What is the difference between a smart building and a green building?
What is a Smart Building?
At the most fundamental level, smart or “intelligent” buildings offer useful building facilities that make the inhabitants more efficient (e.g. lighting, thermal comfort, sanitation, air quality, physical protection, mobility, etc.) at the lowest cost and environmental impact over the construction life cycle. Smart Buildings uses integrated ICT technology to run and control building facilities and functions. Achieving this vision includes detailed preparation during the start-up process, as well as ensuring the durability of the innovations introduced.
Smart buildings effectively integrate building management and IT technologies that can automatically improve system efficiency and simplify facility operations. Integration dramatically decreases both hardware costs and discomfort associated with implementing and running multiple autonomous building systems.
What is a Green Building?
The Green Building is one that recognizes its effect on the environment and human health. Green buildings are part of a global response to raise awareness of the role human activity plays in contributing to global climate change. The green building combines design , construction and organizational practices that substantially minimize or eliminate the negative effect of growth on the environment and people. Green buildings are energy effective, resource efficient and environmentally friendly and have the potential to be self-sufficient by utilizing renewable resources.
Green building (also known as green building or sustainable building) applies both to the structure and application of processes that are environmentally friendly and resource effective over the life of the building: from planning to design , construction, service, repair, renovation and demolition. This involves close collaboration between the contractor, the architects, the engineers and the client at all stages of the project. Green Building Practice extends and complements the conventional building design issues of economy, utility, durability and comfort. In doing so, the three dimensions of sustainability, i.e. the earth, people and income through the entire supply chain, need to be addressed.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a set of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings which was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Another certificate system that confirms the sustainability of buildings is the British BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) for buildings and large-scale developments. Currently, World Green Building Council is conducting research on the effects of green buildings on the health and productivity of their users and is working with World Bank to promote Green Buildings in Emerging Markets through EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) Market Transformation Program and certification. There are also other tools such as Green Star in Australia, Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) used in the Middle East and the Green Building Index (GBI) predominantly used in Malaysia.
Why Should You Consider “Smart” or “Green” Building?
Water and electricity are currently at the top ten in the world; the continued supply / conservation of freshwater and the reduction of carbon emissions through the addition of renewable energy-generated fossil fuels are high on the 2015 list of the world’s top economic forums, and these concerns are high on the planning stage for the Green Building. However, the Smart Building will contain several additional business-related requirements as set out later in this paper. However, the secret to both green and smart buildings is the efficient use of secret resources , such as water and electricity.
