This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Sustainability Assessments of Buildings" that was published in Sustainability

This new handbook provides a detailed reference for environmentally concerned purchasers of building products. Invaluable for the specifier, this handbook will be useful to all interested in finding greener ways of designing and building.

Buildings consume 40% of our planet’s materials and 30% of its energy. Their construction uses up to three million tonnes of raw materials a year and generates 20% of the soild waste stream. If we want to survive our urban future, there is no option but to build in ways which improve the health of ecosystems. Understanding the concept of ecological sustainability and translating it into practice as sustainable development is a key challenge for today’s built environment professionals. The skill and vision of those who shape our cities and homes is vital to achieving sustainable solutions to the many environmental, economic and social problems we face on a local, national and global scale. Peter Graham offers here a holistic view of ecologically sustainable building by drawing on established areas of knowledge, demonstrating their relevance to the environmentally-conscious building professional and putting the process, product and impact of building into context. Case studies illustrate how sustainable principles have been applied successfully and discussion topics are offered to stimulate thought. Building Ecology will help planners, surveyors, designers and builders to incorporate sustainability into their everyday practice by: · showing which styles of building are ecologically sustainable · providing fundamental knowledge for making decisions using the principles of ecologically sustainable building · explaining a complex subject in a clear, balanced way. Building Ecology sets out the current scientific view of how nature works and how buildings link with and affect nature. It provides fundamental knowledge for building in harmony with nature and keeping Earth’s life-supporting ecosystems healthy.

This directory has become a valued source of information for energy-efficient building designers and specifiers throughout Europe and the details and scope of product, service and supplier listings have again been extensively updated for this edition.

The design, construction and use of buildings in tropical climates pose specific challenges to built environment professionals. This text seeks to capture some of the key issues of technology and practice in the areas of building design, refurbishment, construction and facilities management in tropical regions. Using a consistent chapter structure throughout, and incorporating the latest research findings, this book outlines: the functional requirements of buildings in tropical climates; the challenges associated with the sustainability of the built environment, building form and whole life performance in the context of a tropical setting; the impact of potentially hostile tropical conditions upon building pathology and the durability of components, structure and fabric; the tasks which face those responsible for appraising the design, condition, maintenance and conservation of built heritage in tropical regions; the facilities management issues faced in tropical climates; and the refurbishment, upgrade and renewal of the tropical built environment. The book is ideal as a course text for students of Architecture, Construction, Surveying and FM as well as providing a sound reference for practitioners working in these regions.

This book of Proceedings presents the latest thinking and research in the rapidly evolving world of architecture and sustainable development through 255 selected papers by authors coming from over 60 countries.

This unique volume offers insights from renowned experts in energy efficient building from the world over, providing a multi-faceted overview of the state-of-the-art in energy efficient architecture. It opens by defining what constitutes a sustainable building, suggesting bases for sorely needed benchmarks, then explains the most important techniques and tools available to engineers and architects exploring green building technologies. It covers such pivotal issues as daylighting, LED lighting, integrating renewables such as solar thermal and cooling, retrofitting, LEED and similar certification efforts, passive houses, net-zero and close-zero structures, water recycling, and much more. Highlighting best practices for commercial buildings and private homes, in widely varied climates and within vastly different socio-economic contexts, this illustrated reference will guide architects and engineers in making sustainable choices in building materials and methods. - Explains the best methods and materials to support energy efficient building - Features case studies by experts from a dozen countries, demonstrating how sustainable architecture can be achieved in varied climates and economies - Covers both new constructions and retrofitting of existing structures

​Achieving Building Comfort by Natural Means explores examples of green building designs and methods that are currently being used around the world to achieve human comfort in buildings. The operation of buildings accounts for more than 40% of total energy use and is a major source of carbon emissions. It is imperative that this consumption be substantially decreased and that energy needed for building comfort is obtained from renewable and environmentally friendly sources. This book brings together a global group of contributors who look at factors such as location, climate, building materials, energy management, ventilation, thermal environmental conditions, shading, lighting, acoustics, and more that are critical for achieving buildings that are more sustainable. Thermal comfort and climatic potential of ventilative cooling in Italian climates is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Buildings and infrastructure represent principal assets of any national economy as well as prime sources of environmental degradation. Making them more sustainable represents a key challenge for the construction, planning and design industries and governments at all levels; and the rapid urbanisation of the 21st century has turned this into a global challenge. This book embodies the results of a major research programme by members of the Australia Co-operative Research Centre for Construction Innovation and its global partners, presented for an international audience of construction researchers, senior professionals and advanced students. It covers four themes, applied to regeneration as well as to new build, and within the overall theme of Innovation: Sustainable Materials and Manufactures, focusing on building material products, their manufacture and assembly – and the reduction of their ecological ‘fingerprints’, the extension of their service lives, and their re-use and recyclability. It also explores the prospects for applying the principles of the assembly line. Virtual Design, Construction and Management, viewed as increasing sustainable development through automation, enhanced collaboration (such as virtual design teams), real time BL performance assessment during design, simulation of the construction process, life-cycle management of project information (zero information loss) risk minimisation, and increased potential for innovation and value adding. Integrating Design, Construction and Facility Management over the Project Life Cycle, by converging ICT, design science engineering and sustainability science. Integration across spatial scales, enabling building–infrastructure synergies (such as water and energy efficiency). Convergences between IT and design and operational processes are also viewed as a key platform increased sustainability.