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Bygg- och fastighetssektorn står idag för en betydande andel av de utsläpp som ärdirekt farliga för miljön. Miljöcertifieringar av byggnader är ett led i arbetet med attminska den mänskliga påverkan på miljön inom fastighetsbranschen.Akademiska Hus är ett svenskt och statligt ägt fastighetsbolag som förvaltaruniversitets- och högskolelokaler. Bolaget arbetar aktivt med att minska sinmiljöpåverkan och ett av verktygen i det arbetet är att företaget certifierar samtliganybyggnationer och större ombyggnationer med det svenska certifieringssystemetMiljöbyggnad.Den här studien redovisar hur hyresnivån inom Akademiska Hus fastighetsbeståndpåverkas av att en byggnad är miljöcertifierad. Studien har genomförts genom attskapa statistisk modell baserad på en rad olika variabler som förklarar hyresnivån. Dendata som använts är baserad på hyreskontrakt och attribut för de byggnader somkontrakten tillhör.Resultatet visar att en miljöcertifierad byggnad inom Akademiska Husfastighetsbestånd har tio procent högre hyresnivå i jämförelse med övriga byggnader.Resultatet ligger i linje med både förväntningar och vad tidigare liknande studier visat. / The construction and real estate industry accounts for a significant proportion of theemissions that are directly hazardous to the environment. Environmental certificationsof buildings are part of the work to reduce the human impact on the environmentwithin the real estate industry.Akademiska Hus is a Swedish and state-owned property company that managesuniversity premises. The company works actively to reduce its environmental impactand one of the tools in this process is that the company certifies all new constructionand major renovations with the Swedish certification system Miljöbyggnad.This study reports on how the rent level within Akademiska Hus real estate portfolio isaffected by the fact that a building is certified. This study has been carried out bycreating a statistical model based on a variety of variables that explain the rent level.The data used is based on rental contracts and attributes for the buildings to which thecontract belong.The result shows that an environmental certified building within Akademiska Hus realestate portfolio has a ten percent higher rent level compared to other buildings. Theresult was in line with both expectations and what previous similar studies have shown.

In 2007, Mayor Thomas Menino and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) implemented an amendment to the Boston Zoning Code Article 37 (Green Buildings) requiring new construction approved under Article 80B (Development Review and Approval: Large Project Review) be designed and built to meet the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (USGBC LEED) certification. This amendment is intended to promote green building practices in the city and reduce the environmental impacts of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet. Article 37 does not require that the buildings actually achieve LEED certification, but they need to be LEED certifiable as determined by an interagency review committee and with the endorsement of a LEED Accredited Professional. This study examines how environmental goals have been translated into policy and how this policy has affected building practice in the City of Boston. The Green Buildings amendment was enacted to help curb greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the energy consumption of the building stock and is expected to help achieve the City’s goal of reducing carbon emissions by 25% by the year 2020 and 80% by the year 2050. This is not possible without a shift in the current building and construction paradigm. Through interviews with building professionals we assess whether this building code amendment has resulted in any necessary changes in practice and whether or not those working under the standard of LEED certifiability believe it to be an effective policy.

Yes / Purpose– This paper develops a Knowledge-based (KB) System for Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Maintenance in environmentally Sustainable Buildings (Lean6-SBM). Design/methodology/approach– The Lean6-SBM conceptual framework has been developed using the rule base approach of KB system and joint integration with Gauge Absence Prerequisites (GAP) technique. A comprehensive literature review is given for the main pillars of the framework with a typical output of GAP analysis. Findings– Implementation of LSS in the sustainable building maintenance context requires a pre-assessment of the organisation’s capabilities. A conceptual framework with a design structure is proposed to tackle this issue with the provision of an enhancing strategic and operational decision making hierarchy. Research limitations/implications– Future research work might consider validating this framework in other type of industries. Practical implications– Maintenance activities in environmentally sustainable buildings must take prodigious standards into consideration and, therefore, a robust quality assurance measure has to be integrated. Originality/value– The significance of this research is to present a novel use of hybrid KB/GAP methodologies to develop a Lean6-SBM system. The originality and novelty of this approach will assist in identifying quality perspectives while implementing different maintenance strategies in the sustainable building context. / Ministry of Defence Engineering Services (Sultanate of Oman)

This qualitative research investigates how educators in Hanoi, Vietnam, perceive and utilize place-based approaches in teaching green buildings (TGBs) to deliver education for sustainable development (ESD) lessons. The study involved twelve middle school teachers from five green schools. The interview was the primary data collection of this research. After conducting interviews with participants, thematic analysis was employed to identify five key themes: (1) benefits, (2)limitations, (3) suggestions, (4) planning with TGBs, and (5) teaching activities with place-based education (PBE). The findings revealed that TGBs’ design patterns support their teaching and serve as a tool to foster a stronger connection with nature and the environment, ultimately enhancing pro-sustainable elements in ESD. However, these instructors encounter significant challenges rooted in the Vietnamese cultural context and a lack of support from the school. Teachers can implement some place-based teaching principles into their lessons, but to maximize the teaching potential of TGBs, they must place greater emphasis on the role of place within TGBs and encourage students to be more mindful when learning with TGBs.

<p>Solar thermosiphons integrated into the thermal envelop of buildings has been studied for their potential to take advantage of solar energy in heating buildings. The annual performance of the Solar Thermal Buffer Zone cannot currently be predicted with the correlations from previous research. Also, no work has been done on using the thermal buffer zone with a natural convection for energy savings in a building even though it has the potential to provide heating. The goal of this project was to design, analyze and determine the feasibility of a thermal buffer zone in a building. A thermal buffer zone can be defined as a fluid filled cavity which envelopes a building. This cavity provides a building with additional insulation but also allows for collection of solar energy and to be distributed throughout the structure in order to heat the interior. To show the physical aspect, the flow visualization in the project, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software was used which was experimentally not possible. A physical prototype was then designed and constructed in order to test the effectiveness of the TBZ.</p> <p>This experiment included radiation as the heat source and the ability to vary geometric lengths. The performance parameters of mass flow rate were comparable between the numerical predictions and experimental results. However, due to uncertainties in the current experimental setup, full validation of the numerical model was not possible. These uncertainties would have to be addressed before the numerical model that was developed can be fully validated and used for generating correlations.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Being the major energy consumer of electricity and natural gas, buildings consume more than 70% of electricity and 30% of natural gas. On the way to green buildings and zero energy buildings, investigation and improvement of energy efficiency of the buildings will result in significant reductions in energy demands and CO2 emissions / make cost savings and improve thermal comfort as well. Key steps of a successful green, energy efficient building can be summarized as whole building design, site design, building envelope design, lighting and day lighting design and HVAC system design. Energy Plus&reg / software is mainly developed to simulate the performance of the buildings in the view of the above listed points. The design of a building or the analysis of an existing building with the software will show how efficient the building is or will be, and also helps finding the best efficient choice of the whole building system. Thesis focuses on the effect of changes in building envelope properties. In Turkey, topic of green buildings has recently started to be studied. Therefore, this thesis aims to present efficient technologies providing energy savings in buildings, to present green building concept and alternative energy simulation software. In the context of this study, design, methods and material guidelines are introduced to reduce energy needs of buildings and to bring in the green building design concept. Building and system parameters to enhance building energy efficiency and energy savings together with green building principles are summarized. Moreover, whole building energy analysis methods and simulation steps are explained / year-round simulation is performed for a sample building / as a result, energy savings about 36% is achieved.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to determine the application of green building practices in Stellenbosch. In order to achieve this aim certain objectives had to be met. The first objective was to retrieve national and international literature on green building initiatives. Six main sections were discussed in the literature namely, climate change and the environment, the built environment, the concept of sustainability in cities and buildings, green building designs and practices, green buildings, green building councils and the different green rating systems, with a specific focus on the Green Star SA rating tool. The second objective was to discuss three case scenarios in Stellenbosch that practice green initiatives. The case scenarios selected are Distell Group Limited, Spier wine estate and the new Remgro head office Millenia park. Buildings in Stellenbosch selected by means of probability sampling. A total of 35% of all commercially zoned buildings in the Stellenbosch core were selected to participate in the sample. The land zoning maps from the Stellenbosch municipality was obtained and relevant buildings were sampled. Nine of the sampled buildings were heritage buildings (older than sixty years) and seventeen were buildings from the modernist era (younger than sixty years). Nine architect companies in Stellenbosch were also sampled. The respondents were determined by means of haphazard sampling. The third objective was to design two questionnaires, one for building owners and another for architects. The first questionnaire developed for building owners was divided into two sections. The first section determined what green practices owners are incorporating into their office buildings. These green practices developed in the questionnaire focused on the use of natural light in the buildings, LED lights, indoor ventilation, recycling methods, water saving methods, energy saving methods and whether management plans exist to monitor and evaluate the buildings energy usage. The second section focused on the perception of the building owners. The respondents had to rate the importance of the above mentioned green initiatives on a scale of one 1 (being not at all) to 5 (being very important). The fourth objective was to develop a questionnaire for architects. The questionnaire determined whether green designs are incorporated by architects and if there is a greater demand for green designs by clients. The findings of the study revealed that respondents find natural light and air quality to be the most important aspects in an office. Recycling is applied by 93% of respondents. Less than 10% of respondents have installed solar panels, HAVC systems, rain water harvesting or other water management systems. Architects find that there has been an increase in the demand for green designs, but that there is a lack of knowledge of green initiatives by building practitioners. The main recommendations of the study are that the concept of green development be broadened into other spheres apart from planners. Education and training of green building must be available to all building owners and practitioners. Sustainable materials should be more accessible to building practitioners and these materials should be made available locally. Finally more buildings should be refurbished or renovated rather than be demolished to prevent waste and secure open spaces. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die studie was om die toepassing van groen initiatiewe in Stellenbosch te bepaal. Ten einde hierdie doel te bereik moes daar aan sekere doelwitte voldoen word. Die eerste doelwit was om nasionale en internasionale literatuur oor groen inisiatiewe te verkry. Ses hoof afdelings is bespreek in die literatuur, naamlik verandering van die klimaat en die omgewing, die Beboude-omgewing, die konsep van volhoubaarheid in stede en geboue, groen gebou ontwerp en praktyke, die rade vir omgewings vriendelike geboue en groen evalueering stelsels. Die tweede doelwit was om drie gevalle studies is Stellenbosch te bespreek wat groen inisiatiewe beoefen. Die gevalle studies wat bespreek word is Distell Eiendoms Beperk, Spier landgoedere en Remgro se nuwe hoof gebou Millenia Park. Waarskynlikheids steekproewe is gebruik om die geboue te identifiseer vir die veld werk, ʼn totaal van 35% van al die kommersiëele gesoneerde geboue in die Stellenbosch-kern is geselekteer om deel te neem in die steekproef. Die landsoneringskaarte van die Stellenbosch-munisipaliteit is verkry en betrokke geboue was geselekteer. Nege van die geselekteerde geboue was historiese geboue (ouer as sestig jaar) en sewentien was geboue van die modernistiese era (jonger as sestig jaar). Nege argiteks maatskappye in Stellenbosch is ook geselekteer vir die studie. Die respondente is deur middel van’n lukrake steekproef bepaal. Die derde doelwit was om twee vraelyste te ontwerp, een vir die eienaars van die geboue en die ander vir argitekte. Die eerste vraelys wat ontwikkel is vir die gebou-eienaars is verdeel in twee afdelings. Die eerste afdeling bepaal watter groen praktyke eienaars implimenteer in hul kantoor geboue. Die groen praktyke in die vraelys fokus op die gebruik van natuurlike lig in die geboue, LED ligte, binnenshuis ventilasie, herwinning, water besparing metodes, energie besparing metodes en bestuur planne wat opgetrek is om die energie verbruik van geboue te monitor en te evalueer. Die tweede afdeling van die vraelys fokus op die persepsie van die gebou-eienaars. Die respondente het die belangrikheid van die bogenoemde groen inisiatiewe gradeer op 'n skaal van een 1 (glad nie) tot 5 (baie belangrik). Die vierde doelwit was om 'n vraelys te ontwikkel vir argitekte. Die vraelys bepaal of groen ontwerp op geneem is deur argitekte en indien daar 'n groter aanvraag na groen ontwerpe deur kliënte is. Die bevindings van die studie het getoon dat die respondente natuurlike lig en die gehalte van binnenshuis lug as die belangrikste aspekte in di kantoor ag. Herwinning is deur 93% van respondente toegepas. Minder as 10% van die respondente het sonpanele, HAVC stelsels, reën wateropvangsisteme of ander watersparingssisteme geinstaleer. Argitekte vind dat daar 'n toename in die vraag na groen ontwerpe is, maar dat daar 'n gebrek aan kennis oor groeninisiatiewe is deur prakisynes . Die aanbevelings van die studie is dat die konsep van groen ontwikkeling versprei moet word na ander sfere behalwe beplanners. Inligting en opleiding oor omgewingsvriendelike geboue moet beskikbaar wees aan alle gebou-eienaars en praktisynes. Volhoubare materiale moet meer toeganklik wees vir bou praktisynes en hierdie materiale moet ook plaaslik beskikbaar gestel word. Laastens moet meer geboue opgeknap word eerder as om gesloop te word, om afval te voorkom en oop ruimtes te behou.

Lately the construction industry has become more interested in designing and constructing environmentally friendly buildings (e.g. sustainable buildings) that can provide both high performance and monetary savings. Analyzing various parameters during sustainable design such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and energy consumption, lighting simulation, green building rating system criteria and associated cost of building components at the conceptual design stage is very useful for designers needing to make decisions related to the selection of optimum design alternatives. Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers designers the ability to assess different design options and to select vital energy strategies and systems at the conceptual stage of proposed buildings. This thesis describes a methodology to implement sustainable design for proposed buildings at their conceptual stage. The proposed methodology is to be implemented through the design and development of a model that simplifies the process of designing sustainable buildings, evaluating their Environmental Impacts (EI), assessing their operational and embodied energy and listing their potential accumulated certification points in an integrated environment. Therefore, a Decision Support System (DSS) is developed by using Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques to help design team decides and selects the best type of sustainable building components and design families for proposed projects based on three main criteria (i.e. Environmental, Economical factor «cost efficiency » and Social wellbeing) in an attempt to identify the influence of design variations on the sustainable performance of the whole building. The DSS outcomes are incorporated in an integrated model capable of guiding users when performing sustainable design for building projects. The proposed methodology contains five modules: 1) Database Management System (DBMS), 2) Energy and lighting analysis, 3) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), 4) LEED and 5) Life Cycle Cost (LCC). To improve the workability of the proposed model, a use case of abovementioned modules are going to be created as plug-ins in BIM tool. The successful implementation of such a methodology represents a significant advancement in the ability to attain sustainable design of a building during the early stages, to evaluate its EI, and to list its potentially earned certification points and associated soft costs.

Following thesis deals with analysis about so called "green" administrative buildings and also tries to evaluate their efficiency under the conditions of sustainable development in Czech Republic. Theoretical part describes main reasons for construction such buildings that should lead to sustainable development as a result of reaching so called Triple Bottom Line. It means to ensure the balance among economic, environmental and social aspects. Practical part covers the analysis about efficiency on particular case study of green administrative building owned by CSOB bank.