•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

“Going green” is far more than just a catchy slogan. Recycling waste, reducing plastic use and planting trees are just the best-known actions people take to help the environment. Less frequently considered, however, is the “green building” —  likely because there are common misconceptions about the concept.

Actually, the idea of a basic green building has just three guiding principles: low cost, low technology and high impact. So, if you think a green building, condo or house is about a lavish lifestyle using  flashy technology, think again.

“A green building is plain and simple. You don’t have to use specific brands, just change your lifestyle and how you use technology and materials. The keyword is ‘efficiency,’ ” said Nirwono Yoga, chairman of the Indonesian Landscape Architectural Study Group.

Nirwono, a spatial planning expert from Trisakti University in West Jakarta, says the idea is to conserve water and electricity because of ever-increasing demand in big cities such as Jakarta, while lowering carbon emissions.

Trying to build a more eco-friendly building is nothing new. The idea has been steadily growing since  the 1950s when scientists first began converting solar energy, albeit at a low level, into electricity. In the 1970s, green building was a common  call in the environmental movement, spawned by energy crises and skyrocketing fuel prices in the United States and other Western nations.

Back-to-the-earth activists in the United States at the time sparked a low-level boom in adobe housing, rooftop gardening and other natural approaches to dwellings.
 
But the idea that big buildings should be more energy-efficient lay largely dormant until former US Vice President Al Gore became the poster boy in recent years for growing concern about global warming. Now it seems that everything has to be green, including  buildings.

“Green building is not a new thing, however, sometimes it’s  popular and sometimes it’s eclipsed by some other trend,” Nirwono said. “Green building needs to be a lifestyle, not just a trend. If it’s only a trend, the next question would be: ‘How long can this last?’ ”

For his part, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo must hope that green is here to stay. Inheriting a capital city with a laundry list of problems, including with water and electricity supply, the governor embraced the green building idea in 2008. He has publicly announced his intention to make the city’s buildings greener beginning this year by issuing a special decree.

“What are green buildings?” he asked rhetorically during an interview with the Jakarta Globe at his office. The answer, he says, are buildings that are energy-efficient, recycle their water and have fewer emissions. New buildings will have to comply with the forthcoming decree, Fauzi says, while older buildings that are renovated must be retrofitted with green technology. The Jakarta administration will provide financial incentives for both new and old buildings that go green.

“I’m starting with my own building next door,” he said, referring to City Hall, located next to his office. “This is going to set an example for every building in Jakarta. Starting next year, we are going to continue with all school buildings that are owned by the government.”

Nirwono says Jakarta has no choice but to start making its government offices, commercial buildings and shopping centers  more environmentally friendly, given chronic power problems and water shortages.

“It should be done immediately in Jakarta, because we are talking about energy efficiency. We have an energy crisis here with blackouts everywhere. It is just a matter of time before we really run out of electricity,” he said. “In addition, we also are dealing with a scarcity of clean water. Who can guarantee that in the next 20 years, the city can still provide enough water for all of us?”

By 2020, 35 million people are expected to be living in Greater Jakarta, nearly doubling the demand for water and electricity.

PT Holcim Indonesia, the local unit of the international cement giant, is pushing the idea of “sustainable buildings” — meaning they must meet economic targets for saving energy and water.

“It means that if a green building is not economical, then it will not sell,” said Alex Buechi, manager for sustainable construction at Holcim Indonesia.

Conserving water and using less power are noble goals, but the most immediate impact from green buildings, whether they be high-rise office towers, apartments or houses, will be to the owners’ bank accounts.

“People just take these matters for granted and never see them as benefits. If you can save Rp 250,000 per month on electricity, over 20 years that’s a huge savings,” Nirwono said. “That’s one benefit from saving electricity, not to mention saving water.”

He says most people never consider saving money on a monthly power or water bill as a long-term investment, noting construction costs for a green building are usually only 10 percent more, while renovating an existing building into a green one is only half the price of building a new one.  The savings over the life of a building on energy and water costs, Nirwono says, can be substantial and more than offset any construction premium.

Naning Adiwoso, chairwoman of the Green Building Council of Indonesia, also debunks the myth that pricey technology is at the heart of going green.

“Yes, we need technology, but it does not necessarily mean [advanced] technology. Most of it is actually available on the market, such as energy-saving lamps, eco-washers and even eco-toilets,” Naning said. “We don’t need complicated technology, because usually it just goes back to how to install windows and doors to get enough light or air, so you don’t need to turn on the lights during the day.”
She says the real challenge in promoting green buildings is changing the mind-set that it will cost more.

But Nirwono says that when pricier technology is needed, the expense is worth it.  “These items should be considered as long-term investments, for instance, LED lamps. They are a new technology that is considerably more expensive, but it will pay off after 10 years,” he said. “It can work if people don’t treat it as just another trend or a source of pride for using green materials.”

Sithowati Sandrarini, a 42-year-old economist, says the only major spending she did for the eco-conscious renovation of her house in South Jakarta was on the structure.

“I only paid a lot up front for the early construction because it needed to be solid, but none of my [interior] items were expensive,” she said. “All of my furniture is from recycled wood, the doors are from old wood, the plant pots are old milk cans. There are no expensive treatments whatsoever and the plants are here to filter the air.”

In 2005, Sithowati met architect Adi Purnomo, who shared the dream of seeing more eco-friendly houses in Jakarta and began renovating her house. “I didn’t understand the whole green building [concept] at the start, but I did want a house that was environmentally friendly, especially one that could save lots of energy and was bright, while still using sound architectural principles,” Sithowati said.

Not only did she get the house of her dreams, but her home was named Best Residence by the Indonesian Institute of Architects in 2005. It’s now a shining example of what can be done to make a residential structure green.

The reasons for making our buildings green don’t stop with interior decorating or power bills. Green buildings can also reduce global emissions dramatically. A 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the body tasked with evaluating the risk of climate change, estimated that building-related greenhouse gases account for about 40 percent of the world’s total emissions, and will almost double by 2030 to 15.6 billion tons of CO2 . This is especially true in congested urban centers like New York and London, where vehicle emissions have gone down but building emissions remain high.

“Our understanding is that transportation and industry are the biggest contributors [of greenhouse gasses], causing global warming, but instead, the real culprit is actually buildings,” Nirwono said. “It also means that making buildings more environmentally friendly will have a positive effect on reducing emissions and global warming.”

One example is Council House 2 in Melbourne, Australia, a city-owned office complex that opened in 2006 and is considered a showpiece of urban design that conserves water and electricity. CO2, as it is known, has become a model for such efforts worldwide.

“Buildings contribute CO2 emissions starting from the [beginning of construction] and also the materials,” Nirwono said. “For instance, if you want Italian ceramic tiles for the floor, you need airplanes to fly them in and airplanes use fossil fuel. They leave carbon footprints everywhere.”

Finished buildings emit CO2  from giant air-conditioning units that spew heat into the air. In Jakarta, Holcim Indonesia is promoting a European-derived cooling technology that can keep concrete in warm climates radiating at 23 degrees Celsius. Buechi says the technology can reduce the energy required to cool buildings and homes by 75 percent, and is used worldwide, including in Egypt, India and China.

“We’d be saving one additional power plant” if it was widely used here, Buechi said. Holcim plans to install the cooling system in a building in Pondok Indah. 

There are also calls for new buildings to have more mandatory green space to help absorb carbon emissions. Nirwono notes that Jakarta’s green areas comprise only 9.3 percent of the city, while buildings take up 67 percent.

“Don’t use up all your land area for a building or house, allocate some to make a park that would function as a carbon absorber,” he said.

To cool her house and create a personal park, Sithowati planted grass and vegetation on her roof and balcony.  “I did some studying and found that putting up soil and grass could reduce the temperature by 1 degree, which is why my house is still very cool, even during the day. And at night, it can be chilly,”  she said.