Environmental and Energy Aspects of Construction Industry and Green Buildings

Abstract

Green building is an important component of sustainable real estate market development, and one of the reasons is that the construction industry consumes a high amount of resources. Energy consumption of construction industry results in greenhouse gas emissions, so green buildings, energy systems, building technologies and other aspects play an important role in sustainable development of real estate market, construction and environmental development. The aim of the research is to analyse environmental aspects of sustainable real estate market development, focusing on importance of green buildings at the industry level and related energy aspects. Literature review, historical, statistical data analysis and logical access methods have been used in the research. The conducted research resulted in high environmental rationale and importance of environment-friendly buildings, and there are many green building benefits during the building life cycle. Future research direction is environmental information process and its models.

Sustainable Construction Industry Development and Green Buildings: A Case of Latvia

“…The research is continuation of previous studies, such as [4], [3] and Kauškale, Riemenschneider (2017) [5]. The aim of the research is to analyse significant aspects of sustainable development of construction activities and real estate market, with particular focus on environmental aspects of construction and a role of green buildings.…”

The contribution of green building in reducing the carbon footprint and attaining SDG 13

“…One way to accomplish this aim is to incorporate sustainability into different aspects of construction projects [13]. As a result, GBT has gained widespread acceptance as the ideal solution for achieving sustainability, reducing building environmental impacts, and reducing CO2 emissions which contribute to global warming and climate changes [14][15][16].…”

“…GBT is a relatively new idea that aims to solve some environmental, social, and economic issues through the increasing efficiency of materials, energy, and water, as well as lowering the building's effect on human healthiness and the environment over its life cycle by improving siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and abstraction [17]. As a result, the expansion of GBT will aid in the short and long term reduction of energy consumption and carbon emissions [14,18].…”

“…Furthermore, advancements in building material efficiency and recycling of materials such as rebar, aluminium, polymers, and the cement will cut emissions from the construction sector by more than half by 2050. As a result, we will see more positive results in terms of SDGs achievement in the built environment [21].As a consequence, including sustainability characteristics into the built environment is becoming increasingly vital in accomplishing the SDGs, which have recently emerged as the most pressing global concern [14,22].…”

The Real Estate Market and its Influencing Factors for Sustainable Real Estate Development: A Case of Latvia

“…Real estate market assessment opportunities and issues related to the sustainable development of construction projects and construction industry have been previously analysed (Kauskale, 2018;Kauskale & Geipele, 2019;Geipele & Kauskale, 2013;Kauskale & Geipele, 2017;Tupenaite et al, 2017;Tupenaite et al, 2021;Kauskale et al, 2017a;Tupenaite et al, 2018;Kauskale et al, 2017b). Construction objects that are built for sale or rent later appear on the real estate market.…”