Towards a Green Building: Opportunities and Challenges in Lebanon

Abstract:

Due to the current resource depletion rates, as well as the growing need toward energy and water efficiency, Governments and the private sector adopted the concept of the Green Building, given the fact that buildings are responsible for energy and raw materials on a large scale. That need is clearly manifested in the developing countries facing energy efficiency challenges. Hence, this research highlights the efforts of the governmental and the non-for-profit organizations; represented by Lebanese Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Energy and Water, Lebanon Green Building Council (LGBC) and funded by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank. The research summarizes the opportunities and challenges of adopting this concept to the benefit of Lebanon and other countries undergoing the same circumstances and facing the same challenges. In the process of reaching a conclusion, the researcher adopted the analytical and the case study methods through two main axes. The former attends to the theoretical studies which include the definition, the principles, the benefits and the global and local rating system of the Green Building. The latter axis addresses the Lebanese experiment through the review of the Opportunities and the Challenges facing the Green Building in Lebanon, and the ARZ Building Rating System. It also illustrates and analyzes a pioneering project in Lebanon that employed the green building patterns, the Ammiq Eco-Restaurant in Bekaa region. The paper is concluded by a set of recommendations that can be the foundation for similar experiences aspiring for adopting the green building as a cornerstone in the arena of sustainable development.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 935)
• Pages: 27-33
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.935.27
• Online since: May 2014
• Authors: Mohammed Farouk El-Aby
• Keywords: Building Rating System, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Lebanon, Sustainable Development

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