Asharqia Chamber held a lecture about "green or sustainable buildings" on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 at the Chamber's headquarter in Dammam.
Engineer Yazeed bin Abdulaziz Al-Mutawa», a specialist in green building consultancy, stressed that savings is the fastest and shortest way to reduce energy uses in buildings.
It is at the forefront of the search for new technology to generate.
He pointed out that the savings is through the intelligent reduction in building areas through the use of the system of multi-use rooms, design buildings according to nature, or use highly efficient equipment.
Al-Mutawa said that green buildings are designed with special standards that have the least impact on the environment throughout their lifetime and are characterized by their high efficiency in resource consumption such as energy and water.
Environmentally friendly materials are used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from buildings, energy depletion and waste water.
Al-Mutawa said that green buildings reduce the negative impact on the environment because it is based on environmentally friendly materials, which does not harm humans and the environment in terms of composition of raw materials.
He pointed out that these materials are not only environmentally friendly chemical and physical composition, but also in their life cycle and production method such as reducing wasted energy from the transmission and distribution process or using material made from organic materials and known contents to facilitate their reuse such as cement slurry, which reduces emissions from conventional cement, or rely on local environmental sources to identify special green cleaning materials that are low in emissions and do not affect human health.
Al Mutawa said that the measurement of green buildings follows LEED, which is an internationally recognized system for the design, construction and operation of green and high-performance buildings based on certificates issued on the basis of classifications and specific standards in terms of location, transportation, land, water efficiency, energy, atmosphere, materials, reuse, quality of internal environment, innovation and design.
For his part, Hamad bin Hamoud Al Hammad, a member of the Board of Directors and the Chairman of the Contracting Committee, said that green or sustainable buildings are today a vital part of the radical changes taking place in the national economy.
It is a fundamental principle within the policies and programs put forward by the Kingdom, as it provides many advantages both to the stakeholders in the construction industry or to the residents of the buildings themselves and society as a whole through combining real estate, clean energy and many other sectors.
He said that the government started to launch initiatives and provide quality programs for the dissemination of the culture of building quality, which contributes to the organization of the sector and reduce the potential risks in the construction of buildings, and is in the achievement of the objectives of Vision 2030 and its aspirations to promote green buildings through improving the quality of life of citizens.
He pointed out that there are many Saudi cities already existing or future to be developed or major projects that are being established with LEED International (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which is leading to the Kingdom taking serious steps to become the world's largest investor in green buildings.
