Sustainable Construction

Summary

Charles J. Kibert examines how buildings can reduce environmental impacts while improving performance throughout their life cycle. The book connects sustainability principles with practical design and construction decisions, covering site planning, energy, water, materials, carbon emissions, indoor environmental quality, construction operations, commissioning, and economic considerations.
The fifth edition updates the discussion of green-building standards and assessment approaches, including LEED v4.1, WELL, Fitwel, SITES, and EDGE. It also addresses biomimicry, ecological design, and resilience.

The book is especially useful for understanding sustainability as an integrated process involving the entire project team, from early design through construction, operation, and long-term performance.

Key takeaways

• Sustainable construction considers environmental, social, and economic impacts across a building's life cycle.
• Ecological design should inform site selection, planning, building form, and material choices.
• High-performance buildings require integrated decisions rather than isolated green features.
• Energy demand should be reduced through efficient design and building systems.
• Water management must consider both building consumption and site hydrology.
• Material selection should account for resource use, durability, reuse, and environmental impacts.
• Embodied carbon and operational carbon are both important to building performance.
• Indoor environmental quality influences occupant health, comfort, and productivity.
• Construction waste reduction requires planning, material coordination, and responsible site operations.
• Commissioning helps verify that building systems perform as intended.
• Green-building rating systems provide structured assessment methods, but each has a specific scope and methodology.
• Sustainable building economics should consider long-term operating costs alongside initial costs.
• Resilience strategies help buildings respond to environmental hazards and changing conditions.
• Performance targets should be defined early and checked throughout design and construction.
• Sustainable construction requires coordination among architects, engineers, contractors, clients, and building operators.

Practical application

Site planning: Evaluate solar exposure, vegetation, drainage, access, and ecological sensitivity before fixing the building layout.



Energy performance: Reduce demand through orientation, shading, daylighting, appropriate envelopes, and efficient building systems.



Water strategy: Combine efficient fixtures, rainwater harvesting, stormwater management, and suitable landscape design.



Material assessment: Compare locally available materials by durability, maintenance, embodied impacts, and end-of-life options.



Carbon accounting: Separate operational emissions from embodied emissions when assessing building performance.



Indoor environmental quality: Coordinate daylight, ventilation, thermal comfort, acoustics, and indoor pollutant control.



Construction management: Plan waste separation, material storage, site protection, and responsible resource use.



Certification: Select an appropriate rating system based on project objectives, location, and available assessment capacity.



Bangladesh application: For projects in Bogura and other Bangladeshi locations, consider monsoon drainage, heat and humidity, energy reliability, locally available materials, maintenance capacity, and applicable BNBC requirements.



Post-occupancy evaluation: Compare actual energy, water, maintenance, and comfort performance with the project's original targets.

Good to know

Who it's for: Architecture students, practicing architects, civil engineers, construction managers, sustainability consultants, building-performance specialists, and researchers

ISBN: 9781119706441

Topics

Green Building Sustainable Construction Ecological Design Building Life Cycle Energy Efficiency Water Conservation Sustainable Materials Embodied Carbon Carbon Footprint Green Building Certification LEED Green Globes WELL Fitwel EDGE Indoor Environmental Quality Construction Waste Management Commissioning Resilient Design Green Building Economics