Building Sustainability in East Asia

Vincent S. Cheng is Director of the Building Sustainability Group at Arup in Hong Kong. Dr Cheng has 20 years of professional experience in building energy efficiency and is an expert in sustainable master planning and building design, specialising in green code formulation, HK-BEAM and LEED assessment, life-cycle analysis and Air Ventilation Assessment (AVA) and District Cooling Systems (DCS). He is Council member of HK Professional Green Building Council and represents the Arup HK office on the Arup's Sustainability Task Force. Jimmy C. Tong is East Asia Energy Skill Leader and an Associate at Arup in Hong Kong, focusing on Building Sustainability. Dr Tong has expertise in energy systems in various sectors, including wind, solar, and other renewable energy, infrastructure and building services, and product and system development, and his current focus is creating and transforming cities and buildings toward a greener future.

• About the authors xiForeword xiiPreface xivAcknowledgement xviiSection 1 On contexts 11 Introduction 31.1 Why sustainability matters 31.2 Why Asia matters 41.3 Why buildings matter 51.3.1 Root causes and solutions to the problem 61.3.2 Eco‐city principles 61.3.3 Liveable spaces 71.4 Dimensions of sustainable development 81.4.1 Policy support 81.4.2 Green market and consumption 91.4.3 Technology push 101.5 Sustainability in practice 101.5.1 History of green building in Asia 111.5.2 Capacity building – green professionals 111.5.3 Sustainable change for the green movement 151.6 Organisation of the book 152 Rapid urbanisation 162.1 Introduction 162.2 Asian urbanisation in context 162.3 Demographic changes 172.3.1 Global population trends 172.3.2 Urban population growth 182.3.3 The challenge of an ageing population 212.4 Economic changes 222.4.1 Growth in GDP 222.4.2 Increased income 222.4.3 Consuming society 242.5 Social changes 252.5.1 Housing needs 252.5.2 Employment needs 262.6 New growth model 262.6.1 Mega and compact cities 272.6.2 Green building markets 282.7 Summary 293 Urban environmental challenges 303.1 Introduction 303.2 Urban challenges in context 313.3 Climate change challenges 323.3.1 Vulnerability to extreme weather 323.3.2 Global warming 343.4 Urban environmental degradation 373.4.1 Air pollution 373.4.2 Energy depletion 393.4.3 Waste generation 423.4.4 Unhealthy urban environment 423.5 Liveability degradation 433.5.1 Urban heat Island 433.5.2 Ecological footprint 443.6 Summary 454 Quest for solutions 464.1 Introduction 464.2 History of international collaborations and partnerships 474.3 C40 cities climate leadership group initiative 474.3.1 Key issues 494.3.2 Action plan on buildings 494.4 WEF partnership for future of urban development 504.5 Regional integration 524.6 Changes for solutions 534.6.1 Re‐think of sustainable development framework 534.6.2 Issues of policy 544.6.3 Issues of practice/design 554.6.4 Issues of people 554.7 Paradigm shift 56Section 2 On policy 575 Policy framework 595.1 Introduction 595.2 Policy framework 605.3 Policy priorities 615.3.1 The moving target 615.3.2 Prioritisation of policy issues 635.3.3 The Asian way of change 715.4 Policy instruments 715.4.1 Regulations and standards “The Stick” 735.4.2 Economic instruments “The Carrot and Stick” 745.4.3 Voluntary schemes instrument 745.5 Institutional arrangements 765.5.1 Hierarchy – who to lead 765.5.2 Government coordination and authority 785.5.3 Proposal for eco‐city implementation 795.6 Summary 806 Policy implementation 816.1 Introduction 816.2 General approach 816.3 Review of the regulations 836.3.1 Building energy regulations 846.3.2 Planning control for a better environment 866.4 Market solutions 876.4.1 Incentivising the market 876.5 Market‐based approach 906.5.1 Green building certification 906.5.2 Sustainability report and index 906.6 Public‐private partnership (PPP) 916.7 Collaboration with private sector 936.8 Capacity building 946.8.1 Demonstration projects and research and development 946.8.2 Education and training of green practitioners 956.9 Summary 96Section 3 On design 977 Sustainability transformation 997.1 Introduction 997.2 Green transformation of building industry 1007.2.1 Engaging stakeholders 1007.2.2 Empowering the practitioners 1027.3 Practice of building sustainability 1037.3.1 Definition of sustainable building 1037.3.2 Standardisation of practice 1067.4 Sustainable building in action 1077.4.1 Life‐cycle consideration 1077.4.2 Design stage – integrated design 1107.4.3 Construction stage – sustainable materials 1137.4.4 Operation stage – behavioural changes 1207.5 Building information modelling 1217.6 Summary 1238 Engineering solutions 1248.1 Introduction 1248.2 Design provisions for sustainable building 1258.3 Adaptation to climate change and resilient designs 1258.3.1 Extreme wind engineering 1258.3.2 Flood mitigation and prevention 1288.3.3 Seismic design 1298.3.4 Fire engineering 1308.4 High‐performance buildings 1308.4.1 Building physics analysis 1328.4.2 Energy appraisal 1338.4.3 Indoor environment quality 1338.4.4 Outdoor environment quality 1358.5 Design innovations 1358.5.1 Outside building: High‐performance envelope 1378.5.2 Inside building: Low energy and carbon designs 1438.6 Summary 1469 De-carbonisation 1479.1 Introduction 1479.2 Building energy performance 1489.3 Low/zero carbon design 1529.3.1 Definition of zero carbon 1529.3.2 Design strategy 1529.4 Renewable energy for urban developments and buildings 1589.4.1 Solar energy 1609.4.2 Wind energy 1629.4.3 Bioenergy 1629.4.4 Hydropower 1639.4.5 Marine/ocean energy 1649.4.6 Geothermal energy 1649.5 District‐wide de‐carbonisation 1679.5.1 Micro‐energy grid 1679.5.2 District energy 1699.6 Towards a low‐carbon and smart city 1729.7 Summary 173Section 4 On people 17510 Space for people 17710.1 Introduction 17710.2 Urban context of Asia city 17810.2.1 Liveability 17810.2.2 A compact and vertical city 17810.2.3 An undesirable building environment 18010.3 The quest for a quality built environment 18110.3.1 A novel planning framework for the environment 18110.3.2 The urban climatic map 18210.3.3 Air ventilation 18410.3.4 Microclimate and landscape design integration 18410.4 Reducing the urban heat Island 18710.5 Street canyon effect – roadside air pollution 19110.6 Right of light 19310.7 Health and well‐being 19310.7.1 Natural ventilation 19410.7.2 Daylight for habitation 19410.7.3 Water quality 19610.8 Summary 19711 Community making 19911.1 Introduction 19911.2 Sustainable community 20011.3 Community‐based design 20111.3.1 Cultural aspect (social) 20211.3.2 Placemaking (environment) 20211.3.3 Sustainable housing (economics) 20211.4 Neighbourhood assessment 20611.4.1 History of overseas schemes 20611.4.2 Definition of community/neighbourhood 20711.4.3 Assessment aspects/categories 20811.5 Development of BEAM plus neighbourhood in Hong Kong 21011.5.1 Landscape and ecology in built environment 21211.5.2 Stakeholder engagement 21311.5.3 The establishment of BEAM plus neighbourhood 21511.6 Summary 21612 Low carbon living 21712.1 Introduction 21712.2 Carbon footprint of urban living 21712.3 Behavioural changes 21912.4 Changes in design culture 22012.4.1 Task lighting 22112.4.2 Thermal comfort 22112.4.3 Natural ventilation 22112.4.4 Green products 22212.4.5 Smart metering 22212.5 Eco‐education 22212.6 Zero energy living experience 22612.7 Community centre 22812.8 Urban farming 23012.9 Living LOHAS 23112.10 Summary 234Section 5 Way forward 23513 Conclusions 237On contexts … 237On policy … 238On design …. 238On people …. 239Way forward …. 239References 240Index 250