GreenBuilding

The concept of GreenBuilding is becoming an increasingly popular topic when buildings are being planned and built to be both sustainable and efficient, whilst also considering the health of the people inside them.

The issues of environmental responsibility, climate change, limits on the use of non-renewable resources and the demand for energy have become key concepts both in the international arena and in the everyday lives of people who are opting more and more to live and work in places that are built on the principles of sustainability, wellbeing and energy efficiency.

Focus on the environmental sustainability of a home as it relates to the health of its inhabitants

Technologická inovace Kerakoll®, udržitelný rozvoj a výzkum poskytují dokonalé parametry s nízkými dopady na životní prostředí těm, kteří se rozhodnou žít v prostředí GreenBuilding. Naše zapojení do GreenBuildingu je projevem úcty, kterou chováme k životnímu prostředí, kvalitě života lidí v budovách a k úsporám energie.

This is the core philosophy that underlies Kerakoll GreenBuilding. The pillars of healthy housing are indoor air quality, advanced environmental and energy standards, and healthy spaces that exist in harmony with nature.

For this reason, GreenBuilding had become a fast-growing trend that can drastically reduce the harm done to the ecosystem and help to improve the physical and psychological wellbeing of people inside buildings.

Philosophy Environmental Health Economic Conference

GreenBuilding Philosophy

When a highly developed ecological culture exists, when the focus of design is humankind and its psychophysical wellbeing, when the desire to avoid waste and live in a clean world prevails, when people want to protect the planet by improving the energy and environmental performance of buildings, then we can say that we are “GreenBuilding”.

GreenBuilding is the new low environmental impact philosophy promoted by Kerakoll that focuses on improving health and quality of life

It is achieved through education and an informed, careful selection of building materials, which must be eco-friendly, naturally breathable, and highly energy-efficient.

Benefits of GreenBuilding

GreenBuilding means healthier from the inside

GreenBuilding is the eco-friendly style of building that focuses on indoor well-being. To achieve it, attention must be paid to how we inhabit our living spaces and how they are built, from the breathability of walls to how the building is insulated, and from chemical pollution to the healthiness of the indoor environment. The physical and psychological wellbeing of GreenBuilding necessarily moves from improving these factors to the design phase itself.

Focused on the environment

The issues of environmental responsibility, climate change, limits on the use of non-renewable resources and the demand for energy are pivotal in ensuring a better quality of life for present and future generations.

Encouraging building construction and renovation using materials made exclusively with components of natural mineral origin, with low environmental impact, recycled and with reduced emissions of CO2 helps protect our planet and lies at the very foundation of Kerakoll GreenBuilding.

All products have been certified eco-friendly in accordance with the GreenBuilding Rating for environmental impact assessment.

Indoor air quality

The most current information on domestic pollution is clear: the quality of indoor air in homes can be from 2 to 3 times worse than outside.

The indoor microclimate, along with chemical pollution, has a significant impact on the quality of the environments in which we live, and consequently on our wellbeing.

The use of eco-friendly materials that do not release polluting substances and the rediscovery of mortars, plasters/renders, and natural paints that allow walls to breathe have solved a widespread problem: improving indoor air quality to help achieve total wellbeing.

The tests were conducted at the European indoor air quality research centre, JRC – Joint Research Centre – European Commission – Ispra, Varese (Italy).

Illnesses caused by Sick Building Syndrome

According to estimates by the World Health Organisation, 20% of the western population is affected by Sick Building Syndrome (headaches, nausea, irritations) traceable to the poor quality of construction materials of chemical origin and to the low breathability of buildings.

Kerakoll GreenBuilding limits the occurrence of diseases linked to poor building construction and reduces the concentration of pollutants found in indoor air, guaranteeing immediate comfort and living wellbeing.

Prevents the proliferation of microorganisms

Indoor allergens such as mites, fungi and bacteria are becoming an environmental contaminant of increasing concern. Scientific studies have in fact correlated their presence in buildings with an increasing number of allergies and asthma in children and young adults. The environmental condition that favours this growth is high humidity and poor breathability in the walls.

Kerakoll materials with high basic pH are naturally antibacterial and anti-mould, and ensure dry, healthy, disinfected environments, preventing bacteria and moulds from taking root and proliferating to the detriment of the health of the environments and the wellbeing of the people in them.

The tests were conducted at the CSTB Institute – Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment – Microbiology Laboratory of the Department of Energy-Health-Environment / Health Division, Marne-la-Vallée, Paris, in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute of Paris and the Hygiene and Epidemiology-Mycology Institute of Brussels.

Improves the energy efficiency of buildings

In Italy, the energy used in residential construction represents 30% of electrical consumption and 25% of national carbon dioxide emissions. Saving energy to protect the environment and improve the energy and environmental performance of buildings is at the basis of GreenBuilding.

By applying natural insulating cladding or breathable insulating plasters an optimum heat insulation is ensured, while maintaining breathability in the walls, benefiting wellbeing inside the buildings and making them less costly to heat and cool, healthier, and more eco-friendly.

Breathable systems for insulation and energy saving were subjected to severe performance tests in a special thermal chamber that is on the cutting-edge of technology in Europe, developed in collaboration with the University of Modena, Civil Engineering Department and approved by the ITC Institute – Institute for Construction Technologies – CNR – Milan

GreenBuilding

The solutions adopted by Kerakoll GreenBuilding

The solutions adopted by Kerakoll GreenBuilding deliver considerable benefits for the environment, such as the reduction of CO2 emissions into the air, an ever-growing use of recycled raw materials, a reduction in the energy needed for the building to function, and the creation of low-emission buildings that respect the surrounding environment and air quality.

GreenBuilding

The health advantages for people

The health advantages for people living inside the buildings are the consequence of environmentally sustainable design and the quality of Kerakoll materials:

they improve the air in confined environments
they curb illnesses caused by Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)
they prevent the proliferation of moulds, fungi, and bacteria
they ensure the healthiness of home environments
they increase comfort and quality of life

Kerakoll GreenBuilding

Kerakoll GreenBuilding also increases the value of the building

Kerakoll GreenBuilding also increases the value of the building over time in terms of compulsory energy certifications, and begins to deliver up to 40% in economic benefits immediately compared to a traditionally-designed building.

Economic savings are especially noticeable in energy expenses:

heating and cooling costs
building maintenance
management costs

GreenBuilding Conference

Healthy building has its advantages

1st National Conference on GreenBuilding

On Saturday 20th February 2010, Kerakoll staged the first ever edition of the National Conference on GreenBuilding, entitled “Costruire Bene Conviene” (Healthy Building has its Advantages) at the Forum Monzani in Modena.

Accredited exponents from the research, building and business worlds attended the event to share their experience and opinions on the topic currently at the top of the construction world’s agenda, i.e. the new eco-compatible way of building that aims to improve indoor conditions. Indeed, in this new era, the effect the health and hygiene standards of a building can have on the health of its inhabitants is returning to the fore after being swept under the carpet.

More than ever before, GreenBuilding has become a key tool in the fight to combat climate change, cut CO2 emissions and improve the physical and psychological wellbeing of people, all of which are essential conditions in planning the sustainable socio-economic development of modern society.

Results of the study “Italians and the Green Economy”

A lot of time was spent discussing the “Italians and the Green Economy” research project, which confirmed that Italians are waking up to green considerations and adopting new sustainable lifestyles which they see as essential to safeguarding people’s health; a greater awareness was also encountered for environmental issues, which worry people just as much as unemployment and the economic recession.

The GreenBuilding Conference also turned its attention to how green building provides an immediate and measurable way of implementing policies to protect the environment, through the GreenBuilding rating: the evaluation system for measuring and improving the environmental performance of building materials based on environmental sustainability criteria that can be measured objectively.

The event provided an opportunity to discuss for the very first time important issues such as the quality of indoor air and illnesses resulting from the Sick Building Syndrome. The scientific research project that studied how harmful indoor pollutants can be and the health benefits of breathable building systems was presented.

In modern society, “meeting current needs without jeopardizing the health of future generations” is the social responsibility of all individuals, institutions and businesses, and represents an advantage for everyone: society, state and the planet. Hence the name of the conference: “Healthy building has its advantages”.