M Mangena: Green Building Exhibition

8 November 2007

Programme director
Conference delegates
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

The Green Building Conference and Exhibition strives to enhance a
sustainable relationship between buildings and the environment. In the
construction industry, international declarations such as Agenda 21, call for
ecologically sound land-use policies and energy-efficient designs, as well as
an increased input of locally available resources, and the valorisation of
traditional and indigenous building techniques. Hence, the related concepts of
sustainable development and sustainability are integral to the 'green' concept
in building operations.

Green requirements in buildings talks to three factors:

Firstly, as a response to environmental impacts, including global climate
change; secondly, as a response to social well-being, including enhanced living
environments; and thirdly, as response to improved economic performance, and
immovable asset value.

Ladies and gentlemen, the latest scientific information published earlier
this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, illustrates
consensus regarding coherent changes in many aspects of the climate system. The
role played by greenhouse gases, in particular, is well understood, and their
increases in the environment have been clearly identified.

It is predicted that if left unchecked, emissions of CO2 and other
greenhouse gases from human activities will increase global temperatures by 1,8
celsius to four celsius by the end of this century. These rapid changes pose
many challenges to the steps being taken globally and locally to create and
enhance the quality of living environments.

Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions is a critical response to climate
change. Meeting this particular challenge will require dramatic advances in
technologies, and a shift in how the world economy generates and uses energy.
In the construction industry, a 'green building', or a building conforming to
'green' principles, is a very important strategy for meeting the challenge of
climate change.

As you are most probably aware, green building is the practice of increasing
the efficiency of buildings and their use of energy, water, and materials,
through better setting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and
removal, the complete building life cycle. Thus, it is evident that there is
significant mitigation potential throughout the building life cycle.
Additionally, these practices are extremely critical to reducing building
impacts on the environment and human health.

Green buildings have been known to eliminate the 'sick-building syndrome',
and staff working in places with more fresh air and natural light, where there
are less toxic emissions from materials used, have been found to be more
productive, proactive and interactive.

Studies in the United States of America are showing that employees working
in green buildings display an increase of up to 20 percent in productivity, and
green hospitals are typically discharging patients, on average, two days
earlier than patients with similar conditions recovering in conventional
hospitals.

It should thus be clear from the above that the role of science and
technology in supporting the construction industry in its attempts for
sustainable buildings is indispensable. Here I will focus on a few key science
and technology interventions, that is, the life cycle analysis, development of
new materials and ecological design and engineering.

The construction of the built environment is heavily reliant on natural
resources, the extraction of which often has a particular impact on the
surrounding natural area, and in some instances, leaves a legacy of devastation
for decades to come.

Globally, the construction of the built environment is estimated to consume
more than 50 percent of natural material resources. It also utilises 45 percent
of the energy generated for heating, lighting and ventilation, and 70 percent
of global timber products end up in building construction.

In addition, 40 percent of clean water is used for sanitation and other uses
in buildings and 60 percent of prime agricultural land is lost to farming for
building purposes. This is the same land which is meant to feed the world's six
billion people. The built environment further produces 40 to 50 percent of the
waste in landfills, and is responsible for 20 to 30 percent of greenhouse gas
emissions.

It therefore becomes very necessary for these impacts to be accounted for
and included in the cost of development. The emerging field of Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) is thus one area where Science and Technology can play a role.
Life cycle Assessment provides a holistic approach to understanding the
environmental impacts of buildings and building materials.

However, LCA is not well understood or utilised in the building industry. As
a result, the application of some well-intended green building principles can
be misguided. Often, materials or products are compared, and decisions made on
the basis of one or few isolated environmental attributes, without considering
the full array of environmental impacts and implications in the total life
cycle.

Such simplistic decisions can be risky, and often lead to poor choices. For
example, even the use of wood from well-managed forests, energy from renewable
resources and recycled content will not resolve critical issues around the
environmental impacts of extraction and disposal, such as air quality,
biodiversity and soil erosion.

Distinguished guests, none among us here can overstate the importance of the
development of new materials. As the earth's non-renewable resources are
depleted, new sources must be found for developing materials of the future.
Some work is already under way in research institutes around the world,
including South Africa. This work falls within the scientific field of
biotechnology, and looks to the use of natural fibres as reinforcing material
in new matrices.

Caution is nevertheless required. We all know that many of the materials
developed in the past, and held up as the panacea for the future, have proved
detrimental to human health. Thus, due diligence must also apply to any new
endeavours in the field of materials science.

In terms of ecological design and engineering, ultimately nature herself
remains the best teacher. Researchers are increasingly turning to Bio-mimicry,
that is, the mimicking of nature, to find the next generation of materials to
meet the needs nature, including those of current and future generations.

In this regard, Africa has a fine tradition of working with nature, and I
have no doubt our scientists will find much in our history that will benefit
the construction of the built environment in the future.

Let me now turn to what is happening here at home. With ever-increasing
global emphasis on the need for climate-change mitigation, we understand that
our built-environment professionals are beginning to take seriously the need to
lessen the carbon footprint associated with buildings and residences,
especially by using design and technological innovation to decrease energy
consumption and limit waste.

I was very pleased to learn that our new head office just across the road
was one of the 2007 awardees in the South African Property Owners' Association
(SAPOA) Innovative Excellence in Property Development Awards.

I am also impressed that SAPOA is also encouraging innovation and excellence
in a socio-environmental context that will impact on the way communities see
and take responsibility for development.

A strong sign of the changes taking place within the built environment
community is evidenced by the fact that a Green Building Council of South
Africa (GBCSA) was established just last month. The aim of this organisation is
to promote green building in the commercial South African property sector. The
establishment of the GBCSA is a move that will bring the country's industry in
commercial and industrial property in line with global environmental
practice.

It is also heartening to note that government and the private sector are
becoming increasingly conscious of the need for environment-friendly building
practices and corporations are starting to cotton on to the benefits of acting
in sustainable ways.

Although the construction of new sustainable green buildings is a priority,
retrofitting of existing buildings can yield remarkable energy and resources
saving results. Government has agreed that it should lead by example in this
regard, and has plans to retrofit about 106 000 buildings that are used by
government departments throughout the country. This process is currently under
way, and over 100 buildings in Tshwane, the Western Cape and the Free State
have already been completed.

Smaller buildings and residences are often more thorough in implementing the
principles of sustainability at grass roots level. Here the housing projects in
the Claremont Municipality in the Eastern Cape, and Buffalo City in East London
are a case in point.

A recent joint initiative between the department and Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research will facilitate the introduction of technologies such
as wind generation for electricity, and rain water harvesting for some of the
needs of these community clusters. This project will provide baseline
information on the efficiency of these sustainability efforts.

It is envisaged that the resulting evidence and learning from such
initiatives should be used to positively influence government's thinking on
subsidy levels where renewable energy options such as solar water heating would
apply, and where there is a need for revising qualifying specifications to be
adopted into housing developments.

In conclusion, I am convinced that a gathering of this nature will expedite
our march towards the triple outcomes of a sustainable response to climate
change, reduced environmental impact, as well as enhanced quality living
environments.

These are indeed good reasons to construct more environmentally friendly
buildings. I believe this conference presents a platform to advance the
discussion beyond green building, to a conversation about what really makes for
a sustainable society.

I wish you a most successful conference.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
8 November 2007
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za)