QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF ECO-EFFICIENT BUILDINGS PARTICIPATING IN THE GREEN SOLUTIONS AWARDS

Abstract

This thesis presents the journey taken in a sustainable building project and the role of renewable energy in these highly efficient buildings. The UN and other organisations/institutions have put curated and implemented strategies, plans and goals to reduce climate change, adapt and mitigate its effects. One of the ways in which the EU can achieve its energy efficiency target is through the use of energy efficient buildings such as nZEB buildings. Measures like this have acted as a catalyst for the development of cooperation and/innovation platforms such as Construction21, the organiser of the Green Solutions awards. All the case studies in this thesis are selected from Green Solutions Awards. The first step for all the building projects under consideration was to define the vision of the project, which is to decide what kind of building they wanted to achieve. The stakeholders such as the project manager, consulting firms, architect, HVAC experts and materials suppliers have to work with each other. At each stage, they were faced with different choices and had to make decisions that had a significant impact on the overall results of the building. The final choice had to be a balance between performance, budget and the wishes of the project manager or building owner, plus the advantages had to outweigh the disadvantages. In order to achieve energy efficiency, it is imperative that the systems, measures and materials put in place in the building are carefully considered and that the options which are eventually implemented match the intended building use. Though the use of RE has excellent benefits for the environment, it is not always the only way to achieve highly efficient eco buildings.