Unit 12. GREEN and SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS

Urgent, issues, acidification, conductivity, nano-enhanced, energy-conserving, versatility, toxicity, nanoparticles, unique, convergence.

b) In what context do you think the following words and phrases will appear in the text?

• the nano era • environmental pollution • ozone depletion • human health risks • environmental predicament • at the molecular level • nanotubes •nanotechnology • a boom • accrue • coatings and insulating materials • proliferation •declining coast

c) Read the text and check your answers:

Green is a nice color. It also is a buzzword that’s being used rather freely whenever people want to claim that their product or service is environmentally friendly.

Sustainability means designing structures that take advantage of technological advancements to create eco-friendly products.

The advent of the nano era in building could not have come at a better time, as the building industry moves aggressively toward sustainability. Green building is one of the most urgent environmental issues of our time. But for the building industry to achieve its potential as the leader in sustainable development, new materials are urgently needed.

Worldwide, buildings consume between 30 and 40 percent of the world’s electricity. Waste from building construction accounts for 40 percent of all landfill material in Russia annually. Deforestation, soil erosion, environmental pollution, acidification, ozone depletion, fossil fuel depletion, global climate change, and human health risks are all attributable in some measure to building construction and operation. Clearly, buildings play a leading role in our current environmental predicament. Now, however, a new frontier is opening in building materials as nanotechnology introduces new products and new possibilities.

By working at the molecular level, nanotechnology opens up new possibilities in material design. In the nanoscale world where quantum physics rules, objects can change color, shape, and phase much more easily than at the macroscale. Fundamental properties like strength, surface-to-mass ratio, conductivity, and elasticity can be designed in to create dramatically different materials.

Many nano-enhanced products and processes now on the market can help create more sustainable, energy-conserving buildings, providing materials that reduce waste and toxic outputs as well as dependence on non-renewable resources. Other products still in development offer even more promise for dramatically improving the environmental and energy performance of buildings. Nano-enabled advances for energy conservation in architecture include new materials like carbon nanotubes (can be up to 250 times stronger than steel and 10 times lighter, as well as electrically and thermally conductive (Figure 12.2) and insulating nanocoatings, as well as new processes including photocatalysis. Nanomaterials can improve the strength, durability, and versatility of structural and non-structural materials, reduce material toxicity, and improve building insulation.

Figure 12.2 Carbon Nanotubes

Nanoparticles have unique mechanical, electrical, optical and reactive properties distinct from larger particles. Their study (nanoscience) and manipulation (nanotechnology) also open up the convergence of synthetic and biological materials.

The examples of some of these materials are aerogel, thin-film insulation, self-cleaning coatings, air purification, and water purification.

Current nanomaterials and nano-products show demonstrable environmental improvements including energy savings and reduced reliance on non-renewable resources, as well as reduced waste, toxicity and carbon emissions. Some can even absorb and break down airborne pollutants. The benefits of nanotechnology for green building will accrue first from coatings and insulating materials available today, followed by advances in solar technology, lighting, air and water purification, and, eventually, structural materials and fire protection.

While the construction industry is generally slow to adopt new technologies, we believe five converging forces will accelerate the adoption of nanotechnology for green building:

1) increasing green building requirements;

2) $4 billion per year in nanotechnology research and development worldwide;

3) proliferation of nanotechnology products and materials;

4) demonstrated environmental benefits of nanotechnology products and materials;

5) declining costs of nanotechnology products and materials.

5 Read the text again and answer the questions that follow (1-10):