Integrity of Green Buildings
With the fast growth of green buildings over the past 30+ years, a number of issues have surfaced which have caused some serious problems all through the business. With the quantity of innovation in the principles and ethics, the integrity of the buildings themselves have become compromised. Whether or not it is from the use of green supplies that have not been adequately tested, or from intrinsic issues with the ideology behind the green practices, there is a direct relationship between green building design and building failures.
As buildings place a stronger emphasis on green ideas and designs, there has been an improve in the quantity of building problems. One big purpose for this is the supplies being used. Many of the green products have not been "attempted and accurate" tested, which increases the level of uncertainty associated with them. Although substantial research has been put into testing these supplies, there are a number of unknown risk factors related with the actual application of these supplies that contribute to defects and failures. It is important to take conservative security factors when contemplating utilizing green materials for your building.
In addition to the issues associated with the green buildings, there are also inherent issues with some of the green building designs and concepts. Even though these concepts are revolutionary and can be extremely valuable, there are some basic problems that cannot be ignored. For instance, wind turbines are excellent sources of clean energy and can drastically reduce energy usage. However, the placement of these wind turbines can straight affect the stability of the building, as the structure should be engineered to account for the additional force added from the turbine spinning, as nicely as the weight of the turbine.
An additional classic instance of a fantastic idea that, unfortunately, often leads to building problems is vegetative/green roofs. Green roofs contain expanding plants on rooftops, which, in theory, replaces the vegetated footprint that the building destroyed upon construction. Although these styles have great intentions, they often result in water intrusion issues. The design for green roofs is extremely complex, as they should include drainage systems, stronger membranes, and have no room for error. In a common roof design, water is drained and removed from the roof, and pooling is avoided. For vegetative roofs, they harness this water and use it to develop plants, resulting in significant increases in weight and water volume on top of the roof. Therefore, if there is a minor leak, it can rapidly result in tremendous damage inside the building. Furthermore, due to the complexity of the design, the supply of the leak is tough to detect.
As green building designs continue to evolve, so too will the reliability of the supplies and styles being used. Nevertheless, any time you have a new technology, there will be an unknown possible risk. Green buildings present innovative and thrilling ideas for a much more sustainable future. However, before using the concepts on your building, it is important to fully comprehend the risks every green concept poses, as it not only will be pricey, but it might compromise the integrity of the whole building envelope in much more ways than one.
While others have actually discussed the subject of Legrand, my hope is that this write-up brings a special point of view.
