Green Building And Green It Initiatives In Educational Organizations
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Green Building and Green IT initiatives in Educational Organizations e-nvironment: A Sustainable Future for our Planet
Amna Saleh Al Dhahri Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates
Abstract The green building initiative is an effort to reduce buildings impact on the environment and personal health through better design and construction. It also helps to minimize the use of valuable resources by using alternatives. The green IT initiative is to prevent environmental damage by using less energy in computers through improving efficiency. This project proposes implementing Green Building and Green IT initiatives in educational organizations such as schools and Universities. This will help to promote awareness among society about environment dangers and the human responsibilities towards the environment. This paper will discuss the importance of this proposal and how it can be implemented effectively in the UAE.
Introduction Two main terms should be understood and clearly defined, they are Green Building and Green Information Technology (Green IT). To start with, a Green Building is any building that is designed and structured to accomplish environmental requirements and use natural resources in the building design. This means that it provides a healthy environment for employees or occupants, and consumes resources efficiently, such as water and energy. It will reduce or eliminate negative impacts on the environment (Wikipedia). As for Green IT, this is a term which means consuming less energy in operating IT systems via using Smart Computing. It helps in controlling electronic energy use, which increases their default efficiency and reduces the use of energy and the harmful effects of this on the environment. It also reduces the electricity bill (Ame info). My proposal is to implement both initiatives in educational organizations such as schools and universities. Why this should be done: 1. To enable efficient use of resources like energy and water and use alternative power sources 2. To provide a healthier environment in educational organizations which will increase the productivity of students and staff 3. To minimize the consumption of energy for running operating systems by using what is called ‘Smart Computing’. This will increase the machines’ lifetime and efficiency 4. To create awareness among students and faculty about environmental issues especially as they are the future of their country and that they might have the authority to implement environmental initiatives 5. To reduce waste and environmental degradation. This can be done during the construction and also using wastewater in irrigation 6. To use financial resources in develop other fields like the quality of courses and study materials
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 1
Green Buildings Technologies: Green Building technologies can be implemented in the educational organizations in many different areas. Below I will review some of these areas. Efficient Energy Resource Use The most economical benefit is that via using renewable resources, money is saved while preserving the environment simultaneously. There are several renewable resources that can be used such as solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal power (Wikipedia). It is stated that the Sun delivers energy 10,000 times more what humans consume annually. Hence the photovoltaic cells can be used to convert sunlight into energy in the UAE (Wikipedia)
Fig. 1. The photovoltaic cells helps to convert sunlight into energy (Wikipedia) The other technique is green roofs. This means creating a vegetative layer on a rooftop. This will reduce air pollution and the demand on air conditioning systems. Green roofs are also considered to be a way to insulate sounds (Heat Island Effect).
Fig. 2. Green roofs help to reduce air pollution (energy cannot be created nor destroyed) Furthermore, placing windows effectively can reduce the consumption of electric light as natural light is used during the day. Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) To provide healthy indoor air, the building should be constructed and designed in order to preserve the occupants’ health by lessening indoor contamination. To accomplish this, the designer should understand the IAQ problems such as mold, carbon monoxide, toxic chemicals and radon (Heat Island Effect). Experts reported that these aspects have long and short terms exposures. The bad air quality can affect the humans causing coughing, cardiac arrhythmias and heart attacks. While long term effects include asthma, damage to lung airways and lung cancer risks (US News and World Report). Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 2
Fig. 3. Health problems that the human can face when IAQ is poor(Indoor Environmental Testing Home) Waste Minimization Green buildings should eliminate wastewater by exploiting it in other areas such as irrigation and for the green roofs. To make it cheaper and instead of using centralized wastewater systems, waste and wastewater can be used as fertilizer. By using this method, this will create a carbon sink which reduces CO2 and emissions. In addition, it will produce organic nutrients rather than artificial fertilizers (Wikipedia). In educational organizations, paper use varies and unneeded papers can be recycled in collaboration with specialized organizations.
Green IT Technologies Educational organizations use computers and networking, this can be connected to help the environment by smart computing! It is stated that the Information Technology sector produces 2% of the total CO2 emissions in the world. An initiative called The Climate Savers Computing, which is a non-profit group, has a purpose to reduce energy consumption by 50% and reduce CO2 emissions in the world from the operating IT systems by 54 m tons annually. If this initiative is applied in organizations, it will increase the computers’ life and lessen energy waste from computers (Climate savers computing).
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 3
Green footsteps in the UAE The UAE unfortunately is ranked as the most wasteful country in the world by a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report in 2008. However, the UAE is aware of this crucial issue and has initiated several initiatives to preserve our environment. Below it can be seen some environmental examples applied to the UAE (Todorova 2008).
Masdar City
Fig. 4. The Masdar City in Abu Dhabi (Wikipedia) This is an initiative from the Government of Abu Dhabi to build a city which is completely free of waste and carbon. This city is projected to be built within 8 years starting from 2006 while the first phase will be completed and inhabited in 2009. In addition, the city will be defended from hot desert winds and automobiles will not be allowed to be used in the city (Wikipedia). One of the Masdar city projects is the solar plant initiative. It will be used for the construction phase which will cover about 10 megawatts. This initiative will cost approximately to AED 185 million which will prevent about 15,000 tones of CO2 being released annually (Wikipedia). In addition, solar energy will be absorbed by the photovoltaic panels which will be located on rooftops to generate 130 megawatts. It is going to be used to manage and provide water. However, 80% of the wastewater is going to be recycled and reused in other areas such as irrigation(Wikipedia). As mentioned previously, this city is expected to be zero-waste. Hence, industrial waste including metals and plastic are going to be reused in other fields. As for biological waste, it is going to be employed in enriching the soil with nutrition and produce fertilizer (Wikipedia). Abu Dhabi Power Generation It is reported that the government of Abu Dhabi plans to generate power using renewable resources accounting for 7% by the year 2020. This will establish a market values of about 8 billion dollars in foreign firms as well as Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City including manufacturing , construction and research (The National).
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 4
Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) Adopted Green IT Initiative RTA announced the Green IT initiative, which is being used by the RTA to reduce energy consumption by the authority. The RTA is considered to be the first government department to collaborate with the Climate Servers Computing organization in the UAE. More than 50% of the computers in the RTA accomplish the Green IT requirements and the authority will recycle old computers with the Municipality of Dubai. RTA is projected to use 100% green computers within 3 years(Ame info). The First Green Building in Ajman Will be Built It was announced that the first green building in Ajman is going to be completed in 2011 by The Habitat. The building will be constructed using some recycled materials and the developers expect CO2 reduction and water conservation. They are aware that this might use more financial resources in this project but they believe that they will overcome it in the future due to benefits of the green buildings (Walter (2009)).
Buildings in Dubai Registered for Green Rating There are about 335 projects in Dubai registered with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Organization (LEED), which is approved by the US Green Building Council. LEED is a system to assess the green buildings in five specific criteria which includes energy efficiency, water savings, materials selection, indoor environmental quality and sustainable site development. This system has a four rating ordered from certified to platinum (Todorova 2008).
Implementing Changes in the UAE Educational Organizations To make changes, educational officials in the UAE should be aware of the importance of the changes to implement them in the real life. This can be done by setting up seminars and workshops about the hazards the environment faces and how to preserve it as individuals and groups. The students and staff should have similar activities to ensure that every person knows his responsibility towards our environment. Primary changes have to be implemented before starting the big green changes. For instance, here at Sharjah Women’s College, they had the initiative to recycle materials such as glass and plastic and the boxes can be seen everywhere in college. This eliminates some pollution and makes students and staff involved in preserving the UAE environment. Another point is the paper recycling which our college has also implemented. Every place that the papers are consumed, you can see small boxes to collect the unneeded papers and send them for recycling. I recommend that if the UAE universities have plans to enlarge their organizations by adding more buildings, they should apply green practices(Green Building and Green IT) even though they have never tried it before and see if it is succeeded then they might apply it in the other buildings. Furthermore, UAE universities and schools can try the green roofs in one of their buildings to examine the consequences then they can apply it and spread their green experiences among other universities and colleges. As for the Green IT, UAE educational organizations can start experimenting with this initiative in one of their computer labs and see if they can expand the experience. If they succeed then, they can benefit from this initiative in different fields as mentioned previously.
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 5
Conclusion If my paper is implemented, I think the UAE and the world is going to be greener and healthier because there are millions of students who graduate annually and the schools and universities are the place to exchange ideas and change minds about several issues. If this happens , I believe that every student in the UAE and the world will be aware of the importance of being green because they will see the positive results before their eyes and this will make them think green in the future and affect others in the workplaces. The universities who apply these practices, might increase the number of students in their universities because if the university thinks about the environment and provides a healthier place to study or work, the parents will think it is the suitable place for their children. These universities will provide good indoor air quality and green environment which will make the place of study more efficient for students and teachers and encourage them to do their best which will increase the performance and the productivity. The other interesting point is that utility bills and maintenance tend to be minimized duo to green practices. This will increase the financial resources that can be used to enhance the quality of teaching and study materials in schools as well as preparing students to participate and compete with others in different competitions and conferences. This will give the schools and universities a positive reputation and will attract students to join them.
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 6
References Ame info. TLA released Green IT initiative, retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.ameinfo.com/ar-113980.html Climate savers computing. about, retrieved January 27, 2009 from http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/about/
CITIES XL . green roofs, retrieved January 16, 2009 from http://www.citiesxl.com/index.php?/component/option,com_fireboard/func,view/id,59003/catid,6/ Energy Star. Indoor Air Package, retrieved January 20, 2009 from http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bldrs_lenders_raters.nh_iap energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Green roofs, retrieved January 02, 2009 from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/dewo0010/architecture/ Heat Island Effect. Green Roofs, retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.epa.gov/heatisland/mitigation/greenroofs.htm Indoor Environmental Testing Home. Indoor Environment Check, retrieved January 20, 2009 from http://www.theairguys.com/services.htm Structural Insulated Panel Association. Green Building Information, retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.sips.org/content/green-building/ The National. A cleaner future from Abu Dhabi, retrieved January 30, 2009 from http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090120/OPINION/160536789&SearchID=73344133547187
Todorova, Vesela(2008). Dubai projects seek green rating, retrieved January 25, 2009 from http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081126/NATIONAL/847644439&SearchID=7334421171998 Todorova, Vesela (2008). UAE tops league of wasteful countries, retrieved January 30, 2009 from http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081029/NATIONAL/229065952&SearchID=73344133796476 US News and World Report. The Real Dangers of Air Pollution, retrieved January 02, 2009 from http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2007/12/05/the-real-dangers-of-air-pollution.html Walter ,Nicole (2009). Ajman still 'going green' despite recession, retrieved January 25, 2009 from http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/01/22/10277433.html
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 7
Wikipedia. Green Building, retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_building, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masdar_City zfacts . emissions, retrieved January 16, 2009 from http://zfacts.com/p/194.html
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 8
Amna Saleh Al Dhahri Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates
Abstract The green building initiative is an effort to reduce buildings impact on the environment and personal health through better design and construction. It also helps to minimize the use of valuable resources by using alternatives. The green IT initiative is to prevent environmental damage by using less energy in computers through improving efficiency. This project proposes implementing Green Building and Green IT initiatives in educational organizations such as schools and Universities. This will help to promote awareness among society about environment dangers and the human responsibilities towards the environment. This paper will discuss the importance of this proposal and how it can be implemented effectively in the UAE.
Introduction Two main terms should be understood and clearly defined, they are Green Building and Green Information Technology (Green IT). To start with, a Green Building is any building that is designed and structured to accomplish environmental requirements and use natural resources in the building design. This means that it provides a healthy environment for employees or occupants, and consumes resources efficiently, such as water and energy. It will reduce or eliminate negative impacts on the environment (Wikipedia). As for Green IT, this is a term which means consuming less energy in operating IT systems via using Smart Computing. It helps in controlling electronic energy use, which increases their default efficiency and reduces the use of energy and the harmful effects of this on the environment. It also reduces the electricity bill (Ame info). My proposal is to implement both initiatives in educational organizations such as schools and universities. Why this should be done: 1. To enable efficient use of resources like energy and water and use alternative power sources 2. To provide a healthier environment in educational organizations which will increase the productivity of students and staff 3. To minimize the consumption of energy for running operating systems by using what is called ‘Smart Computing’. This will increase the machines’ lifetime and efficiency 4. To create awareness among students and faculty about environmental issues especially as they are the future of their country and that they might have the authority to implement environmental initiatives 5. To reduce waste and environmental degradation. This can be done during the construction and also using wastewater in irrigation 6. To use financial resources in develop other fields like the quality of courses and study materials
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 1
Green Buildings Technologies: Green Building technologies can be implemented in the educational organizations in many different areas. Below I will review some of these areas. Efficient Energy Resource Use The most economical benefit is that via using renewable resources, money is saved while preserving the environment simultaneously. There are several renewable resources that can be used such as solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal power (Wikipedia). It is stated that the Sun delivers energy 10,000 times more what humans consume annually. Hence the photovoltaic cells can be used to convert sunlight into energy in the UAE (Wikipedia)
Fig. 1. The photovoltaic cells helps to convert sunlight into energy (Wikipedia) The other technique is green roofs. This means creating a vegetative layer on a rooftop. This will reduce air pollution and the demand on air conditioning systems. Green roofs are also considered to be a way to insulate sounds (Heat Island Effect).
Fig. 2. Green roofs help to reduce air pollution (energy cannot be created nor destroyed) Furthermore, placing windows effectively can reduce the consumption of electric light as natural light is used during the day. Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) To provide healthy indoor air, the building should be constructed and designed in order to preserve the occupants’ health by lessening indoor contamination. To accomplish this, the designer should understand the IAQ problems such as mold, carbon monoxide, toxic chemicals and radon (Heat Island Effect). Experts reported that these aspects have long and short terms exposures. The bad air quality can affect the humans causing coughing, cardiac arrhythmias and heart attacks. While long term effects include asthma, damage to lung airways and lung cancer risks (US News and World Report). Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 2
Fig. 3. Health problems that the human can face when IAQ is poor(Indoor Environmental Testing Home) Waste Minimization Green buildings should eliminate wastewater by exploiting it in other areas such as irrigation and for the green roofs. To make it cheaper and instead of using centralized wastewater systems, waste and wastewater can be used as fertilizer. By using this method, this will create a carbon sink which reduces CO2 and emissions. In addition, it will produce organic nutrients rather than artificial fertilizers (Wikipedia). In educational organizations, paper use varies and unneeded papers can be recycled in collaboration with specialized organizations.
Green IT Technologies Educational organizations use computers and networking, this can be connected to help the environment by smart computing! It is stated that the Information Technology sector produces 2% of the total CO2 emissions in the world. An initiative called The Climate Savers Computing, which is a non-profit group, has a purpose to reduce energy consumption by 50% and reduce CO2 emissions in the world from the operating IT systems by 54 m tons annually. If this initiative is applied in organizations, it will increase the computers’ life and lessen energy waste from computers (Climate savers computing).
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 3
Green footsteps in the UAE The UAE unfortunately is ranked as the most wasteful country in the world by a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report in 2008. However, the UAE is aware of this crucial issue and has initiated several initiatives to preserve our environment. Below it can be seen some environmental examples applied to the UAE (Todorova 2008).
Masdar City
Fig. 4. The Masdar City in Abu Dhabi (Wikipedia) This is an initiative from the Government of Abu Dhabi to build a city which is completely free of waste and carbon. This city is projected to be built within 8 years starting from 2006 while the first phase will be completed and inhabited in 2009. In addition, the city will be defended from hot desert winds and automobiles will not be allowed to be used in the city (Wikipedia). One of the Masdar city projects is the solar plant initiative. It will be used for the construction phase which will cover about 10 megawatts. This initiative will cost approximately to AED 185 million which will prevent about 15,000 tones of CO2 being released annually (Wikipedia). In addition, solar energy will be absorbed by the photovoltaic panels which will be located on rooftops to generate 130 megawatts. It is going to be used to manage and provide water. However, 80% of the wastewater is going to be recycled and reused in other areas such as irrigation(Wikipedia). As mentioned previously, this city is expected to be zero-waste. Hence, industrial waste including metals and plastic are going to be reused in other fields. As for biological waste, it is going to be employed in enriching the soil with nutrition and produce fertilizer (Wikipedia). Abu Dhabi Power Generation It is reported that the government of Abu Dhabi plans to generate power using renewable resources accounting for 7% by the year 2020. This will establish a market values of about 8 billion dollars in foreign firms as well as Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City including manufacturing , construction and research (The National).
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 4
Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) Adopted Green IT Initiative RTA announced the Green IT initiative, which is being used by the RTA to reduce energy consumption by the authority. The RTA is considered to be the first government department to collaborate with the Climate Servers Computing organization in the UAE. More than 50% of the computers in the RTA accomplish the Green IT requirements and the authority will recycle old computers with the Municipality of Dubai. RTA is projected to use 100% green computers within 3 years(Ame info). The First Green Building in Ajman Will be Built It was announced that the first green building in Ajman is going to be completed in 2011 by The Habitat. The building will be constructed using some recycled materials and the developers expect CO2 reduction and water conservation. They are aware that this might use more financial resources in this project but they believe that they will overcome it in the future due to benefits of the green buildings (Walter (2009)).
Buildings in Dubai Registered for Green Rating There are about 335 projects in Dubai registered with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Organization (LEED), which is approved by the US Green Building Council. LEED is a system to assess the green buildings in five specific criteria which includes energy efficiency, water savings, materials selection, indoor environmental quality and sustainable site development. This system has a four rating ordered from certified to platinum (Todorova 2008).
Implementing Changes in the UAE Educational Organizations To make changes, educational officials in the UAE should be aware of the importance of the changes to implement them in the real life. This can be done by setting up seminars and workshops about the hazards the environment faces and how to preserve it as individuals and groups. The students and staff should have similar activities to ensure that every person knows his responsibility towards our environment. Primary changes have to be implemented before starting the big green changes. For instance, here at Sharjah Women’s College, they had the initiative to recycle materials such as glass and plastic and the boxes can be seen everywhere in college. This eliminates some pollution and makes students and staff involved in preserving the UAE environment. Another point is the paper recycling which our college has also implemented. Every place that the papers are consumed, you can see small boxes to collect the unneeded papers and send them for recycling. I recommend that if the UAE universities have plans to enlarge their organizations by adding more buildings, they should apply green practices(Green Building and Green IT) even though they have never tried it before and see if it is succeeded then they might apply it in the other buildings. Furthermore, UAE universities and schools can try the green roofs in one of their buildings to examine the consequences then they can apply it and spread their green experiences among other universities and colleges. As for the Green IT, UAE educational organizations can start experimenting with this initiative in one of their computer labs and see if they can expand the experience. If they succeed then, they can benefit from this initiative in different fields as mentioned previously.
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 5
Conclusion If my paper is implemented, I think the UAE and the world is going to be greener and healthier because there are millions of students who graduate annually and the schools and universities are the place to exchange ideas and change minds about several issues. If this happens , I believe that every student in the UAE and the world will be aware of the importance of being green because they will see the positive results before their eyes and this will make them think green in the future and affect others in the workplaces. The universities who apply these practices, might increase the number of students in their universities because if the university thinks about the environment and provides a healthier place to study or work, the parents will think it is the suitable place for their children. These universities will provide good indoor air quality and green environment which will make the place of study more efficient for students and teachers and encourage them to do their best which will increase the performance and the productivity. The other interesting point is that utility bills and maintenance tend to be minimized duo to green practices. This will increase the financial resources that can be used to enhance the quality of teaching and study materials in schools as well as preparing students to participate and compete with others in different competitions and conferences. This will give the schools and universities a positive reputation and will attract students to join them.
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 6
References Ame info. TLA released Green IT initiative, retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.ameinfo.com/ar-113980.html Climate savers computing. about, retrieved January 27, 2009 from http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/about/
CITIES XL . green roofs, retrieved January 16, 2009 from http://www.citiesxl.com/index.php?/component/option,com_fireboard/func,view/id,59003/catid,6/ Energy Star. Indoor Air Package, retrieved January 20, 2009 from http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bldrs_lenders_raters.nh_iap energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Green roofs, retrieved January 02, 2009 from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/dewo0010/architecture/ Heat Island Effect. Green Roofs, retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.epa.gov/heatisland/mitigation/greenroofs.htm Indoor Environmental Testing Home. Indoor Environment Check, retrieved January 20, 2009 from http://www.theairguys.com/services.htm Structural Insulated Panel Association. Green Building Information, retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://www.sips.org/content/green-building/ The National. A cleaner future from Abu Dhabi, retrieved January 30, 2009 from http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090120/OPINION/160536789&SearchID=73344133547187
Todorova, Vesela(2008). Dubai projects seek green rating, retrieved January 25, 2009 from http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081126/NATIONAL/847644439&SearchID=7334421171998 Todorova, Vesela (2008). UAE tops league of wasteful countries, retrieved January 30, 2009 from http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081029/NATIONAL/229065952&SearchID=73344133796476 US News and World Report. The Real Dangers of Air Pollution, retrieved January 02, 2009 from http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2007/12/05/the-real-dangers-of-air-pollution.html Walter ,Nicole (2009). Ajman still 'going green' despite recession, retrieved January 25, 2009 from http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/01/22/10277433.html
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 7
Wikipedia. Green Building, retrieved January 28, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_building, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masdar_City zfacts . emissions, retrieved January 16, 2009 from http://zfacts.com/p/194.html
Amna Al Dhahri, United Arab Emirates
Page 8
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