From Our Housing Stand (130)
For some years now, the world has been experiencing negative changes in the climatic conditions. In order to overcome the problems of climatic change, the entire world met in Brazil in 2010 to find a way out. This has resulted into the green initiative intended to save the planet from human destruction. One of the cardinal principles of the Green initiative and Green Economy is Sustainable Development.
To achieve this, Greening the Housing Sector has become imperative. This is because the housing sector has been identified as one of the major sources of GHG emissions. Amidst global calls and campaign for environmental protection and sustainability through greening initiatives coupled with concerted efforts at bridging the millions of housing demand-supply gaps in Nigeria, both private and public sector operators in the nation’s built environment should consider and encourage green building as a global standard with immense benefits.
“Shelter is universally, acknowledged as one of the most basic human
needs alongside food and health, with profound impact on lifestyle, clothing, happiness as well as the
productivity of the individual. Furthermore, that, “Developments have overtaken the idea of shelter by now. What people need now is housing. Housing therefore encompasses all ancillary services and community facilities that are necessary to human well-being. It is indeed a package of services, land utilities and access to employment and special amenities as well as the structure of the house itself”.
With the above in mind, one will appreciate the fact that housing is a very important necessity of modern living, hence governments all over the world have initiated numerous policies and programmes towards the development and sustainability of the housing sector with particular reference to the issue of climate change and the need to refocus on the type of houses that are built taking into consideration the global attention on environmental protection, some experts opined that, “in today’s world of changing climatic conditions and rising household energy cost due to growing sophistication and changing tastes, greening is increasingly becoming a phenomenon and a veritable index in global initiatives for measuring standards of the built environment.
The housing sector is therefore one of the important sectors of an economy that will no doubt help in the sustenance of the environment through the application of the Green initiative.
In developed countries opportunities for greening the housing sector are found mainly in retrofitting existing houses to render them more environmentally efficient by reducing energy demand and using renewable energy sources. Many countries in Europe and North American are as of today not increasing their housing stock as it is obtainable in Nigeria and many other developing nations.) In UK for example, 75
percent of the existing housing stock is expected to be in use in 2050. In such circumstance, retrofitting existing buildings becomes a critical area of intervention to reduce energy demands and thus GHG emissions”.
GREEN ECONOMY, GREEN HOUSING AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THE WAY FORWARD.
Achieving a green economy through the construction of green houses so as to achieve sustainable development is not doubt the way forward towards developing a nation’s economy and at the same time preserving the planet for future generations. Hence, achieving a green or sustainable housing is not rocket science; neither does it entail an out of this world model or technique. Rather, it is the construction of houses the way we have always done, but with enhanced concerns and provisions for the humans that would live there and the entire neighborhoods).
On the bases of the above, our editorial suggests the application of “the triple bottom line approach” and compelling compliance” by the government as the way forward towards achieving a Green Economy through adapting the Green initiative in the housing sector for sustainable development.
Triple Bottom-Line Approach.
The triple bottom-line of sustainable Green Housing development emphasizes the social, economic and ecological wellbeing of the environment. This is what green houses are designed and built to achieve”. In Nigeria, many people are still living in poor houses that are characterized by poor sewage and sanitary conditions, lack of portable water, etc. Good quality housing on the other hand, must also be safe, secure, accessible, loosely populated and with proximity to healthcare facilities, schools, recreational parks,
etc.
From the tripe bottom line, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2010) identified the expectations of green and sustainable housing to include;
- Environmental
- Enhance and protect biodiversity and ecosystems.
- Improve air and water quality
- Conserve and restore natural resources
- Economic
- Reduce operating cost
- Create, expand and shape markets for green products and services
- Improve occupant productivity
- Optimize life-cycle economic performance
- Social
- Enhance occupant comfort and health
- Heighten aesthetic qualities
- Minimize strain on local infrastructure
- Improve overall quality of life.
Compelling Compliance
In developed and many other developing countries of the world, stakeholders such as governments (at all levels), investors, developers, tenants and even the entire population are getting increasingly aware of the new environmental standards that housing construction must meet. Several indexes and indicators have been developed to check, measure and certify the sustainability of today’s housing and
construction projects. And stakeholders now weigh the value for their money using these sustainability indexes.
It is no longer business as usual.
Also, the Global Real estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) has been adopted by several property and real estate developers around the world and they are required to report to stakeholders and the general public on their performance in applying these benchmarks. These will also help to check the frequency in building collapses that has become a recurring decimal in Nigeria. These are no doubt the way forward.
OPPORTUNITIES AND BENEFITS OF GREENING THE HOUSING SECTOR
The major opportunities for the green housing initiative are the relatively low cost of the process, be it retrofitting or new construction, the availability of technologies and the green evolution of energy supply and demand. These trends, they concluded are encouraging the efforts to transform the housing sector.
Opportunities: Low Net Cost
Although the housing sector is the largest contributor to human-related Green House gas (GHG) emissions, it also holds the greatest potential to reduce these emissions (IPCC 2007). On the basis of the IPCC report, there is a 29 percent projected reduction of emissions by 2020. This according to the report is achievable at a zero cost while further improvements could be made with relatively low levels of investment. Equally, there is sufficient proof to show that ‘green’ sustainable housing projects do not have to be cost-prohibitive. There are many cost effective steps that can be taken to make Nigerian cities and communities’
better places to live and work.
Adapting Behaviour Patterns
Before addressing the technical, financial and regulatory potentials of green housing and their impacts on the green economy and sustainable development, it is important to recognize that profound changes in attitude and behavior will be required amongst policy-makers, investors, consumers and occupants in order to implement real change. As many people spend most o f their time in the homes and offices (housing), understanding the economic and psychological rational of decision made by individuals and institutions is increasingly recognized as fundamental to achieving energy-efficient improvements in the housing sector.
Managing Energy Supply And Demand
Energy use and emission patterns are affected by housing’s environmental performance and its energy load or by
the extent of its use of green sources of energy both on the demand and supply sides of energy respectively.
Recent developments in design and technology offer significant potentials to change the way energy demand and
supply is managed in buildings it is important to equally note that the pattern of energy use in buildings varies considerably among
regions and countries; according to geographical location, climate, consumption patterns and state of development and urbanization .
Retrofitting and New Construction
In developed countries opportunities for greening the housing sector are found mainly in retrofitting existing houses to render them more environmentally efficient by reducing energy demand and using renewable energy sources. Many countries in Europe and North American are as of today not increasing their housing stock as it is obtainable in Nigeria and many other developing nations. In UK for example, 75
percent of the existing housing stock is expected to be in use in 2050. In such circumstance, retrofitting existing buildings becomes a critical area of intervention to reduce energy demands and thus GHG emissions”
Conclusively, The fact that Nigeria is late in keying into the Green Initiative does not mean we cannot get there. This is the time to start leveraging on the advantage of Green Economy, Green Housing and Sustainable Development. This will no doubt help the country to avoid a continuation of the old unsustainable trends in housing construction. To effect the much needed transition and change, government must develop a sustainable housing roadmap and put indicators and checks in place to guide construction of new houses. There should also be in place effective regulation, incentives for compliance and punitive measures for defiance.
Governments, at all levels must also take up the responsibility of developing the desired Sustainable
Green Houses and Communities, rather than the current practice of leaving housing development at the unguided discretion of individual builders and developers.
Finally we are of the opinion that this is the time to ensure adequate funding for the development of sustainable housing for the Nigerian people. Green houses and housing coupled with global concern with climatic change and how best to tackle the consequences imply the application of the Green Initiative in the housing sector.
