Green Buildings and Health

Abstract

Green building design is becoming broadly adopted, with one green building standard reporting over 3.5 billion square feet certified to date. By definition, green buildings focus on minimizing impacts to the environment through reductions in energy usage, water usage, and minimizing environmental disturbances from the building site. Also by definition, but perhaps less widely recognized, green buildings aim to improve human health through design of healthy indoor environments. The benefits related to reduced energy and water consumption are well-documented, but the potential human health benefits of green buildings are only recently being investigated. The objective of our review was to examine the state of evidence on green building design as it specifically relates to indoor environmental quality and human health. Overall, the initial scientific evidence indicates better indoor environmental quality in green buildings versus non-green buildings, with direct benefits to human health for occupants of those buildings. A limitation of much of the research to date is the reliance on indirect, lagging and subjective measures of health. To address this, we propose a framework for identifying direct, objective and leading “Health Performance Indicators” for use in future studies of buildings and health.

Promoting a healthy cities agenda through indicators: development of a global urban environment and health index

“…• poisoning from lead piping, lead paint or carbon monoxide and other building materials (Gibson et al 2011, Allen et al 2015);…”

“…• injuries from accidents (slips, trips and falls) or exposure to disease (from pests) related to design and maintenance (Gibson et al 2011, Allen et al 2015);…”

“…For example sustainable construction and efforts to reduce climate change through renewable energy would have multiple health benefits (Allen et al 2015, Watts et al 2015. The publication of open data in the UAE creates opportunities to inform local data analysis within cities, supporting the identification of local priorities related to the urban environment and health.…”

Steel as a sustainable choice towards the green building concept

“…GBRS usually concentrate on materials, energy and water consumption, indoor environmental quality, site, location, operating and management, considering all phases from the design till the end of life cycle [2][3][4][5]. GBRS could be either a unique attribute such as an energy star rating system or multi-attribute as LEED, Green Globes and (LBC) within the U.S. and other international programs as; BEAM based in Hong Kong, (BREEAM) in the United Kingdom, CASBEE in Japan.…”

“…A green building is considered a sustainable construction when both the structure itself and its use match the environmental standards through its life-cycle [2][3][4]. Green building design aims to balance between buildings and the environment.…”