Developing the environment

Electric cars on the streets of Abu Dhabi, plans for a US $350 million solar power plant, an agreement to build a waste management and recycling park in Dubai Industrial City (DIC). The United Arab Emirates, it appears, is increasingly embracing the idea of environmental responsibility.

If these steps are representative of a real sea change in attitudes towards the environment and conservation, the construction industry would do well to sit up and take notice. Right now, developers have to meet various health & safety standards before authorities clear their buildings for use. One day in the future, and perhaps sooner than you might think, buildings could be subject to strict environmental checks before they are cleared for use.

So how should the industry react? Hopefully, by seeing green building methods as an opportunity, rather than yet another cause of rising costs.

The theory is that a green building may cost more to build initially, but the cost of running it will be significantly lower than the cost of running a building constructed with traditional methods.

Every residential or office building has a foyer that requires lighting and corridors that need to be kept cool. Office buildings have public bathrooms and many residential buildings have central AC systems in place.

Whilst the cost of these things may be factored into the tenants' rents, it is landlords that pay directly for them. Imagine if the cost of running all these services could be reduced by a few percentage points. Every year, landlords will be saving themselves thousands of dollars; you never know, they might even decide to pass the cost savings through to their clients by lowering rents.

Left to their own devices, contractors are not going to make buildings green. Their emphasis is on cost of construction, rather than cost of ownership. For developers, however, there is a real incentive to make their buildings eco friendly.

What the region needs right now is a landmark building full of green technology, that acts as a benchmark for the industry. Once we have a really prominent example of how a green building is saving its owner money, many more developers will hopefully follow.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Developing green is already happening!
Posted by Vita, Toronto, Canada on Saturday 3 March 2007 at 03:52 UAE time


Going green is becoming more and more relevant as we experience the effects of global warming, and feel our resources dwindling. In response to David Ingham's article entitled "Developing the Environment", green developments in headquarters of leading companies and office towers are already being built (ie. Hearst building in New York City, and both RBC and Telus towers that are under construction in Toronto as we speak). 
 
Here is a link to a recent article of what's going on in Toronto: 
http://www.thestar.com/article/182962 
 
These developments in Toronto's core that are being lead by international tenants are looking into LEED certification, which is quite indicative of our future direction. 
 
&Co (Sweeny Sterling Finlayson &Co Architects) is able to build these environmentally thoughtful buildings at the same cost as traditional office buildings... with added benefits such as increasing human comfort (which increases the company's overall productivity), reinforcing the brand of the building, and allowing the developer to gain future flexibility. 
 
Seeing that the UAE embraces environmental responsiblity is highly encouraging, as this will obviously need to be a world-wide effort.

Conservation with Generation
Posted by Abhijit P.Kuwalekar, Doha, Qatar on Friday 2 March 2007 at 13:50 UAE time


Congratulations to Abu Dhabi for the Solar Plant. 
There is need for Conserving energy while Generating. 
The Power Plants,Oil & Gas related Plants,& Major General Lighting can utilise the Power of Sun ,which is bestowed in abundance on the gulf region.  
The SAVING of energy, now, will lead to sustainibility of the Natural Resources.

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