1.0 Introduction
“It is not easy being green” – Kermit the Frog, (1972). There is no single definition of what constitutes a green building, but it can be loosely defined as one in which all the materials and systems are designed with an emphasis on their integration into a whole, for the purpose of minimizing their impacts on the occupant and their environment. This includes such issues as building siting, materials selection, energy efficiency, water conservation, construction waste management, indoor air quality and others.
The green refers to a method of design and construction that minimizes burden on our natural resources and the environment. A building which adopts the best practices of environmental technology, for optimizing the use of natural resources for providing the clean and cost effective working ambience. Green building concept has the following attributes:
- Eco-friendly structure and environment.
- Utilizing minimum natural resources and preserving them for future generation.
- Sustainability i.e. having internal means of generating resources as far as possible.
- Conservation of energy by means of smart device.
- Using recyclable materials.
- User-friendly environment, work practices and discipline.
- Create a quality building that is commercially viable.
As an innovation in the Nigeria construction industry there should be a holistic approach to the design and construction of buildings. All the resources that go into the building be the materials, fuels or the contribution of the users need to be considered if sustenance architecture is to be produced.
Producing green buildings involves resolving many conflicting issues and requirement. Each design decision has environmental implications. A green building places high priority on health, environmental and resource conservation performance over its life cycle. These new priorities expand and complement the classical building concerns.
Most green buildings are of high-quality buildings, they last longer, cost less to operate and maintain, and provide greater occupant satisfaction than standard development. Sophisticated buyers and lessors prefer them and often prefer to pay a premium for their advantages. What surprises many people unfamiliar with this design movement is that good green building often cost little or no more to build than conventional designs. Commitment to better performance, close teamwork throughout the design process or stages, openness to new approaches and information on how these are best applied are more important than a large construction budget.
1.1 Background of the Study
The fundamental purposes of green building as innovation in Nigeria construction industry is to have the ability to adapt, respond and to take advantage of opportunities offered by natural ventilation, lightening, heating, and cooling resulting to savings by cutting down in its imported energy requirement. However, green building utilizing sophisticated monitoring technology and are able to alert occupiers to imminent faults thus saving the more costly maintenance at a latter day. By providing an environment that is capable of adapting to individual or collective requirements, green building can produce a comfortable atmosphere and help to raise the productivity of the people who live and work within it.
A green building should be robust in its design allowing it to respond to a personal or organization changing requirement mood and taste. It is on this background that the benefit of green building should be measured in terms of its environmental, economic, and social impacts.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Traditionally, buildings are viewed as a passive element of Workplace or dwelling. Today's innovation is seeking it to be as a dynamic structure that supports the people and evolving technologies to make the physical environment more comfortable, interactive, secure, productive and cost effective. The traditional building materials and other construction/industrial waste are recycled economically and beneficially for the Nigeria construction industry.
How can the government and construction industry in Nigeria are convinced to start implementing changes in material selection that would result in decreased environmental loadings and see the need to start demanding the use of environmentally less damaging construction materials, processes and activities. The problem now is how these can fully be embraced as an innovation in Nigeria construction industry.
1.3 Aim and Objectives
1.3.1 Aim:
Professionals in the construction industry opine that, conventional building development and construction practices are no larger sustainable and that green building design and construction can greatly reduce the effect of construction industry on the environment.
Hence, green building concept today is becoming part of standard practice the world over especially in Europe and United States of America. Its development has been very encouraging despite inherent potentials.
Thus the project work seek to examine, analyze and profer solution to the attendant problems.
1.3.2 Objectives
The proposal came up with the following objectives:
- To ascertain whether green building are eco-friendly structures and environmentally friendly.
- To encourage regular use of recyclable materials.
- To create quality building that are commercially viable.
- Adopt environmentally sound and healthy work practices during both construction and occupancy.
1.4 Research Question
- What are the similarities, differences and components of green building?
- Are green building more expensive?
- Does green building minimize external pollution and environmental damage?
- In what ways can the problems associated with the green building be solved?
- Is green building of high quality over conventional building?
1.5 Scope and Delimitation
A major challenge to green building as innovation in Nigeria construction industry is the apparent lack of knowledge on green building concept by the built environment professionals. This knowledge gap impedes the ability of construction professional to fully apply knowledge in the design and construction of green buildings.
This project work seeks to increase the awareness that green building and its components are more valuable,
Cheaper and impact less on the environment than the conventional ones. However, it was not possible for the project to cover all aspects of green building as innovation rather it is just a few to exciting possibilities that are being explored at modern age.
The work is not made to be exhaustive, rather it serves as an introduction to some ideas that could revolutionalize the way building are designed and constructed with materials that are eco-friendly, cheaper, durable, attractive to tenants and intelligent.
1.6 Justification and Significance of the Study
Statistics has shown that pace of change and innovation is now so great that in construction industry, we are now experiencing a technological growth similar to that of the entire industrial revolution every 12 months. This shows the level reached so far by construction industry and it's professional to the effect of green building.
Building construction and design are changing in response to many divers environmental concerns, globalization, increase in less maintenance cost, advance information technology and so on. This project work discusses few of the possibilities that are being explored at the Nigerian building industry.
1.7 Definition of Key Terms
A. Intelligent Building:
An intelligent building is any building that incorporates technological communication systems that do everything from controlling the buildings environment, lighting and security to maintaining high-speed data network and emergency backup generators.
B. Green Building:
These are buildings that adopt the best practices of environmental technology for optimizing the use for natural resources for providing the clean and cost effective working ambience.
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