How green buildings keep us healthy

Green building techniques and materials not only save us money and the environment too, they can also save our lives. Green building practices are proving to be a healthy choice for home owners, business owners and educational institutions. Improved health means improved productivity, reduced absenteeism and a reduction of money spent on medical bills. People who live, work and learn in green buildings are simply healthier, happier and more productive.

A breath of fresh air

The air quality in buildings is far worse than the quality of air outdoors, even if you live in the city. Indoor air can be 2 to 5 times more polluted than outside air. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are mostly to blame. VOCs are harmful compounds that are released into the air and, when inhaled, negatively affect out health. Chemicals in the home are legion; medications, cleaning products, adhesives, formaldehyde in building material, damaging chemical fire retardants in carpets and furniture, mould, dirt and dust all contribute to poor air quality. Poor ventilation of older or over-insulated homes results in increased air pollution and all its resultant health problems. Homes painted before the 1960′s were often painted with lead based paints. Read more

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology gets their hands dirty as they investigate which buildings produce the most carbon emissions.

Buildings are by far the greatest contributors to global greenhouse gases. They account for a mammoth 39% of CO₂ emissions in the U.S. It is for this reason that MIT’s Concrete Sustainability Hub undertook a study of both residential and commercial buildings to garner a greater understanding of how these buildings function, with a view to finding ways to build greener in the future.

The study differs from others of its kind as it takes into consideration the entire life cycle of the building from construction, through operation and on to disposal. This means that all materials used to construct the building must account for their energy usage from extraction, to processing, transportation and finally to construction. This is an important point for the ICF or insulated concrete form construction which has often been criticized for the high energy output required to produce concrete. ICFs are a Polystyrene casing filled with concrete which create walls that use thermal mass to insulate homes. Critics have argued that the creation of concrete takes more energy than the timber used for conventional buildings. The study also calculated operating costs for both types of homes and the cost of disposing of the home after a 75 year period.

The year-long study has looked at single and multiple family homes constructed using traditional wood frame methods and insulated concrete forms. The study scrutinized homes in both hot and cold climates.

The findings revealed a significant saving on energy and ventilation costs for homes constructed using ICF technology. Although the concrete used in the ICF construction used more energy to produce than a wood frame home, the 20% or more saving on energy recovered initial carbon emissions within a few years. One must also be cognisant of the fact that about 90% of the CO₂ emissions were due to use rather than construction and disposal emissions.

Wood frame construction

This initial report was released in December and shows the overwhelming improvement ICF construction offers in energy consumption. The study is ongoing as MIT investigates other climates and technologies in passive or net zero homes (homes that use very little energy). These homes combine the insulation offered by ICFs with renewable energy to create zero energy homes that are self-sufficient. Co-director of the project, John Ochsendorf was excited about the findings and said he hopes “… to create a roadmap for better infrastructure in the future.”

Read the article “Building With Insulating Concrete Forms” in the July, 2010 issue of Construction Canada.

Download article in PDF format

Amvic insulated concrete forms were the material of choice for a new Tim Horton’s in Kitchener, Ontario. The use of ICFs allowed the crew to stay ahead of construction timelines and stay on track through the winter months.

“Using Amvic ICFs allowed them to complete the shell structure in a very short time without all the added costs of heating and weather delays typically experienced when using standard construction methods. The shell was completed in record time so that they had to wait for sub trades to move in and complete their part of the job,” says John Krzic of Amvic Systems.

The owner’s experience with ICF, and with Amvic in particular, made it the ideal building material for the project. Lower operating costs and lower life cycle costs were cited as main reasons for choosing insulated concrete forms.

It was Amvic’s night at the biggest award celebration for ICFs (insulated concrete forms) held recently at the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas. Amvic won in an impressive four of the six category awards.

Entries incorporating 15 different types of ICF poured in from all over the country and all were noteworthy and impressive. Each project was judged based on its complexity, architecture, and how well it serves to advance the industry and draw positive attention to ICFs. As in previous years, the contest favours projects creativity, significance and difficulty of build more than other criteria.

Congratulations go out to our winners:

Crestwood Elementary School in the Heavy Commercial category;

Shershni Community in the Multi-Family category;

Mare Haven Residence in the Large Residential category;

Carrell Home in the Unlimited Residential category.

“We are honoured to be recognized amongst our peers for the superior product Amvic provides. We believe that to remain competitive, we need to continuously improve and provide innovation and technology to an ever-growing industry,” says Gary Brown of Amvic. “Congratulations go out to all our partners for their collective achievements!”

If you’d like to learn more about these projects, click here to read the Amvic ICF Award Recipients PDF or contact Gary Brown at Amvic ICF at 1.877.470.9991.