A Review Paper on Green Building Research

Abstract

Green building technology is one of the most trending topics all over the world which is been put forward toreduce the significant impact of the construction industry on the environment, society and economy. The globe isin an urgent need of sustainable and a smart development as the problem of pollution and global warming israpidly increasing all over the world. A drastic climatic changes also been noticed and being experienced allover the world due to increase in the Green House Gases (GHG’s). In the developed countries like United Statesof America, Russia, Australia, United Kingdom, there are already strict measures been taken to achieve asustainable development and also rules and regulations are been made by their respective governments tosupport and achieve a sustainable and an eco-friendly development of their nations. However, in the developingcountries like India, China, Srilanka, Pakistan, etc., they are far behind in achieving a sustainable developmentand eco-friendly constructions. Also, there is a lack of awareness amongst the people about this global issue inthese developing countries. The studies and the research work in these countries is also way far behind ascompared to the developed nations in the world. This paper presents the need of sustainable development allover the globe especially in thedeveloping countries likeIndia and China which have a huge land mass andalso developing rapidly and heading towards becoming the new super powers of the world soon in the future.Also, it includes the sustainable and economic studies with references to the Indian contexts with a supportinglive recent case study of a newly designed and constructed luxurious residential bungalow in a small town inIndia. The case study is specially selected as a residential bungalow which is designed and constructed as asustainable and a green structure in a small town in the state of Maharashtra in India as India is also known asa country of villages with a second largest population in the world. According 20 the 2011 census of India,68.84% of Indians i.e.around 833.1 million people live in 6,40,867 different villages.This paperwill helpIndian villages and their residential buildings develop sustainable and green by implementing easy, simple andeconomictechniques.

Introduction

Green buildings, also known as high-performance or sustainable buildings, focus on reducing environmental impact, enhancing occupant health, providing economic returns, and considering the entire lifecycle of the structure. The construction industry significantly affects the environment and society, both positively (creating jobs, supporting economy) and negatively (pollution, resource depletion, waste). Buildings contribute heavily to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, posing global environmental challenges.

Several research studies highlight different aspects of green buildings:

• Definitions, benefits, and methods to achieve green buildings emphasize environmental performance and user health.

• Lifecycle assessments compare conventional materials with eco-friendly alternatives, encouraging resource reuse and local sourcing.

• Economic studies show that green buildings improve productivity and health, often outweighing their higher initial costs.

• Lifecycle energy analyses reveal that most energy is consumed during building operation, stressing the need for active and passive energy-saving technologies.

• Cost prediction models for green certifications like LEED help in understanding economic impacts.

The study aims to promote green building techniques, raise awareness about environmental and financial benefits, and develop practical approaches for sustainable construction, especially relevant for developing countries like India.

Conclusion

This paper study reported all the technical and also the economic aspects related to green buildings worldwide.Also, through this live case study of a small residential bungalow in a small townof India it is expected toattractatleastthe researchersallovertheworldespeciallyinIndiaandalsotoallthereaderstowardsplanningof their new homes or retrofitting their old ones by simple modifications and converting it into a green or asustainable building for future long term savings (economic aspects) and also for saving our environment(environmental aspects). The conclusion for the studies can be classified into three different categories i.e.definitions and scope of green building, benefits and costs of green building and ways to achieve green building.It hasbeenobservedthat inmostof the literature reviews,the focusesare onenvironmental aspectsofsustainability such as energy consumption, water efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions and also with theirtechnical solutions. Also, the life cycle assessment approach, which is extensively applied in the environmentalaspects of green building can be a useful tool for social sustainability. New rating tools are developing rapidlyworldwide. But more studies in these fields are required to support these new rating tools and also help inassisting the decision-making for the investors and the developers. Also, awareness amongst the people shouldbe spread about the green building concepts and its long term profits. Current scenario is that people in countrieslike India are ignorant about this concept and also lack of awareness can be observed. Government initiative willhelplargelyinspreadingawareness. Also, provisions of educating and training people or the occupants will help to regulate their behaviour of usingthe green building which may affect the building performance significantly. Also, the discussion on cost andbenefits of the green building are quite noticeable. It is also worth noticing that all the leading green buildingassessmenttoolsaredesignedaccordingtotheirlocalclimaticandgeographicconditions.Thustosetbenchmarks forthe world with references to greenbuilding, this point needs to be takeninto considerationswhen comparing the effectiveness of these green building rating tools. The case study considered into thisresearch paper is specially selected, designed, and constructed keeping in mind the green building concepts andits necessity to the environment and also to ourpockets inthe long termconsiderations.Also,this case studywill help in studying awareness about the green building concepts amongst the people of towns and villages ofIndia and help them develop their own green home and promote them to after building it. It is important tospread awareness amongst the people of the villages and towns in a country like India as the majority populationofIndialivesinvillagesandtowns andnotincities.Also,specialpopulationsuchas agedpeople,students,andteachers could be paid more attention. Aged people tend to be more vulnerable to the overheating and the indoorenvironmental quality. Students will become practitioners in the future, also leaders in various sectors. Teachersplayacriticalroletoshapetheattitudeandbehaviourofstudentstowardsthesustainabilityrelatedissuessuchas the matter of using buildings. Thus, the above mentioned issues serve as items of future agenda for greenbuildingrelatedresearchandalsopromotingamountofgreenandsustainabledevelopment.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Bhupendra Singh Kilania, Naresh Kumar Sharma , Rohit Soni. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.