Green Building: Health and Comfort for People and Environmental Management

In the XXI century widely spread green building, which now accounts for a significant share of new construction markets in Europe, the US and some Asian countries. Thousands of buildings have been certified by the international rating systems – LEED and BREE AM. The Saint- Gobain company – the world leader in the production of constructional materials – not only produces high quality products, which improve the energy efficiency of buildings and has no negative impact on the environment, but also actively promotes the ideas of sustainable development. To learn how to create comfortable living conditions and thus generate economic benefits, we talked with the Director of Green Building of the company Saint-Gobain, representative in the European regional network of the World Green Building Council Mr. Pascal Eveillard.

Mr. Eveillard, what is implied by «green buildings» and «green construction»? What meaning is put into these notions in those countries where they are already sufficiently developed?

When we talk about green buildings and green construction in general, we consider three aspects. The first one is to reduce the negative impact on the environment during entire building life cycle, in other words reducing the consumption of natural resources and energy, as well as minimizing environmental pollution and the amount of waste generated during the operation. The second aspect is the comfort and safety, that is, creating a comfortable and safe environment for those who use these buildings to give people a feeling of wellbeing.

And the third aspect is the economic benefits, that is, reducing operational costs and maintaining all the advantages of the building for a long time, and it means that a capitalization this kind of building will be higher compared to the standard one. As an intermediate step between traditional and green building is construction of energy efficient buildings, but I would mention that energy efficiency on its own does not make a building green. This is a very important and necessary step, but if we talk only about energy efficiency, we will not be able to claim that a building is environmentally friendly or green. This is only the first step, though it is very significant.

The ideas and principles of green building in Europe and the United States are embedded in the construction practice for already 20 years. What progress has been made in this direction?

You are absolutely right – this idea was developed about 20 years ago, but we can talk about significant and actual results only for the last 5–10 years. They have been made recently in Europe and in the United States, as well as this idea is actively and effectively put into practice in Asia. Evidence of this is the development of criteria for green building and a large number of buildings built and certified in accordance with them.

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Interviewed by Kira Ivanova