Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Gold, (60-79), Silver (50-59), Certified (40-49) levels and the rejected category.
Successful certification provides prestige to a building developer, a showcase for
others to learn from, and usually provides costs savings. The scheme has been adapt-
ed in other countries, such as by the Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC),
which has added two other categories of criteria to the assessment, namely, Loca-
tion and Linkages, especially to transit systems, as well as Awareness and Educa-
tion. Despite the praise heaped upon these new standards and the progress it shows,
the number of buildings that have achieved this designation since 2000 is still very
low relative to the total numbers of new premises. Despite being recognized in 132
countries, the majority are still in North America, with the 2013 LEED website list-
ing 44,220 projects that are LEED certified in the U.S.A in the past 20 years. This
accounts for 593.8 million gross sq. m of building, with 20,000 homes now having
the designation, up from 8000 two years earlier. Canada with 4212 projects is sec-
ond on the world list (USGBC
2013
).
Although most buildings being developed or renovated in urban areas today are
not trying for LEED designation, there is no doubt that many of these ideas are
being adopted by progressive individual developers, such as the development of
new insulation levels, building materials, and reduced energy and water use. The
orientation of buildings and courtyards have also been given much more attention
in recent years, especially using southern exposures with the object of maximizing
sunlight and solar heat, the type of approach that is being stressed in the Winter
Cities movement (Chap. 8). Of course, houses in hot climates desire the opposite
objective, to create cooling, and add shade by a variety of means. Sustainability
has been helped by the addition of balconies to buildings which enable people to
sit outside more often, or to use the space to grow herbs, vegetables or flowers. In
addition, some countries have seen the increasing use of solar panels on roofs to
generate energy for the building, drastically reducing or even replacing the amount
of energy input from outside. Although it is still rare to find examples of buildings
with sustainable energy sources and building practices accounting for practically all
their power use, an exception lies in the growing Passivhaus (PH
2013
) approach.
Inspired by the work of architects Bo Adamson and Wolfgang Feist, the first proj-
ects were developed in Darmstadt (Germany) in 1991. By 2013 at least 30,000
dwellings around the world had adopted the approach which has been summarized
in the following way.
A Passivhaus is a building, for which thermal comfort can be achieved solely by post-
heating or post cooling of the fresh air mass, which is regulated to achieve sufficient indoor
air quality conditions, without the need for additional circulation of air. (PH
2013
)
Passivhaus builders claim that the use of their techniques on a 70 m
2
house with gas
heating will mean residents will only spend less than the equivalent of about $ 40 a
year on space heating, showing the dramatic effect such buildings have on energy
consumption. Yet the costs of building such houses are still higher, which is still
reducing the extent to which they are adopted. So unfortunately, such ventures still
represent a very small proportion of building construction.
