1.
Introduction: A green library or sustainable library is designed to
minimize negative impact on the natural environment and maximize indoor
environmental quality by means of careful site selection, use of natural
construction materials and biodegradable products, conservation of resources
like water, energy, paper and responsible waste disposal or recycling of
material.
Green design is an integrated process that
starts from the site selection and end with the demolition.
Many view the library
as having a unique role in the green building movement due to its altruistic
mission, public and pedagogical nature and the fact that new libraries are
usually high profile, community driven projects. Altruism
is the principle and moral practice of concern for happiness of other human
beings or animals, resulting in a quality of life both material and spiritual.
A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a
smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are
available locally.
The Rachel Carson book,
Silent Spring, published in 1962, is considered to be one of the first initial
efforts to describe sustainable development as related to green building.
2.
Importance of Green Libraries: Because of the
long-term nature of the library, green design is potentially less expensive
than standard design, as heavy up-front costs often pay for themselves, waste
is reduced, efficiency is increased, and energy and water are conserved.
Evolving libraries of the 21st century are integrating sustainable
practices because it is becoming the most cost-effective way to do things.
a)
To Keep the Good Faith: Buildings produce about 40% of the
dangerous greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere. An institution can no
longer in good faith aim to improve the human condition while contributing to
the destruction of the future. Therefore, libraries have been expanding the
scope of their mission statements to include working for the betterment of
humankind.
Libraries have a responsibility to not
contribute to the destruction of the environment, to educate the people
regarding our current situation and empower them to make a difference.
Libraries are discovering that their green building gives
them a great opportunity to educate the citizenry.
b)
To Build a Good Image: The library is undergoing an
identity transformation. It is struggling to stay relevant and the green
library is great for the image of the library. Firstly, a sustainable building
makes a statement that the library is investing in the future of the community.
Secondly, sustainable buildings are smartly designed, aesthetically pleasing,
and are powered by state-of-the-art technology. When people see these emerald
marvels they will no longer be able to maintain false stereotypes regarding
libraries as anachronistic relics from an analog age. Thirdly, more and more
people take environmentalism seriously, so a green image is a good image. The
public awareness on this issue is only going to increase. Libraries want the
public to believe that they are still relevant, and that their mission is to
better humankind. Many have decided that a green library is a physical
manifestation of their mission statement, and it provides an image of how
libraries want to be seen in the 21st century.
c)
To Become Independent: As publicly funded institutions,
libraries are constantly battling with budget issues. Sustainability offers the
library a degree of independence, because cost of maintenance goes down and
also the reliance on the volatile fossil fuels market. Sustainable design offers libraries a way to reduce
maintenance and energy costs, providing them with a degree of independence. One
of the most important features of green design is a shift from the reliance on
depleting fossil fuels to renewable energy resources. The independence from
fossil fuels will save the library large sums of money, and it will relish its
independence if prices continue to rise.
Money will also be
saved by having higher morale, health, and productivity from employees. The
architectural firm Heschong Mahone conducted a study that indicated students
perform 25% better on standardized tests when in classrooms lit naturally. High
levels of CO2 can decreases performance as well. Savings can also be
increased, because there are governmental incentives to capitalize on, and some
utility companies offer incentives too.
3.
Features of Green Library: Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) uses five different categories to judge a
building’s sustainability; a) site location, b) water conservation, c) energy
efficiency, d) building materials, e) indoor air quality, and a bonus category
for innovation and design.
a)
Site Location: The selection of the site has a large impact on how
ecologically friendly the library will be. People
should be able to reach the building via public transportation and the parking
lots should give priority parking to those driving energy efficient
automobiles. The heat island effect can be reduced by shading hard surfaces,
putting them underground.
b)
Water Conservation: If a site is selected properly strategies can be used to
capture rainwater runoff to be used in irrigation. Another strategy is to use
low flow fixtures, and waterless urinals to reduce the dependency on water.
c)
Energy Efficient: Energy efficiency is considered by many to be the most
important category in becoming sustainable. In the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) rating system it is the heaviest weighted of all
the categories. Building designers try to maximize the use of natural and
renewable resources like wind, sunlight instead of pure dependent on
electricity to manage the temperature and to provide ventilation and light that
forms the passive strategy. Active strategies are more technologically advanced
solutions that include using various forms of renewable energy resources and
using sensors to adjust lighting. Using photovoltaic cells that turn sunlight
into energy is becoming an increasingly popular way to reduce energy
dependence. Pair daylight with artificial lighting to reduce energy costs can
also be implemented in green libraries.
d)
Building Material: It includes local resources, material conservation and waste
reduction. The primary responsibility in selecting materials for the library is
to contribute as little waste as possible that will filled the landfill space
as construction waste material later on and this call for purchasing material
to be made from recycled goods like post-industrial and post-consumer recycled
materials. Also, materials should be chosen that are going to be able to be
reused or recycled 50–100 years down the road when the library building has
reached the end of its useful life. Another responsibility is to choose
materials that can be produced without causing too much damage to the natural
environment i.e. natural construction material. Renewable materials like wood,
linoleum, bamboo, and cork can be used as building material. Another material
option is using quickly renewable materials such as bamboo in place of wood
whenever possible or other biodegradable product as building material.
e)
Indoor Air Quality: Maintaining high standards of indoor air quality to help
ensure the health of the people who inhabit the building. Green buildings
need to be designed in a way in which the air gets recycled and does not stay
stagnant. To improve air quality, materials can
be bought that have a low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) content and CO2
monitors can be installed to ensure that CO2 levels remain at a safe
level.
f)
Innovation and Design: Its intent is to provide design
teams and projects the opportunity to achieve exceptional performance above the
requirements set by the LEED Green Building Rating System and/or innovative
performance in green building categories not specifically addressed by the LEED
Green Building Rating System.
In general the
green library may include use of empty area for the building; during
construction, any trees removed need to be harvested and used for furniture or
need to be donated for a good cause. The site needs to be accessible by public
transportation, water collected on the roof can be reused for landscape
irrigation, use of natural sun light, use of sensors programmed to dim or
brighten the lights, using the construction material which are local in nature,
recycled or reuse of demolition and construction waste, use of flood or drought
resistant and or native green roofing or vegetative roof or alternative
roofing, raised floor, use of recycled content in the carpet, use of acoustical
ceiling tiles of recycled content, integrating
actual greenery and vegetation into the side of building wall and site design, minimizing the negative impact the building will have
on the local environment and if possible having a positive impact, responsible
waste disposal and so on.
4)
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED): Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) is a
green building certification and rating system
developed and administered by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council
(USGBC) which is used worldwide. It
includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and
maintenance of green buildings aims to help building owners and operators be
environmentally responsible and use resources efficiently.
To participate in LEED
2009, a building must comply with environmental laws and regulations, occupancy
scenarios, building permanence and pre-rating completion, site boundaries and
area-to-site ratios. Its owner must share data on the building’s energy and
water use for five years after occupancy (for new construction) or date of
certification (for existing buildings).
The weighting process
has three steps: A collection of reference buildings are used to estimate the
environmental impacts of any building seeking LEED certification in a designated
rating scheme. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) weightings
are used to judge the relative importance of these impacts in each category.
Data regarding actual impacts on environmental and human health are used to
assign points to individual categories and measures.
This system results in
a weighted average for each rating scheme based upon actual impacts and the
relative importance of those impacts to human health and environmental quality.
LEED uses five
different categories to judge a building’s sustainability; a) site location, b)
water conservation, c) energy efficiency, d) building materials, e) indoor air
quality, and a bonus category for innovation and design. Their point based
rating has a total of 100 base points possible, and buildings can qualify for
four levels of certification: Certified: 40-49 points; Silver: 50-59 points;
Gold: 60-79 points; Platinum: 80 points and above. LEED certification is
granted by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), which handles the
third-party verification of a project’s compliance with the LEED requirements.
LEED certified buildings are intended to use resources more efficiently when
compared to conventional buildings simply built to code.
5)
Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE):
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial
institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to
encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member
of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United
States. It was established in 1956, as the private-sector arm of the World Bank
Group, to advance economic development by investing in for-profit and
commercial projects for poverty reduction and promoting development.
The IFC has created a
mass-market certification system for fast growing emerging markets called
Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE). IFC and the World Green
Building Council have partnered to accelerate green building growth in less
developed counties. The target is to scale up green buildings over a seven-year
period until 20% of the property market is saturated. Certification occurs when
the EDGE standard is met, which requires 20% less energy, water, and materials
than conventional homes.
The IFC and the Confederation of Real
Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), apex body of private real
estate developers in India have partnered to promote green buildings in India
through IFC’s EDGE certification.
6)
British Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method
(BREEAM): Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment
Method (BREEAM) first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in
1990. It is the world’s longest established method of assessing, rating, and
certifying the sustainability of buildings and large-scale developments. BREEAM
is an assessment undertaken by independent licensed assessors using
scientifically-based sustainability metrics and indices which cover a range of
environmental issues. Its categories evaluate energy and water use, health and
wellbeing, pollution, transport, materials, waste, ecology and management
processes. Buildings are rated and certified on a scale of Pass, Good, Very
Good, Excellent and Outstanding.
7)
The Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE): BEE launched
the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), a set for energy efficiency
standards for design and construction with any building of minimum conditioned
area of 1,000 m2 and a connected demand of power of 500 KW or 600
KVA. The energy performance index of the code is set from 90 kW·h/sqm/year to
200 kW·h/sqm/year where any buildings that fall under the index can be termed
as ECBC Compliant Building. Moreover, the BEE launched a five-star rating
scheme for office buildings operated only in the day time in three climatic
zones, composite, hot & dry, warm & humid on 25 February 2009. The CII
Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre is a BEE 5 star-rated building.
8)
Indian Green Building Council (IGBC): The Indian Green
Building Council (IGBC) was formed by the Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) in 2001. The council is based out of the CII Green Business Centre,
Hyderabad which is India’s 1st Platinum rated green building. The
vision of the council is to enable sustainable built environment for all. IGBC
is the India’s premier body for green building certification and allied
services. IGBC rated green buildings are also able to meet or exceed the ECBC
compliance.
9)
Examples of Green Building: The following are some of the
examples of green building that achieved the platinum – the highest
certification from LEED.
a)
Council Tree Library, Fort Collins, Co: Council Tree Library,
Fort Collins, Co is the first LEED commercial interior library in the U.S. to
receive platinum status and the second library in the nation to receive
platinum, in all LEED programs. The
Library’s comprehensive green cleaning plan won a LEED innovation credit.
Construction and building achievements include: 55% water savings; 92%
construction waste recycled; 85% certified sustainable wood products; and 97%
Energy Star equipment. Received LEED Platinum certification.
b)
Lake View Terrace Library, CA: In Lake View Terrace,
CA over 75% of construction was diverted from landfills to local recycling
facilities. The building is made out of high-mass Concrete Masonry Units
(CMU). Building features include
low-flow automatic faucets, window glass with double glazing, automatic
motorized windows that let out warm air and bring in cool air, and bamboo wood
flooring. Energy performance is over 40%
more efficient than California standards.
The Library was chosen as an American Institute of Architects Top Ten
Green Project for 2004. Received LEED
Platinum certification.
10.
Problems in Implementing Green Library: The biggest challenge
in libraries is balancing the conflicting needs of the patrons and the
materials and it can be looked into from the following points of view
a)
Challenge in Maintaining Sunlight: In order to be
preserved, books must be kept away from extreme temperatures, moisture, and
sunlight. In contrast, many individuals find sunlight to be the most enjoyable
light for reading. Sunlight also plays a major role in green design because it
can be used to reduce the reliance on artificial lighting.
New developments in
glass technology have given designers more flexibility in their ability to
place collections protected from damaging ultra-violet rays of the sun.
b)
Challenge in Managing Weight: A common strategy in
green design is to raise the floors to increase circulation, but the weight of
the book stacks can be an impediment to this strategy.
To deal with this
challenge, many designers have resorted to zoning the library into designated
areas, so these strategies can be enacted in certain areas, and alternatives
can be used in others.
c)
Maintaining Flexibility: Library buildings are long term
investments into the community, so when designing those architects need to be
looking 50 or 100 years into the future. To justify it, libraries need to be
built flexibly, in order to make room for expansions in size and in wiring
capabilities.
11.
Conclusion: Green building (also known as green construction or
sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of
processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient
throughout a building’s life-cycle: from planning to design, construction,
operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This requires close
cooperation of the contractor, the architects, the engineers and the client at
all project stages. The Green Building practice expands and complements the
classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and
comfort. Green libraries combine the needs of a library, sustainable design,
and real cost savings in energy consumption. The main goal of green buildings
is to develop and use sustainable energy-efficient resources in construction,
maintenance, and overall life of the structure.
How to Cite this
Article?
APA Citation, 7th Ed.: Barman, B. (2020). A comprehensive book on Library and Information Science. New
Publications.
Chicago 16th Ed.: Barman, Badan. A Comprehensive Book on Library and Information Science. Guwahati:
New Publications, 2020.
MLA Citation 8th Ed: Barman, Badan. A Comprehensive Book on Library and Information Science. New
Publications, 2020.

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