Demand for green buildings should be market-driven, say experts

Blame it on public apathy
Esther Ng, Today Online 7 Nov 08;

IT DOES not cost much more to build green buildings — just 2 to 6 per cent extra — but developers in South-east Asia are not inclined to construct them unless consumer demand catches on, said energy experts at a forum on environmental sustainability yesterday.

Said Mr Tan Tian Chong, director of technology at the Building and Construction Authority: “The benefits of a green building don’t go to the developer, but to the occupants of the building. So why should he pay for the additional cost unless consumers demand it?”

Mr Tan was illustrating a developer’s point of view at the Green Buildings Asia forum. He said that educating people would take five to 10 years, which is far too long. What is needed is a mix of government incentives, legislation, a green-mark scheme, and education.

Malaysians, on the other hand, were coming around to the green movement, said another speaker, Mr Hadri Haris, national project leader of Pusat Tenaga Malaysia. “Green consumerism is slowly growing on Malaysians thanks to the documentary, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, but clients tend to think that green buildings cost substantially more, which need not be the case. Depending on the design and materials used, it could be cheaper,” he said.

Experts agreed that it does not cost architects more to design a green building, and that the cost of constructing one could be reduced further if more thought is put in at the designing stage.

Said Indonesian architect Ridwan Kamil of Urbane Indonesia: “Singapore architects design really nice buildings in Singapore, (but) when they come to Indonesia — they don’t replicate the same high standards. They build buildings that don’t relate to the social surroundings. There’s no pedestrian environment at ground level, just an ugly sprawl of car parks or concrete.”

While Mr Hadri and Mr Ridwan felt that fiscal incentives would motivate developers, Mr Parasu Raman, vice-chair of the World Green Building Council, was of the view that the demand for eco-friendly buildings should be market-driven. “It’s more effective if it’s market-driven by multiple stakeholders — tenants, businesses, consumers,” he said.

“The role of government should be to set minimum energy benchmarks that will compel developers to build green.”

Rising energy cost should be one motivation for developers to go green. “It pays to install more efficient cooling and lighting systems because the developer very often bears the cost of central air-conditioning and lighting in common spaces, and cost recovery is just within one to two years,” said energy consultant Lal Jayamaha of LJ Energy Pte Ltd.