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Spurring green consumerism through governance and design
September 14, 2013
Spurring green consumerism through governance and design
Governance can help to actively encourage green behavior from both consumers and industry, but good design is also the key to enabling green consumerism, say speakers at the International Green Building Conference.
Speaking to delegates at the three-day summit held at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) group director Tan Tian Chong noted that the success of green buildings depends on users. “Ultimately, the consumers must drive the green building movement, if it is to be sustainable,” he said. They must be persuaded and educated to make more responsible use of technology.
Efforts to educate users will be the guiding philosophy for BCA’s third green building master plan, which will focus on developing green behavior among building users. Green building in Singapore is heavily driven by government efforts, which aim to bring on board the entire construction industry value chain from developers and designers to engineers and building managers.
Currently, the government’s initiatives are taking on a more occupant-centric approach, Mr. Tan shared. The reasons are two-fold: on the one hand, BCA’s statistics indicate that tenants account for 50 per4cent of a commercial building’s energy consumption, making them a natural target for green education. On the other hand, the health and productivity value of green buildings will be vital for creating asset demand for such buildings. Hence, the Green Mark rating scheme is slowly being adjusted to place greater weight on occupant well-being.
Read more at Eco-Business.
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