Glass and its Significant Role in Green Building

As the problem of environmental pollution and global warming becoming severe over the past several decades, how to contribute to sustainable development path is becoming a major concern for every industry. As a result, the concept of green building-an environmentally-conscious way to create residential and commercial buildings that are high quality but low environmental impact-has become a popularity in the architectural community. Right from the initial design to the materials adopted, everything about green building is centered around positively impacting the environment and the world that we live in. But how could green building benefit the environment and why glass play a key role in green building? Let’s find out together.

Compared with conventional building, green building is built in a low-carbon way that conserve natural resources, optimize energy efficiency, generate less amount of waste. Among all that points, the use of recycled and environment friendly materials is the key, and to achieve all the above effects, glass has been identified as the ideal component that can be used during the construction for the following several reasons:

·         Glass is made initially from three natural, inert and abundant ingredients: sand, limestone and soda ash 

·         Glass can enhance the aesthetics of a structure, and improve its design

·         Glass can generate renewable energy and improve thermal performance through solar-thermal and photovoltaic applications

·         Glass can maintain the temperature at its minimum best and in turn tones down the air-conditioning expenses.

·         Glass in buildings also substantially reduces the need for artificial lighting and allows daylight to make the interiors airier and more open.

·         Glass is simple to recycle – it has no linings or laminates which need to be separated before the material can be reused.

To sum up, from thermal performance to simple aesthetic view, glass is inevitably playing a key role in constructing a green building.