Journal 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Journal 4 - Essay Example This paper provides insight into the engineering concept of green buildings, by analyzing Lipu, Jamal and Karim’s journal article titled â€Å"An approach towards sustainable energy performance by green building: a review of current features, benefits and barriers.† Just like the title suggests, the article examines how green buildings work towards increasing energy conservation and sustainability. This journal article also outlines characteristics of green buildings, their benefits and the hurdles that engineers encounter when constructing them. A principal point noted from the article is that global warming and potential depletion of resources is a major concern for engineers. This is especially in the construction industry, since buildings make up the greatest percentage of engineering works. According to Lipu, Jamal and Karim (180) construction of buildings consumes more than one-third of global resources. This includes approximately 40 percent energy and 12 percent freshwater usage. In terms of pollution and contribution to global warming, buildings produce about 40 percent of greenhouse gases and the same proportion of landfill waste (Lipu et al. 181). These figures clearly show that it is not only industries and cars that contribute to the problem of rising global temperatures and climate change, but buildings as well. Construction of green buildings and refurbishing old ones to enhance sustainability holds significant potential to save energy, while reducing emission of greenhouse gases. Further, green buildings create a comfortable and healthy indoor setting for building tenants. This is because green buildings provide proper indoor conditions in regard to ventilation, air quality and thermal comfort. By making maximum use of day lighting and natural ventilation, which is supported by many operable windows, green buildings save energy that would otherwise have been used to sustain artificial lighting and air conditioning systems. Further, green