Category:Building Standards

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At Home and At Work, Private & Public Design & Building in Changing Times

The AIA Toolkit for Architects in the Era of Climate Change

Net Zero Energy Policy

Net-Zero Buildings

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Special Issue: Eco-Towers: Technology, Sustainability, and Resilience (2015)

Green Retrofitting Skyscrapers

Big City? Big Job to Turn Old Oil/Gas Intensive Buildings to Green Clean Energy Efficient Buildings

• https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/4/4/683

This 2014 Urban Planning / Public Affairs paper investigates innovative trends, practices and goals of tall building retrofits while illustrating green design techniques and implementation strategies. The existing building stock is substantially large and represents one of the biggest opportunities to reduce energy waste and curb air pollution and global warming. In terms of tall buildings, many will benefit from retrofits. There are long lists of inefficient all-glass curtain walls, initially promoted by the modernist movement, that are due to retrofit. The all-glass curtain wall buildings rely on artificial ventilation, cooling and heating, and suffer from poor insulation, which collectively make them energy hogs. Recent practices indicate that green retrofit has helped older buildings to increase energy efficiency, optimize building performance, increase tenants’ satisfaction and boost economic return while reducing greenhouse gas emission. As such, renovating older buildings could be “greener” than destroying them and rebuilding new ones. While some demolition and replacement may remain a necessity to meet contemporary needs, there are significant opportunities to reduce carbon emission and improve existing buildings’ performance by retrofitting them rather than constructing new ones. Practical insight indicates that the confluence of economic and environmental goals is increasingly at the heart of sustainable planning and design.

Keywords:

skyscrapers; sustainable design; green retrofit; energy efficiency; building’s performance; holistic approach; leadership in energy and environmental design

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