Green Building:

Green building (also known as green construction or

sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the using of
processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient
throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction,
operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.

The Most Important Elements:

Green buildings are designed to achieve these goals by:
Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources.
Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity.
Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation.
Earth Air Tunnels:
Although, this technique is essentially used for cooling the air in Hot
and dry climates, it can also be used for winter heating. Earth- air
tunnels may be considered as special types of wind towers connected
to an underground tunnel. The cooling process is based on the fact
that the temperature a few meters below the ground is almost constant
throughout the year. A wind tower is connected to the underground
tunnel, which runs from the bottom of the wind tower to the basement
of the building. The wind tower catches the wind which is forced
down the tower into the tunnel. The temperature of the tunnel, being
lower than that of the ambient temperature, cools the air before it is
circulated into the living space. In winter, the temperature of the air
tunnel is higher than the ambient temperature and hence warms the air
passing through it.
Sensible cooling can be aided by evaporative cooling. To reduce the
underground temperature, the ground can be shaded using vegetation
and can be wetted by sprinkling water. This water seeps through and
dampens the tunnel walls. Consequently, air from the tunnel is
evaporatively cooled as it passes through the tunnel. Another variation
possible is to use buried pipes instead in place of tunnel.

Building Materials:
Green building materials include wood from responsibly managed
and certified forests, rapidly renewable plants like bamboo and straw,
recycled stone or metal, and materials that are non-toxic and
recyclable or that have been reclaimed from other construction
projects. Flooring that uses sealants or adhesive containing volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) or other harmful chemicals should not be
used. Carpeting should be made of recycled materials or natural fibers
like wool or sea grass, and hardwood flooring should use wood
certified as sustainably managed, or bamboo or cork that are rapidly
renewable. True linoleum made from cork dust, limestone and linseed
oil is biodegradable. Stone, ceramic or glass tiles can be recycled or
reclaimed.
Building Insulation:
Most insulation materials, the key to a buildings energy efficiency,
are made from petrochemicals. They come in flexible sheets or
blankets made of fibers of recycled fiberglass, cellulose, denim or

mineral wool; insulation can also be made from natural fibers such as
sheeps wool, flax, hemp, cellulose, wood fiber or clay pellets.

Foam board or spray foam (most use polyurethane) is also commonly

used. Loose fill made from blown fiberglass, mineral wool, blown
cellulose or vermiculite or perlite is used for small spaces.
Prefabricated structural insulation panels made of foam insulation
between two boards, and insulated concrete forms with high thermal
mass where concrete is pumped in between foam blocks are gaining
in popularity.
Most insulation does not stop air leaks, however. To create an airtight
building, usually a house wrap made of weather-resistant synthetic
material is needed to create an air barrier around the entire building
envelope. Seams and connections should be sealed with tape.

Indoor Air Quality:

When buildings are airtight, good ventilation is essential to allow
fresh air to come in from the outside and stale air to leave through
vents, or air to be recirculated and filtered. Ventilation and insulation
also control moisture, which can lead to mold and bacteria growth if
not checked. Demand-controlled ventilation can use occupancy

sensors or CO2 sensors to adjust fresh air intake to the needs of the
building occupants.
VOCs have harmful impacts on health and comfort, so green building
attempts to use construction materials, interior finishes and paints, and
cleaning products with low or no VOCs. Unlike most paint, coatings
made of natural materials like clay, lime, linseed oil, chalk, milk
protein, plant or mineral dyes and natural latex are generally nontoxic.
Elements of Green Building Design
Following are the components of a Green Building to make it
sustainable:
1. Materials for Green Building
Materials for a green building are obtained from natural, renewable
sources that have been managed and harvested in a sustainable way;
or they are obtained locally to reduce the embedded energy costs of
transportation; or salvaged from reclaimed materials at nearby sites.
Materials are assessed using green specifications that look at their
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in terms of their embodied energy,
durability, recycled content, waste minimization, and their ability to
be reused or recycled.
2. Energy Systems in Green Buildings
Passive solar design will dramatically reduce the heating and cooling
costs of a building, as will high levels of insulation and energyefficient windows. Natural daylight design reduces a buildings
electricity needs, and improves peoples health and productivity.
Green buildings also incorporate energy-efficient
lighting, low energy appliances, and renewable energy
technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels

2.1 Passive Solar Design

Passive solar design uses sunshine to heat, cool and light homes and
other buildings without mechanical or electrical devices. It is usually
part of the design of the building itself, using certain materials and
placement of windows or skylights.

Materials are the essential components of buildings construction.

Chemical, physical and mechanical Properties of materials as well as
an appropriate design are accountable of the building mechanical
strength. The design of green buildings should thus begin with the
selection and use of eco-friendly materials with related or better
features than traditional building materials. Building materials are
usually selected through functional, technical and financial
requirements. However, with sustainability as a crucial issue in the
last decades, the building sector, directly or indirectly causing a
considerable portion of the annual environmental deterioration, can
take up the obligation to contribute to sustainable development by
finding more environmentally benign methods of construction and
building. Among the directions for solutions is to be found in new
material applications, recycling and reuse, sustainable production of
products or use of green resources, Careful selection of eco-friendly
sustainable building materials may be the fastest way for builders to
start integrating sustainable design concepts in buildings. Ordinarily,
price has been the primary consideration when comparing related
materials or materials selected for similar purpose. Nevertheless, the
price of a building element signifies just the manufacturing and
transportation costs, not social or environmental costs. Substantial
initiatives have been carried out by the research community globally,
in order to discover alternative sustainable building materials and low
technology techniques, which result in a more sustainable and

affordable construction complying with the comfort standards

required today. Embracing green building materials is a good
alternative to meet to this objective. Therefore, Selection of
construction materials that have minimum environmental burdens is
useful in the sustainable development of a nation. The purpose of this
paper is to highlight how sustainable building material can contribute
to lessen the impact of environmental degradation, and generate
healthy buildings which can be sustainable to the occupant as well as
our environment.
Knowing Green Building materials is an important step in designing a
green building to be more efficient and energy saver. Green Building
Materials list is presented below.
GREEN BUILDING MATERIALS USED IN INDIA
Plastic:The term plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic
organic condensation or polymerization products that can be molded
or extruded into objects or films or fibers. Their name is derived from
the fact that in their semi-liquid state they are malleable, or have the
property of plasticity. Plastics vary immensely in heat tolerance,
hardness, and resiliency. Combined with this adaptability, the general
uniformity of composition and lightness of plastics ensures their use
in almost all industrial applications today.
Glass:Glass making is considered an art form as well as an industrial
process or material. Clear windows have been used since the
invention of glass to cover small openings in a building. They
provided humans with the ability to both let light into rooms while at
the same time keeping inclement weather outside. Glass is generally
made from mixtures of sand and silicates, in a very hot fire stove
called a kiln and is very brittle. Very often additives are added to the
mixture when making to produce glass with shades of colors or
various characteristics .The use of glass in architectural buildings has

become very popular in the modern culture. Glass curtain walls can
be used to cover the entire facade of a building, or it can be used to
span over a wide roof structure in a space frame.
Steel:Steel requires the mining of iron ore, coal, limestone,
magnesium, and other trace elements. To produce steel, iron must first
be refined from raw ore. The iron ore, together with limestone and
coke (heat-distilled coal) are loaded into a blast furnace. Hot air and
flames are used to melt the materials into pig iron, with the impurities
(slag) floating to the top of the molten metal. Steel is produced by
controlling the amount of carbon in iron through further smelting.
Fly Ash :Fly ash offers environmental advantages, it also improve the
performance and quality of concrete. Fly ash affects the plastic
properties of concrete by concrete by improving workability, reducing
water demand, reducing segregation and bleeding, and lowering heat
of hydration. Fly ash increases strength, reduces permeability, reduces
corrosion of reinforcing steel, increases sulphate resistance, and
reduces alkali-aggregate reaction. Provide higher strength, fly ash
continues to combine with free lime, increasing compressive strength
over time
WOOD Wood is a product of trees, and sometimes other fibrous
plants, used for construction purposes when cut or pressed into
lumber and timber, such as boards, planks and similar materials. It is a
generic building material and is used in building just about any type
of structure in most climates. Wood can be very flexible under loads,
keeping strength while bending, and is incredibly strong when
compressed vertically. There are many differing qualities to the
different types of wood, even among same tree species. This means
specific species are better for various uses than others. And growing
conditions are important for deciding quality. Historically, wood for
building large structures was used in its unprocessed form as logs.

The trees were just cut to the needed length, sometimes stripped of
bark, and then notched or lashed into place. In earlier times, and in
some parts of the world, many country homes or communities had a
personal wood-lot from which the family or community would grow
and harvest trees to build with. These lots would be tended to like a
garden

Fly ash-Stone Powder-Cement Bricks:Fly ash-Stone PowderCement Bricksare manufactured by mixing weighed amount of fly
ash, cement and size stone powder in a mixer and moulded in bricks
making machine.Fly Ash can be used in the range of 40-70%. The
other ingredients are lime, gypsum (/cement), sand, stone dust/chips
etc. Minimum compressive strength (28 days) of 70 kg/cm2 can easily
be achieved and this can go upto 250 Kg/cm2 (in autoclaved type).
Advantage of these bricks over burnt clay bricks:
Lower requirement of mortar in construction
Plastering over brick can be avoided
Controlled dimensions, edges, smooth and fine finish and can
be in different colours using pigments
Cost effective, energy-efficient and environment friendly (as
avoids the use of fertile clay)
Land Fill and Landscape: Fly ash can be used as land fill by city
authorities. It can also be used for crating mounts topped with soil
growing grass in landscaping.
Green paint:Paints may have a negative impact on the indoor air
quality of a building because they may contain chemicals called

volatile organic compounds (VOC) other toxic components that

evaporate into the air and are harmful to the health of
occupants.VOC react with sunlight and nitrogen oxide to form
ground level ozone, a chemical that has detrimental effects on
human health. These problems can be eliminated by using low
VOC paints healthy occupants are more productive and have few
illness related absenteeism.
Bamboo :Bamboo is one of the most amazingly
versatile and
sustainable building materials available. It grows remarkably fast and
in a wide range of climates. It is exceedingly strong for its weight and
can be used both structurally and as a finish material. There is a long
vernacular tradition to the use of bamboo in structures in many parts
of the world, especially in more tropical climates, where it grows into
larger diameter canes One tricky aspect to the use of bamboo is in the
joinery; since its strength comes from its integral structure, it cannot
be joined with many of the traditional techniques used with wood.
IMPORTANCE OF GREEN BUILDING MATERIAL
As we all are aware that the utilizations of natural resources is not
properly & the level of pollution has been increasing day by day.
Renewable resources can be replaces by the Non renewable
Resources due this the resources gets expensive everyday. So these
green Building Material not only help to decrease the Pollution level
but it also helps the proper utilization of natural resources & make
pollution free Construction & consume energy efficient products
.Adaptation of Green Building Material is very useful for
Environment & for public health also. This techniques helps in
reducing the cost of the project & easily available material which
reduce the pollution level during the time of Construction.
Merits & Demerits of Green Building Material

Merits
1- Cost:
The construction costs are the same as a standard building and
sometime they cost a little bit more as they require special materials to
be built. However, a regular building costs wont stop after its
construction since money will always be spent on maintenance,
renovation, operation or even demolition.
This doesnt mean that green buildings wont need maintenance,
renovation, operation or even demolition as well, but being built of
natural resources all that re-doing stuff will take ages till done as they
are not damaged that fast hence, investing in green building is 10
times more profitable than standard ones.
2- Efficiency:
This here is divided to the following:A- Water efficiency:Green buildings dont know the meaning of
wasted, they recycle rain water and grey water and use them for
toilet flushing for instance.
B- Energy Efficiency:
These buildings save energy more than those built out of bricks. They
only depend on all renewable energy resources such solar power,
hydro-power and wind power which are used for heat and electricity
and help improve the indoor air quality
C- Material Efficiency:
Green buildings are built from natural, non-toxic and recycled
materials that dont cost much and Eco-friendly such as bamboo,
straw, recycled metal or concrete..etc.

Demerits
1- Location:
Since these buildings depend on sun for energy, they need to be
located in position that will have the best sun exposure which may
demand placing them opposite to other neighborhood homes.
2- Availability:
The materials to build such buildings can be hard to find especially in
urban areas where preserving the environment is not the peoples first
option.
So shipping these materials can then cost a lot than a standard
building.
3- No air cooling features:
These buildings run on heat to generate power, so they are not
designed for hot areas as they do not have any ventilation systems, so
air conditioners will be required which will make these buildings
anything but Eco-friendly.