GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATION

Many of the largest companies have begun to take strides along the sustainability pathway, along with the small and medium-sized business who are also researching on green. The issue of sustainability has also become a popular and wide-ranging subject in the environmental, energy and construction industry. In addition, benefits from green building are becoming more realistic and valuable under operation cost term, operation management and maintenance procedures. Therefore, GREENVIET will be the best solution for clients who are committed to building sustainable communities. We help our customers benchmark against competition, define sustainability initiatives for optimizing building performance and implement them at a reasonable investment. Benchmark can provide additional value to all levels and sizes of building by focusing on the main elements that create the effective energy usage (e.g. building orientation, building envelope, glazing, minimum efficient coefficient of equipment, ....) and the issues associated with sustainability including green building planning, water re-use, source reduction, and waste minimization.

GREENVIET is an expert on LEED, LOTUS and Green Mark Certifications. We will consult each and every client to clearly understand their needs in order to provide the suitable services. We will work closely with the whole project team throughout the entire process, from the very beginning till the very end, even after your project receives the certification. And GREENVIET makes sure to help buildings achieve the highest certification rating possible for both New Construction and Existing Building, enhance financial performance and manage risks without disrupting operational performance.

 

LEED version 3 (2009) - Platinum Level

 

LOTUS Small Buildings Pilot 

 

WHAT IS GREEN BUILDING?

Green Building has become a revolution in the construction industry, aligning with the global Sunstainable Development Goals. World Green Building Council (WGBC) defines Green Building as a Building that can minimize negative impacts and can provide positive impacts on our climate and natural environment during its design, construction and/or operation stages.

Nowadays, there are several Green Building standards with different evaluation criteria in the world, but all of them are based on 5 main elements: energy, sustainable sites, materials and resources, water and indoor air quality.

As the criteria are built to evaluate a construction project from design stage to completion and operation, green buildings have brought about great and diverse benefits. These benefits can be divided into 3 main categories: Environment, Economy, and Society.

Green Building solutions such as using solar energy, natural lighting, and means of public transportation, will increase energy efficiency and reduce harmful emissions, thereby contributing to environmental protection. Specifically:

• Saving energy and resources: Green Building solutions such as using solar energy, natural lighting, and means of public transportation, will increase energy efficiency. Encouraging the use of public transportation can help reduce fuel consumption. Recycling gray water and rainwater for toilet flushing and irrigation, etc. recycling and reusing materials during construction and operation.
• Rainwater management to prevent erosion: controlling and utilizing rainwater through the rainwater collection system, flow diversion, overflow prevention and use of absorbent materials for landscape in order to prevent stormwater erosion, which can cause erosion and spread contamination.
• Protecting and restoring ecosystem: efforts to remove the hazardous materials from the soil and groundwater, reducing human exposure to wildlife with health risks due to environmental pollution. Encourage the redevelopment on developed land, preserve undeveloped areas for future generations and reduce the environmental impacts from development, preventing the construction of unnecessary new facilities and roads, avoiding environmental impacts.
• Reducing emissions: the use of low emisison vehicles (bicycle, electrical bicycle, etc), public transportation, local materials and materials with low VOCs, etc. Using energy efficiently will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially during operational phase.
• Air Conditioning: heat retention property of high-rise buildings and construction materials such as concrete or asphalt are the main causes of heat island effect. The project can solve this problem by optimizing the design, reducing heat radiation, careful selection of land, and planting more trees within the construction area.
• Reducing waste: managing, classifying and reusing materials in order to minimize the amount of waste to be buried.

Green Building rating systems have categories aimed at evaluating a project from design to finish and completion stage, therefore Green Buildings bring various significant benefits. These benefits can be divided into 3 types: Environment, Economy, and Society.

Green Building solutions such as using solar energy, natural daylight and public transportation utilities will increase energy efficiency and reduce harmful emissions, thereby contributing to environmental protection. Specifically:

• Saving resources and energy: Green Building solutions such as using solar energy, natural daylighting and natural ventilation increase energy efficiency. Using public transportation will reduce fuel consumption. Recycling gray water and rainwater and reused for toilet flushing and irrigation; and Recycling and Reusing materials throughout construction and operation time.
• Rainwater management to prevent erosion: Controlling and utilizing rainwater using the rainwater collection system, diverting flow and preventing overflow; Using absorbent materials for landscape to prevent stormwater runoff and erosion, wash-away and spreading of pollution.
• Protecting and restoring ecosystem: efforts to remediate and get rid of harmful materials from soil and underground water, reducing human exposure to wildlife with health risks caused by environmental pollution. Encouraging redevelopment on developed land, preserve undeveloped areas for future generations and reduce environmental impacts of development; Avoiding construction of unnecessary new utilities and roads
• Reduce emissions: Using low-emitting vehicles (bikes, electric bikes, etc.), public transportation, using local materials and materials with low VOC content, etc. to reduce harmful emissions. Effective energy use will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially during operation phase.
• Air Conditioning: Thermal retention characteristics of high-rise buildings and construction materials such as asphalt are the main causes of heat island effect. The project can solve this problem by optimizing design to reduce heat radiation, selecting the land lot, and planting plenty of trees in the construction area.
• Reducing waste: manage, classify and reuse construction materials to minimize the amount of waste to be buried.

Cost savings in the operation process can be deemed the main economic advantage that a Green Building can bring, alongside other benefits such as enhancing building value and increasing productivity. Specifically:

• Reduce operation and maintenance costs: Thanks to green design and technology, operational costs of a green building project will be significantly reduced, thereby compensating quickly for the other additional costs in the construction process of the project. It is estimated that in Vietnam, a Green Building only costs 5-15% extra compared to the construction costs of the normal building/project. However, during operation, a Green Building will be able to save 20-30% energy consumption. Therefore, only 4-5 years into operation, the amount of savings can offset the original initial investment (Pham Ngoc Dang, 2014). The operational costs are reduced by optimizing energy consumption and maximizing natural energy sources such as light, wind, etc. Thereby, it will reduce power consumption and minimize the cost of construction for pollution treatment systems.
• Improving productivity: optimizing using natural light and wind to help building users feel comfortable. According to Dailey study (2013), indoor air quality can improve up to 18% of labor productivity, increase memory and stimulate brain's creativity.
• Enhance value for the project: thanks to the investment from idea to initial design stage, a Green Building always has aesthetic value to it. Furthermore, taking into account the location for construction and the ecosystem related to it can encourage support from the public for the project. In the context of global warming and energy crisis, project reputation can create such a difference.

Environmental pollution, global warming and climate change are the topics of great concern for the community. Finding a safe and comfortable living and working space is an essential need. On the other hand, buoyant real estate market and the tendency of increasing interest in health and healthy lifestyles are the motivators for investors to search for a new direction: constructing projects according to Green Building standards!

Besides the environmental and economic benefits for investors and users, green buildings also bring great benefits for the public such as:

• Improve public health: In big cities, living and working in enclosed environments and using air conditioner and artificial lights are very common. This is the main cause of illness such as headache, dizziness and fatique or even depression. Green Building will solve this problem by solutions of using natural daylight, non-toxic interior, using ventilation system to provide fresh air to reduce CO2 levels in the air.
• Create a healthy lifestyle and recreation: one of the recommended criteria for Green Building is to prioritize the use of environmentally-friendly vehicles such as bicycle or public transport with low emission levels. This solution does not only protect the environment but also improve public health.

 

In Vietnam, there are 6 Green Building rating systems currently in use:

• LEED: assessment tool of United State Green Building Council (USGBC). This is a comprehensive rating system suitable for projects aiming at international brand identification, hence suitable for developed countries. Currently, LEED is the world’s most pioneering and popular international standard as there have been over 50,000 projects in all 50 states of the US and in 135 countries.
• LOTUS: evaluation tool of Vietnam Green Building Council (VGBC). LOTUS is developed based on green building rating systems of developed countries but adjusted and supplemented to suit the construction industry and climate conditions in Vietnam.
• GREENMARK: introduced in Vietnam in 2010, GREENMARK is the evaluation tool of Singapore’s Building & Construction Authority (BCA). Similar to LEED, the criteria of GREENMARK are mostly relevent in developed countries.
• EDGE: the evaluation tool of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). EDGE focuses on energy, water and material criteria, so this tool is suitable for projects aiming at minimizing resource consumption. EDGE was first introduced in Vietnam in 2015.
• WELL: established in 2014, WELL is certified by GBCI – the same organization that evaluates LEED. WELL’s criteria mainly focus on the health of building users.
• FITWEL: launched in 2017, currently FITWEL is present in over 35 countries and with more than 1,300 users.

 

CSR, short for Corporate Social Responsibility, was first built before World War II, and was widely expanded in the 60s of the last century. Accordingly, enterprises in the process of establishment and development should not only focus on creating profits but also implement long-term and sustainable dvelopment policies and strategies in order to not affect the future generations. Therefore, each and every business should ensure the harmony of these three elements in their business strategy: Profit, People, and Planet (3P model of CSR). These three elements also correspond to the three benefits that Green Building offers: economy, society, and environment.

• Profit – Economy: The first and most important responsibilty of a business is to create profit. Businesses must consider solutions that save costs and increase revenue. Businessses can hardly control the external costs, such as material and advertisement costs, therefore Green Building solutions to save operation costs should be considered. Due to taking the most advantage of natural resources and maximizing energy consumption, the operation cost of the building will be significantly reduced.
• People – Society: Businesses have a responsibility towards their employees and society. Other than the policies of fair employment, including recruitment, compensation and personal capability development, businesses must create a safe and comfortable working condition. Green Building with its strict standards on air quality as well as using standard materials together with design optimization solutions will create a comfortable environment, ensuring health for people working and living in the building.
• Planet – Environment: Green Building standards carefully regulate and appreciate the efforts of environmental protection during the construction process. In particular, the activity of managing, classifying and reusing materials to minimize the amount of waste going to landfill is simple yet very effective.