By Nidhi DhullReviewed by Susha Cheriyedath, M.Sc.Dec 16 2024A recent review article published in the International Journal of Thermofluids explored the role of green buildings (GBs) in achieving the United Nations’ (UN’s) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the related barriers. The review, covering research from 2000 to 2024, was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) guidelines.
Study: The role of green buildings in achieving the sustainable development goals. Image Credit: Vanatchanan/Shutterstock.com
GB Design, Characteristics, and Advantages
GBs can be defined as “the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and deconstruction”. Apart from energy, water, and air quality, GBs seek to enhance the social and economic sustainability of buildings.
GBs are economically reliable and allow investors to fund big business ventures. Moreover, the building's performance is evaluated against occupants’ health and comfort, along with resource consumption and waste. Therefore, GBs have gained remarkable attention from both industry professionals and researchers.
Generally, the consumption of 40% of all energy produced, 32% of non-renewable and renewable resources, 12–16% of the accessible water, 25% of all wood, and 40% of all raw resources is attributed to the building sector. Additionally, this industry generates 30–40% of all solid waste and releases 35–40% of CO2, leading to worldwide awareness about the significance of sustainability and GBs.
Developing GBs has a favorable effect on the climate and environment and offers several fiscal and social advantages. These include reducing pollution, preventing global warming and climate change, utilizing renewable energy sources, enhancing well-being, reducing poverty, boosting the economy, and lowering healthcare costs.
Contribution to SDGs
The relation between GBs and the 17 SDGs varies significantly. Not all of the SDGs are closely tied to GBs; for example, SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 2 ( Zero Hunger), 4 (Quality Education), and 5 (Gender Equality).
Alternatively, SDG3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG15 (Life on Land) are considered strongly related to GBs.
Direct emissions arise from buildings, smoking, paint, and varnish, while indirect emissions are produced by building materials, electricity production, and other infrastructure manufacturing. Implementing GBs can help counter these and realize a clean and targeted zero-emissions environment. Additionally, improving residential housing has implications for financial status and life satisfaction depicted in SDG3.
GBs are built for extended durations. Therefore, they allow the implementation of effective and environmentally friendly water and sewage systems that conserve potable water, process rainfall or gray water, and enable the reuse of treated water. Additionally, GBs can ensure efficient and clean energy usage.
GBs also have several indirect environmental advantages, such as improving the comfort and productivity of people working in these buildings, thereby increasing overall economic profits. Furthermore, GBs enhance urban biodiversity and protect the ecosystems via sustainable land use.
Barriers to GB
Despite the recognized positive effects of GBs on the environment, society, and economy, they are part of only a small percentage of all construction projects in most nations. Additionally, their results are not always satisfying as the environmental sustainability of GBs during their active stage is significantly below the intended values.
According to a field survey with numerous Singapore-based construction firms, five major risk factors exist for commercial GB projects, including inflation, currency and interest rate instability, the longevity of green resources, damages due to human mistakes, and a lack of green goods.
Additionally, the survey findings indicated that while adopting green concepts, supplies, and methods had high risks for commercial GB objectives, they were still less serious than those related to their conventional counterparts in terms of layout modifications and poor construction quality.
The GBs' slow growth is a top worry for several nations. Despite numerous identified important success factors affecting GBs promotion, an agreement on the factors' relative importance is still lacking. Contradicting definitions of green funding for GBs is another main barrier, highlighting the urgent need for the construction industry to establish and execute sustainable standards.
Conclusion and Future Prospects
Overall, the researchers comprehensively analyzed the GBs' contribution to the SDGs. Amongst various factors influencing this contribution of GBs, upper management and sponsor aid, stakeholder standards, and end-user-imposed limitations were identified to be most significant.
Five important success factors were identified for enhancing green renovations in China. These included specific requirements and regulations, an organized plan, recognized governmental schemes, current building assessments and policies, and tax reductions or incentives. Additionally, numerous important green designs have been developed to enhance GBs’ performance, such as visible environmentalism, connection to nature, and environmentally conscious actions.
Notably, further research is required to understand the reason behind the no correlation of some SDGs to GBs. This will help strengthen the relationship between SDGs and GBs.
Journal Reference
Olabi, A. G. et al. (2024). The role of green buildings in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. International Journal of Thermofluids, 101002. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijft.2024.101002, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202724004415
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