The Green Technology Issues In The Construction

The environment issues is one of biggest problem that every countries facing nowadays. This problem is getting worse from day to day due to the irresponsible human activities which cause lots of damages to the environment. There are various ways taken by every country in order to reduce the issues of the environment. One of the ways is promoting green technology. As in Malaysia, we are also facing the same issues. So the government has been putting many efforts in promoting green technology to create a better environment. The implementation of green technology serves the purpose of promoting health and improve environment. The important of implementing green technology is becoming recognised worldwide. Mostly the European countries provide some benefits like incentives or requirements to promote green technology. For example, Reykjavik, Iceland, is the greenest city in the world. The city is run completely on hydroelectric and geothermal power. This country plans to become the cleanest country in the future. In Malaysia, green technology less being applies in the construction industry due to lack of knowledge, and the industry is not willing to accept the challenge and change. This research is about to study the green technology issues in construction industry in Malaysia.

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Background

The concept of implementation of green technology in construction industry is starting in the 1930s when the new building technologies began to transform the urban landscape. A small group of forward-thinking architects, environmentalists, and ecologists, starting to thinking about the advisability of building to construct it in more friendly environmental way after they have been inspired by the work of Victor Olgyay (Design with Climate), Ralph Knowles (Form and Stability), and Rachel Carson (Silent Spring. (Building Design and Construction, 2003, page4).

In this generation, construction industry is normally one of the largest industries inside a country and it’s widely influence over other related industry. Due to its wide influences towards other related industry, the government always use the construction industry as a regulator of the national economy. Therefore, the energy and resources consumed by the industry surprisingly high if compared to others industries. Because of it’s highly consumption of energy and resources, the construction industry is known as the most environment unfriendly industry. Various environmental pollution has arises due to the development of this field.

Aim

The title is “to study the green technology issues in construction industry in Malaysia”.

Objective

-to review and examine the concepts and principle of “green technology”

-to study the features of green technology in KL area

-to identify the various barrier of influences of green technology in Malaysia

Research Methodology

Stage 1: Literature review

This stage involves a lot of research to search the information about my research topic. In this stage, the review may include some definition of green technology. All the information will be collected from books, journals, articles, online resources, etc. The information that gathers will be summarized under the literature review section. From this method, I get to know more about the concept and definition of green technology.

Stage 2: Case study

I will conduct a field research to look for the case study that fully achieves my objectives. The case study is carried out by looking at the types of green technology that has been use in our country. I find for the case study information through newspaper and magazines and visit the relevant building which has implement green technology inside and I will try to interview the maintenance personnel, contractor or architect if possible. The interview is to identify the adoption of green technology and the advantages of green technology and how it benefits the users and environment. The case study will support my study by analysis the information that I have collected.

Stage 3: Questionnaire

This stage would involve in order collecting the data which is relevant to the research objectives. The questionnaires will be set with questions with the response opportunity of ‘why, other, please state’ so that the answers can be analyzed easily and quickly.

The targeted study population for this survey questionnaire is local construction companies which are involved before in construct green building. This is because they have more experience on the green concept and they know more about the technology of green. This will make the answers to be more accuracy.

I have target 30 companies from Malaysia to answer the questionnaire. The list of companies in Malaysia can be obtained from relevant professional boards such as Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), Malaysia Builder Directory and Builder’s Diary. The questionnaire survey is distributed via mail. Phone calls can be made to ask permission from companies to answer the questionnaire set. If less than half of the construction companies’ response, self visit to the construction companies are required in order to make sure relevant data can be collected smoothly.

Stage 4: Analysis data and result

This stage would be to compile and analyzing all the information and data obtained that I have collected. I will analyses the data collected and maybe include some recommendations.

Scope of Study

It is significant to determine the scope of study and limitation of the research. The overall research will based on the objectives and the final output is to achieve all objectives of the research. This research is to study the green technology issues in the construction industry in Malaysia.

Definition of Green Technology

The word “green” can be refers as to preserve the environment including the plants and animals which exist in it, and the word “technology” refers as the application of knowledge to create tools for certain purposes. “Green technology” can be known as the technology which is harmless to the environment or clean technology.

In Malaysia, according to KETTHA (Ministry of energy, Green Technology and Water, 2010), Green Technology means the application and development of products, systems and equipment used to conserve the natural environment and resources, which minimize and reduces the negative impact of human activities.

According to KETTHA (Ministry of energy, Green Technology and Water, 2010), Green Technology also refers to products, equipment or systems which satisfy the following criteria:

It will minimizes the degradation of environment, it has zero or low green house gas (GHG) emission

It is safe for use and promotes healthy and improved environment for all forms of life

It conserves the use of energy and natural resources, and finally

It promotes the use of renewable resources.

Goals of Green Technology

Green technology act as an important role nowadays and it has the ability to reduce the damages which create by the society in the past. Green technology is expecting to bring improvement and changes to the daily habitual habits of society. Severe goals that contribute the developments in this rapidly growing field include:

Sustainability

The application of green technology is sustainable development and act as a solution to handle the environment issues. Sustainable development is an example that uses the resources to meet the needs of society in ways that can continue indefinitely into the future without damaging or depleting natural resources. In short, meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Green Technology, 2006)

Innovation

Innovation means create of new things, ways or ideas to do something. New or improvement methods which is use to develop new method to replace the current technologies, for example the fossil fuel or chemical intensive agriculture, which have been contribute damage to the environment. The alternatives technologies that create to replace the current one must be environmental friendly.

“Cradle to Cradle”

A change in industry, which switch from “cradle to grave” cycle to a “cradle to cradle” cycle. By creating products that can be fully reclaimed or re-used, the impact to the environment will be reduced. The “cradle to cradle” idea is that the waste equal foods. This means that all the products will able to return to the earths lifecycle.

Viability

To form a centre economics activity which connected with green technologies and product which are friendly to environment. For the green technologies to have contact with the environment, it must speed up the implementation and create new careers which truly protect the planet.

Source reduction

Source reduction is an effort by reducing or eliminating the waste amount by several ways like implementing the conservation techniques, promoting the usage of non-toxic materials, or re-using the materials rather than treat as waste materials. The concept of “reduce, recycle and re-use” is one of the way to getting waste reduction, by reducing the disposal materials quantities, trying to recycle the materials and re-use it to reduce the pollution risk.

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Major Fields of Green Technologies in Malaysia

There are many different types of green technologies that are being used in our country at different sector. These green technologies are expected to bring improvement of the environment and human health. In Malaysia, there are four major fields of green technology where green technologies is being implemented, which are building, energy, transportation, and water and waste management.

Building Sector

As the population of human race keep increasing, the space for development keep expands, and causes the pollution level of environment increasing consequently. In order to mitigate the impact of development towards the environment, Green Building has appeared as a new building philosophy, which promote the use of more environmental friendly materials, more clean techniques to develop, and reduce waste consumption.

According to U.S Green Building Council (USGBC), Green Building is defined as a building that is designed, constructed, and operated to boost environmental, economic, health and productivity performance. (USGBC, 2010, page 6)

Regards to GBI, green building is a building designed and operated to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on its surroundings and reducing building impact on human health and environment during building’s lifecycle through better sitting, design, construction, operation and removal. In addition, green building also focuses on increasing the efficiency of resources use like energy, water and materials and energy conservation.

The technologies which applied in green building may be different from region to region; there are basic principles that insist on which the method is derived.

Design efficiency

The concept and design stage is one of the important factors when constructing a building, as it has the impact in the building performance and cost. The building design will affect the building performance if the design is not well design. For example, the heat from sun rises and sets will influence the occupants comfort inside the building.

Energy efficiency

Green building concept is always connected with the energy efficient use. The purpose is to reduce energy wasted and rely on natural resources like solar, wind, etc which these energies are free and will not create pollution. For example, the position of window, if is place at the right position, it can fully provide more natural daylight and ventilation, thus reduce the chances of usage of electric lightning and ventilation system.

Water efficiency

Reduction in use of water, protecting water quality and minimization the wastage of water are one of the key factors in green building. The conservation and protection of water throughout the life of a building can be achieved by using water that is collected, used, purified, and re-used on site. For example, the conservation of water in a building can be achieved by designing dual plumbing system which recycles the water in toilet.

Materials efficiency

The material criterion is concern on the selection of construction material, the reuse and recycles material and also management of the construction waste material. To achieve the role on material, promote of usage of friendly materials from sustainable sources and recycling. Implement proper construction waste management with storage, collection and re-use of recyclables and construction formwork and waste.

Indoor environment quality

Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) means the quality of environment inside the building. The Indoor Environment Quality includes the indoor air quality, thermal quality, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and the lightning elements.

To achieve good indoor environmental quality, it will involve the use of low volatile organic compound materials, application of quality air filtration, sound absorbing materials, control of air movement and humidity and artificial light perform.

Operation and maintenance

The green building need to operate responsibly and maintained properly in order to preserve the sustainability of a building with its design and construction. The aspect of green feature in a building is integrated with the operation and maintenance phase of a building’s life. Ensuring operations and maintenance are part of the project’s planning and development process which will help retain the green criteria designed of the project.

Waste reduction

The construct of green building will reduce the construction waste. The construction of a building will create a huge solid waste and these wastages are normally thrown away which will causes pollution to the environment. Green building will fully use the materials and minimizes the construction waste.

Energy sector

Transportation

Waste and water management