Tag Archive: buildings

  1. Thai Businesses Seeing Virtues of Green Buildings

    Comments Off on Thai Businesses Seeing Virtues of Green Buildings

    According to The Nation (20 May 2013), Thailand is following the global trend of constructing more green buildings, because the business community has started realizing that these offer both long-term energy-savings and increased business value. The newspaper refers to executives close to the industry.

    The number of green buildings is said to continue to rise – to 18 as of May 13 from 15 in 2012, nine in 2011, five in 2010, two in 2009 and one each in 2008 and 2007. All of them hold the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, the world’s recognized standard from the US for measuring building sustainability. There are 70-80 buildings waiting to be processed to get certification from the LEED.

    Thailand’s Rating of Energy and Environmental Sustainability (TREES), founded two years ago, is another rating system specially designed for green buildings within the local context. There are already 15 buildings registered with TREES for the measuring process, and more are expected in the future, forced by heightened environmental concerned the changing city landscape.

    The new City Planning Act may also be a key driver of green buildings. It offers incentives for builders, such as giving them more space for construction.

    The trend follows a worldwide development in favor of green buildings. Said green buildings are purportedly on the plate for investors too. They choose to invest in green buildings rather than non-green due to their long-term value and economic life.

    Source: The Nation