Green buildings incorporate measures that are environmentally friendly and

resource-efficient across the building lifecycle. The green buildings concept aims to
comprehensively minimize the negative impact and maximize the positive impact a
building has on its natural environment and human occupants. As a holistic approach to
their planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance, green buildings
successfully maximize the natural efficiencies of a building site and integrate them with
renewable and low-carbon technologies to support the building’s energy needs and
create a healthy built environment. Areas of priority in green buildings include the
efficient use of energy, water, and other resources; quality of the indoor environment;
and impacts to the natural environment. Buildings and the supply chain that supports
them are responsible for an enormous share of worldwide carbon dioxide
emissions—also referred to as greenhouse gases—and energy, water, and materials
consumption. The global building sector also represents the largest opportunity for
significant, cost-effective improvements in these areas, making it a broad and robust
focus of research and development efforts. Understanding the nature and extent of
inefficiencies and negative impacts in the built environment helps drive the development
of new approaches and technologies that can improve all aspects of a building’s
performance. Green buildings are needed on a global scale to help drastically reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, conserve increasingly stretched energy resources, and
contribute to improved human health.

2
 A history of green buildings

The concept of ecological architecture was introduced in the 1960s. The energy crisis in
the 1970s further fueled the development of renewable energy resources, including
solar, geothermal, and wind energy, as well as more energy-efficient buildings. In 1980,
the concept of “sustainable development” took hold, and a few developed countries had
begun widely implementing energy-saving building systems. In 1990, the United
Kingdom introduced the world’s first green building standard, followed by the formation
of the U.S Green Building Council in 1993. The U.S. Green Building Council established
the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating
system later in the 1990s to create a central framework for codifying and verifying the
effective implementation of green building practices. It has grown into a robust and
internationally recognized standard, despite its origination and predominant application
in the United States. Since the 1990s, agencies and countries around the world also
have adopted their own green building programs and standards. Regardless of the
system for guiding its implementation, the green buildings concept remains universal. It
has evolved into a necessary cornerstone in the building sector and a major focus of
academia and industry in seeking to address global energy challenges.

3
Green buildings importance and applications

Buildings account for about 40 percent of our nation’s energy use and consume 75
percent of our nation’s electricity. The building sector accounts for more than one third of
global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, a percentage that could substantially
increase over the years ahead without additional intervention. There are significant
opportunities to improve the way buildings function, and the mounting pressure on our
energy resources and environment has necessitated robust investment and effort to
maximize them. Green buildings combine a variety of approaches—to practices,
technologies, and materials—across all stages of a building’s lifecycle. The set of
measures applied to a building is customized to that building’s unique situation and work
together to optimally reduce its impact on the human and natural environment. Many of
these approaches involve using renewable resources, as well as introducing techniques
and technologies or using innovative materials that improve resource utilization.
Maximizing energy, water, and materials performance are major drivers in configuring
green buildings. The following examples are just a few of many options in the green
builder’s toolbox, a list of measures that continues to grow and evolve with new
knowledge and innovation. Renewable energy sources, including solar, are often
factored into green buildings. For example, some use photovoltaic panels for on-site
solar power generation. Others employ passive solar building design strategies that
physically position building elements, including windows, walls, awnings, and
landscaping, to maximize the benefits of cooling shade in summer and solar warmth in
winter. The concept of daylighting calls for orienting windows in a manner that makes
best use of natural light inside the building and reduces electric lighting needs. And
solar-powered water heating cuts down on energy costs.

4
 Benefits of green buildings

Green buildings help reduce negative impacts on the natural environment by using less water, energy,

and other natural resources; employing renewable energy sources and eco-friendly materials; and

reducing emissions and other waste. They can even provide net-positive impact in terms of generating

their own energy or increasing biodiversity. Among the industry sectors that are major contributors to

greenhouse gas emissions, the building sector has the largest potential difference to make in achieving

significant reductions. The implementation of green building measures that ultimately lead to these

performance benefits also translates to economic benefits for multiple stakeholders. Developers benefit

from higher property values due to optimized resource utilization and better-performing, longer-lasting

buildings. Better buildings are more attractive to business owners and occupants for their environmental

benefits, improved comfort, higher efficiency and less waste, and lower operating costs—which also

positively impacts occupancy levels.

On top of that, the huge industry and job creation that exists around the development of green buildings

continues to grow. And studies are showing that people who work in the improved environment of green

buildings are realizing benefits in areas such as work performance and sleep quality.

As the green buildings industry evolves and matures with more support from formal policies, standards,

and incentives, the challenge is to continue refining those mechanisms and the building practices and

technologies they represent and guide. Since their introduction, green buildings have helped make

notable progress in reducing building sector energy consumption and environmental impact. However,

there is opportunity for further improvement and added pressures to accommodate for global growth and

balance the economics of green buildings. To keep pace and make additional forward progress, further

innovation is needed in areas including but not limited to land use, energy and water conservation,

materials, indoor air quality, and construction management.

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New and future developments in green buildings

Green buildings research is multi-faceted, with a lot of recent activity in the areas of construction and

building technologies, energy and fuels, and civil engineering.While the concept of green buildings

originated in the commercial sector, emphasis is growing in the residential sector. Added building

regulations, policies requiring energy efficiency, and increased public awareness and interest in this

sector are creating higher demand for environmentally friendly and energy-conserving materials and

other solutions for residential buildings.An interesting development emerging in the green building

materials space is the use of living materials. These are materials that consist of biological compounds

whose growth serves a practical purpose. One example is self-mending concrete, which contains

bacteria that grow within the pores to increase its strength or fill in cracks.Green building materials in

general continue to be an area of new development, as demand grows for products and technologies

that help achieve LEED certification. Some of the demand is driven by increased government investment

in motivating green buildings through encouragement of LEED and other certification programs,

additional regulations and incentives, and support of research and development to introduce technology

improvements and refine codes and standards.Another important area of focus is on advanced building

controls, which can be applied to new buildings or retrofitted in existing buildings to improve their energy

efficiency, increase integration of clean energy sources, and coordinate electricity consumption within

buildings and with the power grid. This involves integrating technology that automates operational

functions, such as ventilation, heating, cooling, and lighting systems, according to schedules and other

energy-saving adjustment parameters.

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Viability of Green Construction and Innovations

Recent advancements in green building technologies (GBTs) have grown substantially, as an

outcome of the environmental, economic and societal benefits. It has the potential to move

toward sustainable development, specifically related to climate change.

In GBTs, the main objective is to use energy, water and other resources in a balanced way,

without using them extensively. This will improve the environmental conditions. Green buildings

(GBs) are beneficial when it comes to energy consumption and emissions; low maintenance

and operation costs; boosting health and productivity; etc. There is a lack of a critical review of

the past or present research work in the area of the Green Building Technology (GBT) sector to

identify the future roadmap for sustainable green building technologies. A critical review, with the

help of proper research methodology, was identified. The scope of this study is to analyze the

existing work on different issues, and find different key issues in green building research, which

has minimal use of natural resources, is cost-effective and is designed and constructed for a

longer duration, considering future prospects. This paper examines the state of green building

construction today and makes recommendations for further study and development which will

be necessary for a sustainable future. In order to encourage research, this study also identified

a few possible future research directions in sustainable development.

8
Economic Viability

1. *Initial Investment*: Green construction and renovation often require a higher initial investment due to

the use of sustainable materials and technologies.

2. *Long-term Savings*: However, green buildings can provide long-term savings through reduced

energy consumption, water conservation, and lower maintenance costs.

3. *Increased Property Value*: Green buildings can also increase property value, making them more

attractive to buyers and renters.

4. *Government Incentives*: Many governments offer incentives, such as tax credits and rebates, to

encourage green construction and renovation.

Environmental Viability

1. *Reduced Energy Consumption*: Green buildings can reduce energy consumption by 20-30% through

the use of energy-efficient systems and renewable energy sources.

2. *Water Conservation*: Green buildings can also reduce water consumption by 20-30% through the

use of low-flow fixtures and greywater reuse systems.

3. *Reduced Waste*: Green construction and renovation can reduce waste by 50-90% through the use of

recycling and reuse strategies.

4. *Improved Indoor Air Quality*: Green buildings can improve indoor air quality by 50-90% through the

use of natural ventilation, air filtration systems, and non-toxic materials.

9
Social Viability

1. *Improved Occupant Health*: Green buildings can improve occupant health by 50-90% through the

use of natural light, fresh air, and non-toxic materials.

2. *Increased Productivity*: Green buildings can also increase productivity by 10-20% through the use of

natural light, comfortable temperatures, and reduced noise pollution.

3. *Enhanced Community Engagement*: Green construction and renovation can enhance community

engagement by 20-50% through the use of public spaces, community gardens, and educational

programs.

4. *Job Creation*: Green construction and renovation can create new job opportunities in the fields of

sustainable design, construction, and maintenance.

Challenges and Limitations

1. *Higher Upfront Costs*: Green construction and renovation often require higher upfront costs, which

can be a barrier for some developers and building owners.

2. *Limited Availability of Sustainable Materials*: The availability of sustainable materials can be limited

in some regions, making it difficult to source materials locally.

3. *Lack of Standardization*: The lack of standardization in green building certification programs can

make it difficult to compare the sustainability of different buildings.

4. *Public Awareness and Education*: Public awareness and education about the benefits of green

construction and renovation can be limited, making it difficult to promote sustainable building practices.

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Research Methodology

In order to precisely review the current barriers, progress, and future research directions for sustainable
development of green buildings, the research process of this review paper is divided into five main steps, as shown
in Figure 1. Firstly, the WoS (Web of Science) was chosen as the primary database for this review paper, followed
by inputting the top five keywords of the research topic and initially obtaining over 1000 pieces of literature. The
abstract and full text of the literature was read according to the research topic of this review paper, and 150 articles
were finally identified. Based on the selected literature, a visual analysis of the literature was conducted along with
an analysis of the content of the literature, resulting in the current development of the green building field and
recommendations to promote the sustainable development of green building.

Figure 1. Research methodology process.

This review paper looks at literature related to the field of green building with data obtained from the WoS core
collection database, which contains over 10,000 disciplines and is a fairly authoritative and comprehensive
database [32]. Although Scopus has a broader collection of data, its data have a relatively high duplication rate
compared to WoS [33]. In addition, studies have found no significant differences in the analysis results when the
two databases were used together [33]. Therefore, this review paper has used WoS as a valid database to conduct
the review study.

The field of green building has been extensively researched, the number of keywords used in the literature search was huge,
and the number of studies retrieved as a result was also very large. According to the research theme of this review paper, five
keywords were used; green building, sustainable building, environmental impacts, economic benefits, and social impacts were

linked with the “AND” operator to capture the maximum results. Based on the keyword search, there were initially 1365 search

papers; in order to find the most recent state-of-the-art research in the field of sustainable building, the time frame for the search
was set to 2015–2022. Finally, by reading the abstracts, introductions, and conclusions of the papers, those with obvious
conclusions about sustainable building research, closely related to the five keywords, and highly relevant to the topic of this
review were manually selected and started to be read carefully. VOS viewer is a free JAVA-based software developed in 2009
by Van Eck and Waltman from the Centre for Scientific and Technological Research at Leiden University in the Netherlands,
intended to visualize literature data using analysis of unimodal undirected networks [34].

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 Practical execution of sustainability idea
The development of green building presents an opportunity to accomplish low-carbon construction and
energy efficiency. The potential of green building development is great, and it is considered as an
important industry across the world. The improvements of environmental performance and energy
efficiency in buildings are the core of green building transformation [36,109]. The building industry has a
substantial influence on the environment, which is considered the most important element in mitigating
the effect of global warming on humanity [6,39,41,110]. Chi et al. [111] put forward that construction
waste minimization performance of green building projects in the US and China presents a significant
difference at lower certification levels. The reason might be a low reuse rate of construction components
in China so that the construction waste minimization performance of green building projects is
influenced. However, the study would have been more interesting if it has included the construction
waste minimization performance of green building projects in economies other than the US and China
under different political, economic, social, and technological conditions. In fact, green building can be
considered as the specific presentation of energy efficiency and resources efficiency. Some findings from
studies support the idea that green building has great advantages over traditional buildings, which
usually bring higher performance embodied in energy conservation, water conservation, and CO2
emissions reduction [28,37,38,112]. Additionally, the energy consumption of green buildings in urban
areas can be made quantitative by applying a spatial regression model to analyze the connection
between building greening rate and surface temperature [42]. Therefore, green building can be used to
realize the sustainable development of low-carbon construction and energy efficiency.

Building regulations have not been well developed; this will lead to performance disparity in green
building. Conversely, the development of green building will promote the improvement of building
regulations. Building regulations must be constantly updated to keep pace with the development of green
building construction technology. For instance, China’s green building standards and regulations are
constantly improving. Local standards are amended every few years under the guidance of National
standards by combining the lessons learned during the operation and working experience. In 2019,
China released the latest Assessment Standard for green building, 2019 version. Compared with the old
version (2014 version), this one is updated for the latest technology and concepts of green building, and
further clarifies the misunderstandings in the 2014 version. The introduction of the 2019 version of green
building standards reduces the exploitation of loopholes and regulates the behavior of relevant
stakeholders. Nowadays, many institutions propose supportive green financial policies to promote the
development of green building. These include Basic Concept and Crucial Advocacy of Sustainable
Finance (ISO/TR32220:2021) released by International Organization for Standardization in 2021, Action
Plan: Financing Sustainable Development proposed by European Union in 2018, Equator Principles from
several united international banks, Green Bond Principle from International Capital Market Association,
and Climate Bond Standard developed by Climate Bond Initiative. The government of the Philippines has
passed the Green Jobs Act in 2016, recognizing the potential of the green building industry to deliver
sustainable economic development and reducing related tax for green building companies [28,113].

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 Future Recommendations
Based on the previously proposed impediments to green building and the current development of green
building, it is proposed that some directions and specific measures for the future improvement of green
building are proposed. The technology system of green building construction should be accelerated to
adapt to market demand in the future. Developers should strengthen the research and development of
key technologies [96]. The government should increase support for technological research and
communication in order to improve the commercialization level and market penetration capacity of new
technologies. Meanwhile, innovative technologies need to be commercialized through an effective
platform to demonstrate and promote them.Property developers are the decisive stakeholders in green
building development activity to decide whether to exploit green technology, products, and projects.
Improving the awareness of the stakeholders is helpful for the process of green building development.
The purpose of most developers is to pursue profit. Even developing green building is a strategy to gain
the benefit, and not only the profit, but also enterprises’ future reputation and social status. However, to
obtain future honor without compromising the current payment collection is a precondition, especially for
small-scale building companies. To achieve sustainable building requires high-quality building elements
for improving building performance. For example, in winter, heat energy can be saved by increasing the
windows’ air impermeability; good sound insulation is necessary to reduce interior noise. Thus, windows
with better performance are needed, which will increase the initial cost. Under this circumstance,
consumers seriously consider good cost performance instead of sustainability [2]. A fact is that
small-scale companies are only capable of adopting basic measures for building development, while only
large-scale companies have enough money to consider green building development. Therefore, it is
necessary to take measures to enhance the sustainability awareness of stakeholders from small-scale
companies; it is their responsibility to propagandize and popularize green building, and further establish
a mature green building market. In return, the market will attract and support more companies to develop
green building.The government can provide campaigns at the local, state and national level to promote
the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green buildings. Moreover, governments could also
conduct awareness programs to encourage developers and tenants to accept green buildings because
of the increasing value of such buildings, lower operation costs, and better community image. The
incentive policies in finance, taxation and economy should be increased. These incentive policies might
generate a strong internal motivation for relevant departments to stimulate the development of green
building. Green finance is a special financial activity that is used to support sustainable development.
The standards of green building should satisfy the local conditions to provide direct guidance.
Furthermore, the establishment and improvement of green building standards should adequately
consider local economic development, weather conditions, regional resources, and construction level.
Additionally, the evaluation system should contain high quantitative criteria. The research and application
of quantitative and qualitative indicators should be strengthened. Only in this way can green buildings be
really ‘GREEN’. Furthermore, the lifecycle evaluation of green buildings should be completed before
implementing the design proposal and construction process.

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 CASE STUDY

LEED® for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) is a rating system that addresses the

specifics of tenant spaces primarily in office and institutional buildings. LEED-CI is

designed to complement the LEED Green Building Rating System, Version 2.1. The
USGBC is also developinga companion rating system called LEED for Core & Shell or
LEED-CS. Together, LEED-CS and LEED-CI will establish green building criteria for
commercial office real estate for both developers and tenants.

HCMA Office Renovation

The existing building is a three storey concrete block and wood frame structure with a
heavy timber roof containing both office and retail space. The original two-storey

the building was built in 1968. The predecessor firm added a

third floor in 1986. Most recently Hughes Condon Marler: Architects participated in the
LEED for Commercial Interiors Pilot Project during an expansion in 2003.

LEEDTM Commercial Interior Scorecard 29.0 Possible Points 56

The use of natural ventilation and natural daylighting strategies decrease

15
 CONCLUSION
Green building services refer to a range of strategies, practices, and technologies used in the

construction and operation of buildings to minimize their environmental impact and promote

sustainability. These services aim to reduce resource consumption, enhance energy efficiency, improve

indoor air quality, and lessen the overall carbon footprint of a building. Here are some key aspects of

green building services:

1. Renewable Energy: Incorporating renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines

into a building's design to generate clean, on-site energy and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

2. Water Conservation: Implementing water-saving technologies like low-flow toilets, efficient irrigation

systems, and rainwater harvesting to reduce water usage and strain on local water resources.

3. Materials Selection: Choosing sustainable building materials, such as recycled or locally sourced

materials, to reduce the environmental impact of construction and promote responsible resource

management.

4. Waste Reduction: Implementing construction and demolition waste management plans to minimize the

amount of waste sent to landfills and promote recycling and reuse of materials.

5. Indoor Air Quality: Enhancing indoor air quality through proper ventilation, the use of low-emission

materials, and control of indoor pollutants to create a healthier and more comfortable living or working

environment.

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 REFERENCES

www.illuminei.com/blog/the-benefits-of-

choosing-green-building-services

www.mdpi.com

www.rdn.bc.ca/cms/wpattachments