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Building pollution

Jakarta City authorities’ recent failure to meet the minimum standards for clean and green cities under the Government’s Adipura environmental awards, plus the publication of another new study on city pollution from soaring skyscrapers and paved land, highlight the problem of pollution from buildings. The recent international study was held to examine reports of falling air quality in fast-growing cities, particularly those near coasts. According to the report - from the National Center for Atmospheric Research - town planners need to change tactics to energy-efficient, low impact buildings and greener cities with more lakes and ponds. ‘The night-time temperature would be lower and winds would become stronger, blowing the pollution out to sea,’ it noted.

 

Rising population and rural-urban migration require more homes - a basic living standard. More homes, given a limited land base, necessitate the development of high-rise buildings and city facilities. More building contributes to rising pollution and global warming – and so on. It’s the urban paradox.

 

Experts in the USA calculate that a 93 square meter house consuming 4,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually could fill itself with pure carbon dioxide (CO₂) in one to two months if the power plant emissions were sent along with the electricity. And this does not include of course the CO₂ from fuel (liquid or gas) consumed in daily cooking. Burning a litre of fuel produces hundreds of times its volume in CO₂. Precious quantities of water are used and expelled from catering, toilet and other large building facilities, from washing clothes at home, and from household sewage. More emissions are generated from solid domestic municipal and commercial waste going into landfills or being incinerated.

 

But there are solutions available today. It is the willingness to take action – at the planning level and at the individual level that can and will make a difference – in eradicating slum developments, creating more green space and in the way each and every home or commercial building is designed built and operated – to be sustainable. Much can be done in making buildings energy efficient and in lowering the waste generated, both liquid and solids, which themselves put pressure on the environment.  Energy efficient design takes account of the siting of the building in respect of the sun’s arc, in the creation of shade, in selecting light colour roof and wall finishings, the use of gardens of hardy, low water using plants, open plan space, rain water capture and storage. From the installation of embedded cooling systems in each floor helping to save on air-conditioning bills, to tight well fitted double glazed windows there are multiple ways to save on operating costs – and in a grand scale: EU studies estimate that buildings, during their lifecycle, consume over 48 per cent of energy and emit 30 per cent of green house gases worldwide. Carefully designed ventilation, the fitting of solar panels and efficient LED lighting are other ways to cut the use of coal-fired electricity and increase self-sustaining energy usage. Treatment tanks for grey water, use of composting bins, ventilated aerobic tanks and bacteria to dissolve waste and sorting bins to generate recycling and reduce the impact of solid waste in landfills are other highly effective techniques. On their own each of these ideas are marginal – but brought together in collaboration- as has been done with the Ecohome project launched over a year ago in Solo – they offer a powerful solution, both economic and environmental to make a difference in the future of our cities. The opportunities are there and there has never been a better time to take action.

 

For more information on Ecohome – why not download a free copy of the Ecohome booklet available from this website. The National Center for Atmospheric Research report on rising building pollution will be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research later this month.