Title: Shades of green technologies: identification of significant parameters affecting the performance of green technologies in buildings

Authors: Shariar Makarechi, Laleh Yerushalmi

Addresses: Construction Management Department, Southern Polytechnic State University, 1100 South Marietta Parkway Suite H 300, Marietta, Georgia 30060, USA. ' Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, 1515 St. Catherine Street West, EV 6.165, Montreal, Quebec H3H 1H5, Canada

Abstract: This study developed essential parameters to be employed as tools for supporting decisions regarding the implementation of green technologies (GT) in buildings. This was done by identifying the most significant parameters that affect the performance of GT in buildings, primarily from the perspective of facility managers as well as the present and future facility users, public and the environment. They include cost, user needs, simplicity, integration and availability of service and maintenance. These parameters were further mapped into measurable equivalents that may prove useful in the development of a model for performance indexing of GT. The developed model may further be used to predict the resulting grades or |shades of green technologies| (SGT). The specific objective of the present paper is to present the most important benefits to people and the environment following the application of GT. One may argue that not only |green| but any building technology should satisfy some basic qualitative and quantitative criteria in order to be considered viable for a building construction project. The phrase |shades of green technologies| is offered here to reflect the potential for |scaling| or grading of |green| in building construction projects.

Keywords: green technologies; environmental policy; renewable technologies; building performance; energy saving; optimisation; technology integration; green buildings; decision making; facilities management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPDM.2010.033912

International Journal of Environmental Policy and Decision Making, 2010 Vol.1 No.1, pp.64 - 76

Published online: 03 Jul 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article