Att arbeta mot en miljöcertifiering innebär att följa och implementera hållbarhetsprinciper och miljövänliga metoder inom verksamheten. Ur både byggherrens och entreprenörens perspektiv, innebär det att sträva efter hållbarhet och miljöprestanda. Det innefattar att minska koldioxidavtryck, främja resurseffektivitet och efterleva specifika miljöstandarder. För byggherren betyder det att integrera gröna och energieffektiva lösningar i byggnadsdesignen, vilket kan öka fastighetens värde och attraktivitet på marknaden. Utöver att minska miljöpåverkan skapar det också en hälsosam och produktiv inomhusmiljö. Det kan attrahera investerare och hyresgäster med hållbarhetsfokus. Breeam kan hjälpa byggherren att demonstrera sitt engagemang för hållbarhet och möta regleringskrav. Detta kan innebära ökad initialinvestering men ge långsiktiga vinster genom minskade driftkostnader och en positiv miljöpåverkan. Entreprenören måste säkerställa att byggprocessen uppfyller Breeam-kraven genom att använda miljövänliga material, effektiva byggmetoder och system. Det inkluderar energianvändning, avfallshantering och kemikalieanvändning, vilket ofta kräver dokumentation, övervakning och ständig förbättring. Detta kräver ökad expertis med specialiserade leverantörer. Trots initiala utmaningar kan det ge långsiktiga fördelar genom att stärka företagets hållbarhetsrykte och differentiera det på marknaden.  I slutändan kan samarbetet kring Breeam gynna både byggherren och entreprenören genom att skapa hållbara och konkurrenskraftiga byggnadsprojekt, Breeam är en gemensam strävan mot byggande som främjar både ekonomiskt värde och miljömedvetenhet.

No description available.

Climate conditions nowadays are looking critical where the construction and property sector is a major contributing factor. The construction industry stands for one third of Sweden’s total energy use, which has led to different environmental goals and energy requirements that the industry needed to adapt to reduce environmental emissions. In association with this has durability and environmental certifications become one identity marker for companies that strives to make a difference and for users who choose to support them. Growing demand and increased environmental awareness have characterized the construction industry. The most popular environmental certifications on the Swedish market today is: BREEAM, LEED, GreenBuilding and Miljöbyggnad. BREEAM and LEED are the most recognized systems internationally and considers both the building and and the surrounding area. GreenBuilding focuses only on the buildings energy consumption and how to reduce it. Miljöbyggnad is the commonly used system in Sweden and focuses on the building itself.  Miljöbyggnad is a Swedish certification system that is handled and developed by Sweden Green Building Council (SGBC) since 2011 and focuses on the building itself. The building is assessed by 15 different indicators within three segments: energy, indoor environment and material. This Work is limited to examine only Miljöbyggnad four indicators: energy consumption, solar heat load, heating needs and ventilation regarding an ongoing housing unit in cooperation with SWENCN AB.  The aim of this work was to calculate monthly energy consumption for the reference building. Furthermore, was the aim to rate the four indicators according to Miljöbyggnad grade system: bronze, silver and gold and finally see what happens if the household electricity is neglected and can energy efficiency regarding household electricity paradoxically result in that the building appears to be inferior.  The result of this thesis shows that the buildings active heating season is five out of twelve months. Solar thermal load is calculated to a value of 66 W/m2 floor area and because of that did not meet up the criteria for bronze. Heating needs meets up to the criteria for bronze with a value of 21,5 W/m2 , Aom.  and the buildings energy use for gold with a value of 49 kWh/m2, (Atemp), year. Household electricity contributes to increased passive heating and counts because of that as “free energy” which decreases the need for active heating, the building is considered as better. If the household electricity instead is neglected it will increase the heating demand and the building appears to be inferior. The conclusions of this work indicate that the big uncertainty lies in judging how people's habits affects the energy use. The building is currently under production which has led to that static average numbers have been used, and because of that margin of error can in some cases become big. As a result of that should any changes and adjustments updates when the building is put in use. It's easier and more effective to reach gold in the planning stage when there are opportunities to choose building components with lower U-value.

During the past few years an increased attention has been paid to environmental issues in the construction and property sector in Sweden. In order to simplify the work with these issues a Swedish environmental certification system for buildings called Miljöbyggnad has been developed. This thesis aims to investigate the opinion of a selected number of selected property owners of Miljöbyggnad. From that basis recommendations and actions for the future work with the system will be presented. The investigation has been conducted through personal interviews with five property owners. The main issues that the interviews have been based on are their purpose, experiences, perceived complications and future prospects in terms of certification using Miljöbyggnad. The system intends to be cost-effective, simple and to offer a relevant environmental assessment of buildings and the result from the report indicates that this is largely fulfilled. All respondents believe that Miljöbyggnad offers a relevant environmental assessment. All of them also believe that the system is simple except for some complications and 80 % believe that the system is cost-effective. In terms of the future, all interviewed property owners will most likely certify buildings under Miljöbyggnad, some to a greater extent than others. The conclusion from this investigation is that the system needs to be dynamic. Adaption to the social, environmental, technical, economical and legal conditions that prevail is vital. However, it is recommended that Miljöbyggnad retains its simplicity and avoid growing to become too comprehensive.

Hållbar utveckling har haft en växande inverkan på bygg- och fastighetsbranschen under de två senaste decennierna och en rad frivilliga miljöcertifieringssystem för byggnader har vuxit fram, däribland BREEAM och LEED, som idag är de två mest igenkända och internationella certifieringssystemen, samtidigt som allt fler länder bestämmer sig för att ansluta sig till denna gröna rörelse och utvecklar egna, nationella miljöcertifieringssystem för byggnader. Att bygga grönt och kunna verifiera detta med en certifieringsstämpel är idag en betydande och synlig aspekt, men fortfarande är det bara en sida av en mycket bredare strategi för hållbara affärer som sträcker sig in i företagets strategi och ledarskap, integrerad förvaltning och rapportering samt företagens miljöanpassning. Många nyckelaktörer i dessa branscher söker alltmer erkännande för sina hållbarhetsmeriter och har börjat utforska kopplingarna mellan hållbarhet och värde. I detta syfte använder allt fler bygg- och fastighetsbolag, investerare och företag så kallade gröna byggnader eller miljöcertifieringssystem för att placera sina byggnader isär från resten. Ett företag som idag väljer att utveckla, äga eller hyra en miljöcertifierad byggnad kommer att behöva fatta beslut om vilket system är att föredra – ett lokalt certifieringssystem, som är mer anpassat till de nationella förhållandena, eller ett internationellt. Aktörerna på den svenska bygg- och fastighetsmarknaden har agerat försiktigt, trots sitt utvecklade miljöarbete, när det gäller tillämpningen av miljöcertifieringssystemen, vilket gör att Sverige just nu ligger efter i antalet certifierade byggnader, och därmed tillgången till den kvantitativa databasen över dessa som skulle kunna bidra till en närmare undersökning av värdekopplingarna. Vi kan inte påstå att de barriärer, som anses hålla tillbaka spridningen av miljöcertifieringssystemen i Sverige, i form av bland annat ovilja att betala högre produktionskostnader vid tillämpningen av dessa, är borta idag, men vi kan notera att alltfler företag börjar känna av dynamiken i utvecklingen runt omkring sig och väljer att ansluta sig till den gröna rörelsen. De största fördelar med miljöcertifieringssystemen på den kommersiella marknaden i Sverige idag verkar vara:  Konkurrensfördelar, som även stärker varumärket och visar att företaget tar sitt miljöansvar.  Framtida hygienfaktor, som gör att företagen väljer att satsa på det redan idag.  Ett lättbegripligt kommunikationsmedel från tredje part. På bostadsmarknaden kan det idag inte observeras någon efterfrågan alls efter miljöcertifierade byggnader enligt de intervjuade. Detta kan till största del förklaras med att de privata konsumenterna än så länge fortfarande efterfrågar andra, mer traditionella faktorer vid val av sin bostad, såsom läge, pris och funktion. Med det underlag vi har samlat in under arbetets gång kan vi inte dra några generella slutsatser, men en trolig utveckling på bostadsmarknaden kan vara att efterfrågan kan komma efter att antalet certifierade byggnader ökar. Över tiden, när det finns tillräckligt många miljöcertifierade byggnader, kan det komma att leda till att det, likt den troliga utvecklingen på den kommersiella marknaden, blir en viktigivfaktor som kommer att övervägas tillsammans med de traditionella faktorerna vid valet av bostad. Utvecklingen av klimatarbetet har hittills huvudsakligen kretsat kring energieffektiviseringsfrågor. Miljöcertifierade byggnader kan i framtiden komma att innebära kvalitetsbyggnader. Det är även troligt att fokus kommer så småningom att flytta från energifrågan till byggnadsmaterial- samt inomhusmiljö aspekter. Medan utvecklingen av miljöcertifieringssystemen sannolikt kommer leda till att även innefatta de ekonomiska och sociala hållbarhetsfaktorerna, vilket innebär en mycket större samverkan mellan allt som finns och händer runt omkring en byggnad och gör den till en spindel i nätet. / Sustainable development has had a growing impact on building and real estate industry during the past two decades and a number of voluntary environmental rating systems for buildings have emerged, including BREEAM and LEED, which today are the two most recognized and international rating systems, whilst the increasing number of countries decide to join the green movement and develop own national environmental rating systems for buildings. To build green and to be able to verify that with a certification stamp is today a significant and visible aspect, but still it is only one side of a much broader approach for sustainable businesses that extends into corporate strategy and leadership, integrated management and reporting and corporate environmental adjustment. Many key stakeholders in these industries are increasingly looking for recognition of their sustainability credentials and started to explore the linkages between sustainability and value. For this purpose the increasing number of construction and real estate companies, investors and corporates are using so-called green buildings or environmental rating systems to set their buildings apart from the rest. A company that today chooses to develop, own or occupy an environmentally rated building will need to decide which system is preferable – a local rating system, which is better suited to the national context, or an international one. The stakeholders of the Swedish building and real estate industry have acted cautiously, despite its advanced environmental work, as regards the application of environmental rating systems, which means that Sweden is currently lagging behind in the number of rated buildings and thus the access to the quantitative database of these which could contribute to a closer examination of the value linkages. We cannot say that the barriers which are considered to hold back the spread of environmental rating systems in Sweden, in the shape of, among others, unwillingness to pay higher production costs when applying these systems, are gone today, but we can note that the increasing number of companies are beginning to feel the dynamics of the development around them and choose to join the green movement. The main benefits of certification systems in the commercial market in Sweden today seem to be:  Competitive benefits that also strengthens the brand and demonstrate that the company takes its environmental responsibility.  Future hygiene factor that makes companies choose to go for it already today.  An easily understandable communication means from a third-party. In the today’s residential market it cannot be observed any demand at all for environmentally rated buildings, according to the interviewees. This can be explained by that the private consumers up to now still are seeking for other, more traditional factors when choosing their accommodation, such as location, price and function. With the information that we have gathered during our work we cannot draw any general conclusions, but a likely development in the residential market can be that demand can come after the number of rated buildings increases. Over time, when there are a sufficient amount of rated buildings, it can lead to that, like the possible development in the commercial market, it will be an important factor that will be considered along with the traditional factors in the choice of accommodation. Environmentally rated buildings may in the future come to mean quality buildings. It is also probable that the focus will eventually move from energy issue to the building materials and indoor environment aspects. While the development of rating systems probably will expand to also include the economic and social sustainability factors, which means a much greater collaboration between all that exists and going on around a building and makes it into a spider in the web.

The motivation for development of energy efficiency and implementation of novel advanced materials applied in buildings can be traced to increasing energy costs in conjunction with an enhanced environmental awareness among people. This doctoral dissertation presents contributions towards sustainable building, where factors such as building technology, energy efficiency in buildings, workers' health issues during construction measures, and certain economic considerations for renovation of buildings have been considered. The research study aims to provide a knowledge base for motivating building owners to renovate buildings based on energy efficiency and improved indoor environment. The initial phase of the research study identifies a detailed description of common drivers, expected in renovation projects by building owners. In the second phase, an information base is identified which may facilitate the bidding processes for decision makers by means of technological, social and economic aspects. The aforementioned information base can also contribute to attentive decisions regarding sustainable renovation and energy saving measures. A strategy was developed within the Renovation Workshop of Riksbyggen, in order to promote energy saving measures concurrent with major renovations in residential buildings. This operational decision support process was applied in a tenant owners' cooperative in Sweden. The objective of this process was to showcase and more importantly to implement energy saving measures, based on knowledge transfer between different parties involved in the renovation project. For the conducted case study, this process was shown to be of great importance when decisions regarding energy saving measures in conjunction with scheduled renovations are being planned. A unique case study was conducted on two of the most commonly used environmental certification programs for buildings in Sweden; Environmental Building (Miljöbyggnad) and GreenBuilding. Following a granted access to a limited database of submitted applications to Sweden Green Building Council, the most common mistakes in these were identified and categorized. This study contributed to further understanding about the level of ability among building consultants, comprehension of environmental certification, and enhancement of the ability to produce high-quality calculations concerning building-related energy usage. In addition, this insight can provide a basis for planning of continuing education of consultants within the field of building technology. For a church building, a study was conducted subsequent to an exchange of an existing electric coil heating system to a hydronic ground source heat pump system. Analyses of the energy demand and energy signature, prior to and after installation were carried out. The replacement of the original heating system with a ground source heat pump system for the church building constitutes a reduced energy consumption level of approximately 66%, at the average outside temperature of -2.30 °C. This study demonstrated that data from a detailed electric bill can be utilized in order to obtain the energy signature of the building and henceforth assess the energy savings. One aspect of the research, examined the decision making process related to sustainable renovation and refurbishment in buildings. The utilized methodology identified three distinct phases in order to instigate an engagement in sustainable renovation, by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. In particular, the attitudes of stakeholders in Sweden, Denmark and Cyprus to sustainable building were studied through three separate case studies. Within the framework of this study, it was identified that building physics and durability are among the most important drivers for energy renovation. The results provided an insight into the renovation process in the aforementioned countries and identified that drivers such as improvement of indoor air quality and elimination of moisture in the building envelope are also of crucial importance. Another aspect of the conducted research highlights workplace accidents occurring within the Swedish construction sector. The purpose of this study was to serve as a useful tool to track the working environments of construction workers in order to reduce health and safety issues within the construction sector. The findings of this research suggest that despite laws, regulations or additional factors that seek to ensure a safe and healthy environment for construction workers, the Swedish construction work force still faces challenges. Moreover, it is identified that construction workers participating in the study call for additional measures to ensure occupational health and safety. Improved knowledge of economic performance and technical results of renovations can contribute to a snowball effect, with more property owners recognizing the value of energy aspects and thus provide an increased level of energy savings. / <p>QC 20140127</p> / A Concept for promotion of sustainable retrofitting and renovation in Early Stages (ACES)