Armelle Le Bihan fully understands climate change, but she isn’t the type of green loving, environmental hero most people may imagine. The Bangkok-based engineer founded Green Building Consulting and Engineering nearly 3 years ago with the goal of transforming what it meant to build green.
“Green building is not a tree hugger’s trend. Not only do such building practices respond positively to environmental issues, they also make business sense,” says Le Bihan.
Her work can be found in projects across Asia and her efforts have seen Le Bihan awarded some prestigious industry gongs. Her next project could be among her most ambitious. She will help with the construction of a state-of-the-art stadium in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
Whether it is that development or one of the many others she has worked on, she realises she fully understands the benefits of green buildings usually far outweigh their costs.
“To put it simply, green buildings use fewer resources. They are also designed to foster a positive impact on the environment and enhance comfort, wellbeing and health. This is really important when we consider that the average person spends 90 per cent of their time indoors. Green buildings generally have 14 per cent lower operational costs, 30 per cent higher occupant satisfaction and typically have 7 per cent increased asset value compared to non-green buildings. This is amazing when you consider they only cost 1-2 per cent more to build,” says Le Bihan.
She is passionate about green engineering but knows it can be a challenge. One of the biggest tasks Le Bihan is faced with is having to get developers to embrace green buildings. In addition to the added value, they also improve the areas we live in.
“Buildings are responsible for 40 per cent of the energy we use and 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. These are not renewable resources, so they are directly responsible for climate change. In very dense areas such as Bangkok where the temperature is already high, buildings create an urban heat island effect – they increase the temperature even further. If we build green, we have a direct solution to mitigate climate change. If we don’t, it’s going to get increasingly worse. Those who will pay the highest price for climate change are often the ones who have played the least part in the use of fossil fuels,” says Le Bihan.
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