Examining the sustainability of green building materials and technologies in Lusaka district

Abstract

Striving for a greener, healthier and more sustainable environment through green buildings has become a growing trend. In Africa, a number of countries have formed councils responsible for promoting green buildings. Zambia also formed the Zambia Green Building Association to look into the affairs of green construction. A green building is one which is built in a manner that least harms the environment. A building with green building materials and technologies is intended to promote resource use, water and energy efficiency as well as occupant’s well-being. The National Policy on Environment places emphasis on the importance of Environmental Education in solving environmental problems. Environmental education is very vital in examining of green building as it enhances sustainability learning. The purpose of the study was to examine the sustainability of green building materials and technologies used to construct selected buildings in Lusaka District in order to determine how friendly they could be to the environment. The objectives of this study were to examine the benefits of the green building materials and technologies in the promotion of environmental sustainability, determine prospects brought by green building and materials and technologies in promoting a green economy, investigate the perceptions of various stakeholders on green building materials and technologies and Propose a sustainability learning guide in enhancing green building materials and technologies in the emerging green economy. The research design used was a nested case study. The study was conducted from Foxdale court, Levy Junction, Thornpark construction school, woodlands B primary school extension and Citi bank considering that they are known to be green buildings. Homogeneous purposive sampling was used as a sampling technique. The sample size was 25 which consisted of 10 occupants of green buildings and 15 stakeholders. Data collection tools used were semi structured interview guide, observation guide and semi structured interviews. The findings revealed that green building materials and technologies had great value to the environment as they enhance efficient use of water, energy and natural resources. Further, green building materials and technologies have economic benefits like massive savings from the efficient use of water, energy, natural resources as well as the use of local labor. Local people benefit in terms of jobs, for instance, growing of recycling companies. Other than that waste sold to recycling companies becomes a money generating venture. The findings also revealed that80 percent of stakeholders viewed green building materials and technologies as being beneficial to the environment while 20 percent indicated that they were not completely green as there was no proper inspection to minimize pollution during the production of these green building materials. The findings further revealed that some green building materials and technologies need to be improved in order for them to be considered more environmentally friendly. A sustainability learning programme was created from the above mentioned findings to enhance green building materials and technologies in the emerging green economy. It can be concluded that green buildings materials and technologies are vital in enhancing environmental sustainability as they have promoted water and energy efficiency, promoted wellbeing of humans and reduced resource depletion. The study recommends that there should be more sensitizations on green building materials and technologies as it was realized that very few people were aware about the concept. Key words: Green building materials and technologies and environmental sustainability