Kogen Construction Company is dedicated to building green, environmentally friendly luxury homes, green renovations, and green construction / remodeling of kitchens and baths in the luxury home market. Owner Julie Miller-Kogen is personally involved in every detail, decision, and communication involved with each project. The Boca Raton luxury home featured in this green renovation video is located in Woodfield Country Club. Kogen Construction Company believes clients deserve an intense, hands-on approach to ensure the quality of the green construction product.
Construction of Green Building is a technology to use all resources efficiently for the creation of human habitats which improve human health, build a better environment, increase working efficiency of human beings and minimize the cost of buildings. Green buildings are also known as sustainable buildings, which are designed, built, renovated, operated and used in an ecological and resource-efficient manner.
In fact, Green buildings are designed to meet certain objectives such as protecting occupant health; improving employee productivity; using energy, water, and other resources more efficiently; and reducing the overall impact to the environment. These buildings with good overall environmental quality can reduce the rate of respiratory diseases, allergy, asthma, sick building symptoms, and enhance worker performance. The green building construction technique include following elements:-
Elements of Green Building Construction Technique
1. Proper Ventilation
Green Buildings provide adequate ventilation to all habitable rooms including bath rooms, kitchens with high-efficiency in-duct filtration system to allow proper drainage of air-conditioning coils to control humidity including heating and cooling systems which ensure indoor air quality.
2. Prevention of indoor microbial contamination
Under this technology, construction and finishing materials are selected with zero or low emissions to improve indoor air quality. Many building materials and cleaning / maintenance products emit toxic gases, such as volatile organic compounds (VOC) and formaldehyde gases which result in a detrimental impact on occupants’ health and productivity. Such products are not to be used in building construction and their finishing.
3. Utilization of recycled material for minimizing the cost of building
Demolition and reconstruction of old buildings is a continuous phenomenon. Population and demand for buildings are increasing day by day whereas our resources are depleting in the same proportion. Building construction activities consume one-sixth of the world’s fresh water withdrawals, one-fourth of its wood harvest, and two-fifths of its material and energy flow. About 22 percent waste material (bricks, concrete, wood, steel, metals, steel pipes, plastic pipes, electric wires, sanitary material etc.) of demolished buildings can be reused or recycled thus prolonging our supply of natural resources and minimizing construction cost. In green buildings, about 25 % recycled material is used.
4. Installation of glass panels
Instead of wood window glass panels are installed in green buildings to allow flow of natural light inside the building during day time.
5. Installation of Rainwater Harvesting System
The green buildings are well equipped with rainwater harvesting system to preserve depleting water resource.
6. Maximizing the use of renewable natural resources
In order to maximize the use of renewable natural resources in green buildings, the energy efficient equipments such as Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) and Solar Water Heating Systems etc. based on non conventional energy resources are installed.
7. Minimizing The Use of depleting resources
Since, forest cover is depleting day by day in the world, therefore, use of fresh wood is minimized in green buildings. Wherever, use of wood is considered necessary, in such buildings, the wood of fast growing trees is only used so that utilization of such material may not effect the ecological balance of the earth.
8. Minimizing energy use in green buildings
The green buildings are fixed with energy censors to minimize the use of power within the building. When there is no person within a room, the lights would automatically go off.
9. Water conservation and efficiency measures in green buildings
In green buildings, water is used in most efficient way. The gray water from bath rooms is again recycled to flush toilets.
10. Proper disposal of garbage
The garbage of green buildings is properly handled, placed and disposed off as per Building Bye Laws of respective Civic Bodies by segregating it into biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes.
11. Maintenance of greenery
In green buildings, the open areas are well landscaped with maintenance of maximum greenery for building healthy environment.
“Green Building” is a broad term used to describe the design and construction of sustainable and environmentally conscious buildings.
The driving force behind this is to lower our negative impact on the environment and, at the same time, make the buildings we live and work in safer and healthier for us.
According to the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) statistics,`buildings are responsible for all of the following:
39% of US carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
70% of US electricity consumption
15 trillion gallons of water consumption
Even though there is still some controversy over the effect of greenhouse gases on the environment, the last two statistics are very important for those of us living in urban areas experiencing continuous growth, especially the American Southwest. With our population expansion, aging water and electrical infrastructure, and shrinking landfills, designing and constructing green and sustainable buildings makes practical sense from a utilitarian perspective.
In fact, USGBC data shows that green buildings use 36% less energy, require fewer raw materials, and divert less waste to our landfills. Furthermore, the “increased” cost of green building is only one or two percent more expensive than a conventional building. This minute difference exemplifies the tangible and long-term benefits of sustainable design, primarily due to the fact that green buildings conserve water and electricity. Thus, while they are more expensive to build, green structures will save money by conserving more energy over time.
Another push towards the green build movement is by local governments. More and more municipalities
are adopting the USGBC LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines for new
and renovated buildings. In 2006, at the USGBC Greenbuild expo, the Mayor of Denver challenged other major cities to see who can have the most LEED® certified green buildings. They are accomplishing this by offering tax breaks to private corporations and mandating sustainable construction for city-financed projects.
This has led to a dramatic increase in the number of sustainable projects built by LEED® Certified general contractors. However, this growth has not come without challenges. Currently, the following issues are restricting the number of green projects being built:
Increased demand for green products has lead to long lead times
New and unspecified materials are labeled “green” products which are not necessarily certified
Building officials are struggling with a steep learning curve on how to evaluate these new products and sustainable building techniques
Despite these difficulties, the USGBC, sustainability advocates, and green building construction management firms are meeting to overcome these challenges.
The LEED® process is constantly under review and continues to adopt the latest codes and products. This includes Standard 189, a new minimum standard for green building. The USGBC is currently developing LEED® 3.0 and working with national code writers to include new products and techniques.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has even rolled out a new initiative called “Sustainability 2030,” which at its roots, is looking to design all buildings by the year 2030 as carbon neutral. The USGBC has even initiated the Green Advantage Builders Certification for contractors to certify their knowledge in green building
techniques.
So what does green building mean at the end of the day? It’s simple yet profound: Do the right thing for you, the environment, and the next generation. While most companies are concerned with their bottom line, they ought to embrace the idea that energy and water conservation, green building, and the use of “green materials” in construction stands to increase their savings over time while positioning them as a leader in environmental stewardship.
According to the USGBC, we spend 90% of our time indoors. Due to this fact, scientists have identified an increase in allergies, asthma, absenteeism from school, and even work. There have been numerous studies done on post occupancy productivity levels, which have increased within “green” built facilities. Not only does
green adaptation result in less sick days taken, but also shows an increase in productivity, job
satisfaction, and in the case of schools, better grades.
So, as we positively affect the environment around us with sustainable green construction, we eventually create better health for ourselves.
