While there are more green buildings coming online in Thailand, as a whole, Asia still trails other parts of the world when it comes to building these eco-friendly structures, according to a report from Research and Markets. While green buildings protect the environment and can help businesses save money, most of Asia hasn’t jumped on this trend.
The report shows that the amount of green buildings in the world doubles every 3 years with the number of structures expected to increase by 13 per cent annually between 2015 and 2020. Major European cities, including Paris and London, have the highest percentage of green buildings while many cites in Asia are only now beginning to adopt the technology.
In Singapore, 30 per cent of buildings are green buildings and this is the highest total in Asia. Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong all have a relatively low percentage of green buildings, as Asia’s construction industry hasn’t adopted eco-friendly features as rapidly as other parts of the world.
“A short-term investment focus in many Asian real estate markets is a key factor, as is a low level of awareness of the benefits of green buildings. The real estate sector clearly needs more insight into the business case for going green,” says Ruben Langbroek, Asia Pacific Head of Sustainability at GRESB, to Eco-Business.
At the moment, some countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, have rapidly adopted green building while others only use green techniques when required to do so by government regulation. There is a growing demand for green buildings and moving forward this could see the number of these increase in Asia.
The benefits of green buildings include better health conditions for occupants, lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduced operational expenses. However, the cost of developing a green building or converting an old structure into a green building can be high and unattractive to some companies.
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