Green buildings
Hong Kong- Singapore, 12-13th November 2014
I write this blog stuck in the plane on the tarmac of the Johore Bahru airport, just outside Singapore. Our return flight was diverted due to very bad weather at the airport in Singapore, a technical stop as they call it. Rather then keep circling around in a holding position awaiting clearance, the captain decided that it would be safer to land and await the weather to clear up and refuel at the same time. The perils of traveling I guess but I prefer to be on the ground than in the air that’s for sure. Worst thing we can drive back to Singapore.
Yes I missed last night’s blog, as I came back late from my meetings and did not have the energy to write anything, went straight to bed, sure many of you know the feeling…
In this morning’s newspaper I read that one of Sydney’s buildings (One Central Park designed by renowned architect Jean Nouvel) was awarded best green building in the world. Honestly I don’t know what that means and I am a bit sceptical when I hear these sort of awards as it to me these are often big exercises in public relation and marketing. Throw in a famous architect and the words green and sustainable and everyone involved looks good…anyhow that is just my first impression/feeling without knowing the details.
What can be called a green building anyhow and in my case related to lighting? There is actually little in any sustainability standard that relates to lighting, in fact the nr of points that can be scored for lighting in LEED for example are only 2-3 points out of a total of 85, hardly a dent. When you look at the components that are considered in these “green” assessment it is nothing really dramatic; watts per square meter and control of the lighting in terms of time and spill light; something that every professional designer always (should) considers in a lighting design. The difference is that now it has got a name…green!
Light Watch 5-193: This is how this building looks like (images from Google search); you may argue how “green” the lighting feature is but I bet you it was not counted into the energy calculations…
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