolar situat a Itàlia del Nord i certificat a través del protocol LEED. - Un edifici per a oficines situat a Barcelona (Espanya) i certificat a través del protocol LEED. - Un edifici per a oficines situat en el Sud Este d'Espanya i certificat a través del protocol BREEAM. L'objectiu final de la present investigació és el desenvolupament d'una nova metodologia per a l'anàlisi dels processos de disseny en edificis sostenibles des del punt de vista del project management, per identificar els problemes possibles, optimitzar els processos i proporcionar una eina als futurs tècnics per prevenir el malbaratament de diners, temps i característiques de sostenibilitat. / Orsi, A. (2017). THE DEVELOPMENT OF GREEN-BUILDING PROJECTS: OPTIMIZATION OF THE PROJECT-MANAGEMENT PROCESSES THROUGH THE LEAN APPROACH [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/89098 / TESIS

That the construction and real estate sector is one of the energy culprits in modern society is nothing new; the industry needs to take its responsibility for sustainability and start building for future generations. This sparked an interest in us and therefore we chose to investigate whether there is an increased demand for sustainably built homes in today’s real estate market. To get an idea of the research situation, we chose to look at studies from around the world. These studies showed a relatively high willingness to pay for sustainably built housing. During our groundwork, we found a lack of research from the Nordic countries, and decided to begin this study with focus on the Swedish real estate market. In order to find out the study's question: Is there an increased demand for sustainably built homes in today's real estate market?, we chose to conduct semi-structured interviews. We interviewed five relevant actors from the swedish real estate industry who were able to share their experience and knowledge of sustainability, the industry and demand. Four of these were representatives of real estate developers and one works as a real estate agent. In the result part of the essay we come to the conclusion, with the help of the respondents, that there is anincreased demand for Green Buildings in comparison with non-sustainable built housing. During the interviews, it also emerged that there is higher demand in the commercial market than for those who buy a home for their own use. What this is due to is not entirely clear, but it is rooted in different types of financial incentives. Commercial players have a more long-term investment plan when buying properties than customers who buy for private use. This means that the lower monthly operating costs that an ecologically built home provides have a longer time to repay the initially higher investment cost. This in connection with ever higher conditions from BBR (Boverkets Building Law) places different demands on commercial buyers than private home buyers, which in turn affects demand. Further research with additional developers and real estate agents is needed to create an even clearer picture of exactly how high the demand is. Carrying out quantitative studies in the future with data on sales prices can provide a more accurate picture of the exact willingness to pay for sustainability in the real estate sector.