G&H building - wellbeing Flashcards
(31 cards)
What is the role of natural ventilation in green buildings?
To enhance indoor air quality and reduce reliance on mechanical cooling.
What does ‘energy modeling’ involve in the context of green building?
Simulating a building’s energy use to optimize design for efficiency.
True or False: Green buildings can contribute to the local economy.
True
neighbourhood impact on health
Houghton and Kiefer, 2023
- neighbourhoods of same city can contribute to differences in life expectancy of a decade or more
Architecture, land-use, exposure to hazards, access to health promoting behaviours
HSA
Houghton and Kiefer, 2023
proposed a method called health situation analysis
Target policy or future planning to an areas specific needs using available data
areas with high asthma rates - link to specific exposures - reduce traffic congestion, plant trees in strategic location to protect occupants
maximise shade to keep a building cool and reduce GHG emissions
HSA (ESG req and wider developer benefit.) (Houghton and Kiefer, 2023)
Helps real estate developers prioritise the environmental health factors where projects have the greatest impact
Helps with anti-development, NIMBYism in the UK
Aligns property with planning laws better, more likely to be approved
HSA example
Boston , Roxbury - low income, disinvested neighbourhood, good links nearby.
Government invited developer bids
Using HSA found
- high vulnerability to urban-heat-island effects and flooding
- high prevalence of asthma, mental health issues and poverty
- dangers for pedestrians
Thus development prioritised heat, flood, traffic, air related issues
White roof, shading, outdoor rooms (net zero + mental health gain)
Space for natural disasters shelter
more green space better for pedestrians and mitigates temperature
HSA limitations
benefits dont accrue to developers thus need to be valued better
Needs community engagement to be successful - viewed favourably and better understand local issues
Health and RE value
QuadReal, 2022 - health drives value
- increased demand for healthy living spaces
Fitwel
worlds leading certification system committed to building health for all
used across 50 countries
7 categories - safety, physical activity, wellbeing, access to healthy foods
Fitwel success benefits to developers
- properties that implement Fitwel strategies, associated with a higher median property recommendation score
Determinants of physical activity
Giles-Corti and Donovan, 2002
- Perth, Australia
- informal exercise facilities most important
- streets, public open space and the beach
- physical environment secondary to individual and social determinants but still has impact
- invest in streetscapes for walking and recreation
Natures role
Nature is better for mental health (Bratman et al., 2015)
Must consider individual risk
SW england - high risk of melanoma - protect from sun exposure
Reasons for rising obesity rates
WHO, 2010
- motorised transport
- traffic hazards for walking
- pedestrian deaths up over time
- increased playing of sedentary games
- more access to unhealthy food
Majority of states with most driving have highest obesity rates (might not be sole explanatory variable)
Limitation of evidence that BE causes obesity
Puga et al., 2008
- no evidence that urban sprawl causes obesity
- individuals who are most likely to be obese choose to live in more sprawling neighbourhoods
- previous studies forget to control for this and seems like urban sprawl causes obesity
- DON’t bother with cycle lanes, people sort themselves into areas that don’t have those
Financial impact of HB
Sadikin et al., 2022
HB effective rents between 4 and 8% more per square foot than nearby non-certified peers.
benefits of higher ventilation rates alone are estimated around $7,000 per person per year in employee productivity
Poor air quality has Impact on short term sick leave, asthma and respiratory infections (Sundell et al., 2011)
- companies have incentive to keep people healthy
Pollution source like a dirty carpet can result in working 6.5% more slowly
Sick leave stat
Data of more than 3000 workers over 40 buildings, 57% of all sick leave was due to poor ventilation (Milton, 2000)
air quality benefit to economy
Fisk et al., 2011 - improving air quality can add up to $20bn annually to US economy
Productivity - exposure to poor environmental conditions - associated with deterioration of physical and mental health and with a reduction of cognitive performance - Fisk, 1997,
Link between financial benefit and healthy building
- natural light impact on wellbeing and sleep
- rent premium for daylight
Presence of natural light in indoor space - improves human health, well-being and productivity - also better sleep (Boubekri et al., 2014, Petrullo et al., 2016)
Economic value - high levels of daylight in NYC leads to 5-6% rent premium over spaces with low levels - Turan et al., 2020
greenery/living walls/frontscapes
Empirical evidence that people pay for eco-certified office space
This is shown by Eco-certified office space accounting for almost half of all Class A office space transacted since 2007 (Fuerst et al., 2017).
Cost savings of green buildings
Double glazed windows, heat pumps and LED lighting all reduce the amount of energy needed to warm a house leading to energy cost savings in the long run (Rey, 2004)
Retrofit paybacks and direct vs indirect incentives to GB
For example, the economic payback of a shallow green retrofit is 2-3 years due to the 30% annual energy savings (UBS, 2023). Liang et al., 2016 argues that the benefits can be split into direct and indirect incentives ranging from asset value increase to lower maintenance costs.
Role of policymakers
Governments must thus use incentives to distribute the added cost between developers and themselves in order for GB to occur (Fan and Hui, 2020).
