Sustainable Building Challenges

5 August, 2007

NZ Building Industry Federation

Sustainable Building Challenges

Practical policy implementation of sustainable building concepts signalled in the Building Code Review discussion document released today will be especially challenging, says the New Zealand Building Industry Federation.

Attempting to take account of CO2 emissions associated with different construction materials will place a good deal of pressure on regulators, said BIF Chief Executive, Bruce Kohn.

“As the review document acknowledges, analysing the environmental impacts of buildings through their whole lives from construction to demolition – life cycle analysis – is relatively new and there are different approaches to its assessment.

“Designers and regulators will have to be particularly careful in their decision making in this area if they are not to push housing and material costs to higher levels and cause confusion in the market place.

“The key will be to ensure that regulators and policy makers adopt an approach based on proven methodologies, not unsubstantiated theories.

“There is little doubt that green buildings can play a role in combating climate change through reducing carbon dioxide emissions. U.N. environmental officials estimate that globally a more aggressive energy efficiency policy might deliver close to three times the amount of carbon dioxide emission reductions scheduled under the Kyoto Protocol, which focuses on fossil fuels.

“The issue posed in the review is to make sure we get methodologies, costs and benefits effectively lined up in moving to a green building policy implementation phase.”

ENDS

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