Chapter 1

1.1 Introduction

Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the using of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. In other words, green building design involves finding the balance between homebuilding and the sustainable environment. This requires close cooperation of the design team, 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.

The Energy Commission’s Diamond Building is one of green building and standout among the sea of government offices in Putrajaya, in more ways than one. By visual experience, anyone would describe the country’s administrative capital with the wide expanse of roads and buildings which are mostly brown concrete ones that all look similar, exceptional to one greenish glass upside-down pyramid shape building with the top buried in the ground. Little that many know it is actually one of the most energy efficient, multi award winning office building in South East Asia.

Diamond Building stands in stark contrast to the surrounding brown concrete government buildings. It stands apart in other ways, too: its sustainable design and building energy intensity of 20.6 kBtu/ft2 · year mean it uses on average four times less energy than typical Malaysian office buildings. The building is designed to showcase technologies that reduce building energy and water consumption, promote use of sustainable building materials and provide enhanced indoor environmental quality.

1.2 Problem Statement

Today it is commonly assumed that the built environment will degrade the natural one, but this belief is not based on historical evidence. For most of earth’s history, structures built for shelter have typically enhanced biodiversity and benefited the surrounding community. Beaver dams, for instance, create eddies where wetlands form, supporting a vast array of diverse life. “Green building” is a way of enhancing the environment. It benefits humans, the community, the environment, and a builder’s bottom line. It is about tailoring a building and its site to the local climate, site conditions, culture and community, in order to reduce resource consumption while enhancing quality of life.

Likewise, a green building is not an assemblage of “environmental” components or a piecemeal modification of an already-designed, standard building. These approaches not only add to the building’s cost, but also produce marginal resource savings at best. True green building takes a holistic approach to programming, planning, designing, and constructing (or renovating) buildings and sites. It involves connecting often-interlinked issues such as site and climate, building orientation and form, lighting and thermal comfort, materials, etc., and optimizing all these aspects in concert. In order to capture the multiple benefits of synergistic design, the “whole system” design process must occur early in the building’s conception and involve interdisciplinary teamwork. In the conventional, linear development process, key people are often left out of decision-making or brought in too late to make a worthwhile contribution. Early and complete collaboration, however, can reduce or eliminate both capital and operating costs, while at the same time meeting environmental and social goals.

Buildings use 40 percent of total Malaysia energy (including 60 percent of electricity) and 16 percent of total U.S. water; they produce 40 percent of the waste in landfills. Natural Capitalism documents how radical improvements in resource efficiency are readily possible today’s off-the-shelf technologies can make existing buildings three to four times more resource-efficient and new buildings ten times more resource-efficient. Reducing energy use in buildings saves resources and money while reducing pollution and CO2 in the atmosphere. It also leverages even greater savings at power plants. For the average 33-percent-efficient coal-fired power plant, saving a unit of electricity in a building saves three units of fuel at the power plant.

One of the key ways of reducing resource consumption and cost is to evaluate first whether a new building needs to be built. Renovating an existing building can save money, time, and resources, while often enabling a company (or a family, if it is a residential building) to be located in a part of town with existing infrastructure and public transportation, enhancing convenience and reducing sprawl. If a new building is required, it should be sized only as large as it really needs to be.

1.3 Objective

The objective of green building concept is to develop buildings which use the natural resources to the minimal at the time of construction as well as operation. Green buildings emphasize on the resource usage efficiency and also press upon the three R's - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

1.4 Significant of study

The growth and development of our communities has a large impact on our natural environment. The manufacturing, design, construction, and operation of the buildings in which we live and work are responsible for the consumption of many of our natural resources. Statistical record by Tenaga Malaysia shows that 94% of electricity generated in the country is by fossil fuels and it is expected that the figure will be unchanged over the next decade research showed that buildings consumes up to 40%. Benefits from green technology building is Enhance and protect biodiversity and ecosystems improve air and water quality, reduce waste streams, conserve and restore natural resources. For economic benefits is reduce operating costs, improve occupant productivity, enhance asset value and profits and optimize life-cycle economic performance. For social benefits is enhance occupant health and comfort Improve indoor air quality, minimize strain on local utility infrastructure and improve overall quality of life. Green Building Programs

LEED, Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is the nationally accepted rating system for commercial and institutional green buildings. The program helps establish a standard measurement for green building. Green Built NC Homes Certification Program is a state-wide residential green building rating program administered by the WNCGBC. Homes receive a rating and certificate based on third party inspections.

The government is taking decisive steps to ensure that our energy future is green, sustainable and diverse and that Malaysia uses energy in the most efficient manner. Malaysia’s embracing of green technology is not only to conserve and preserve its resources, but is also envisaged to act as a new economic impetus for the country. By practicing energy efficiency, which is expected to lead to saving of RM14 billion in Gross National Income by 2020, we can preserve the environment and energize the Malaysian economy towards becoming a developed nation by the year 2020. Energy Commission Diamond Building is a new benchmark for Malaysia in terms of green technology. The Energy Commission is honored to pave the way and set new standards for energy efficiency and solutions for environmental sustainability. We hope to inspire organizations and individuals to embrace energy efficient solutions for the betterment of the present and future generations.

1.5 Limitation

One of the most common limitation of Green Building and the most heard criticism is the additional costs. This is an important consideration because, although the additional costs are usually balanced out by the energy savings, it is still extra money coming out of your pocket. So it suppose this indeed is a valid criticism.

The good news is that recently the green market is becoming a much more competitive market and therefore, it could possibly see a significant decrease in Green Building costs in the near future. In fact, it is already evolving and the competition is driving the prices down. It won’t be too long before the local homebuilding super store will have a green building section where these products are readily available at a competitive price.

1.6 Definition

Chapter 2

Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The government of Malaysia has realized the importance of saving the environment through sustainable building development especially toward reducing carbon emission and resources use (Isa et al, 2014; Md Darus et al, 2009; Zainul Abidin, 2009). Many efforts to realize sustainability in building have been implemented in the country. The commitments are including the implementation of photovoltaic systems in buildings through the ‘Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic Program’ (MBIPV) and introducing renewable energy program called ‘SURIA 1000 for developers’(Zainul Abidin, 2010). The concept of sustainability has also been incorporated in the design of several government office buildings such as LEO (Low Energy Office), GEO (Green Energy Office) and Diamond buildings, which provide a platform for proof of the concept in driving forward the sustainability goals of the Malaysian building industry (Isa et al, 2014). GBI Malaysia has been developed in 2009 for the reason of evaluating the environmental design and performance of Malaysian buildings (GSB, 2012). Sustainability in Malaysian building project is also supported by the numerous current spatial planning of the country such as Malaysian National.

Malaysian construction players are always offered a range of different thoughts that point to misconceptions and uncertainty about sustainable development (Dola, 2003). They also claimed to be not fully understood the concept and principles of sustainability (Zainul Abidin, 2009). Besides, it was revealed that the current frameworks of sustainability in the country are not fully equipped to handle sustainable building project (Isa et al, 2014). It is often encouraged environmental measure in most cases, yet the rest of measures are less promoted. Thus, knowledge enhancement and a clear comprehensive framework of sustainable building that considered all aspects of sustainability in building is very crucial to be explored.

2.2 Green Building Demand Factors

2.2.1 Demand for Environmental Sustainability

Theories of pro-environmental behaviour in particular those related to resources conservation in building such as the value-belief-norm( VBN) theory acknowledge that both general altruistic norms rooted self-transcendent values that translate feeling of collective ownership of environmental welfare and personal moral norm anchored on in self-enhancement or individual self-serving interests play important role in green consumption (Aliagha and Cin, 2013). As building sustainability gathers momentum in conjunction with growing environmental awareness and consciousness there are signs that Malaysian office workers, tenants and prospective new home buyers are developing pro-environmental beliefs that may be attributed to altruistic or personal moral norms and values. Some may be buying green building not only because it saves energy and money, but because of their altruistic belief that climate change and its effects on man and the environment are real and they can act to reduce these effects. Since the methods of construction in green buildings are carried out to reduce the impact on the environment, then green buildings are constructed to reduce the amount of used water that is released into the environment through recycling method of about 35-40% annually (Alias et al, 2010). Experts had advised that the risk to the environment, society and economy must be minimized in short and long term to achieve a sustainable future.

2.2.2 Demand for Increased Productivity

Green building is characters a high performance productivity environment when one incorporates three of Haynes (2007) physical and behavior environment determinants of office productivity environmental services (ventilation, heating, natural lighting, artificial lighting), physical layout; and over all comfort. This is linkable to the fact that high performance green building with proper building orientation, incorporate passive wall, roof, floor design and insulation as well as window glazing insulation that allows passive cooling and natural energy flows to maintain the building’s thermal comfort while reducing the need for mechanical cooling or heating. These consequently eliminate or reduce carbon footprints in building which generally make green buildings healthier than conventional buildings. As Miller, et al. (2009) observed the inherent natural light natural lighting, good ventilation, the absence of organic compounds as well as availability of localized appropriate temperature controls in green buildings provides happier, healthier workers.

2.2.3 Demand for Improved Internal Building Conditions

In a study conducted by Gou et al (2013) in China, it was concluded that the occupants of the “green buildings are more satisfied with thermal comfort and air quality in their workspace while they are less satisfied with lighting and acoustic quality”. Also that the “green building users tend to be more tolerant of their ambient environments than non-green building users, which means that the dissatisfaction with one or more aspects of the indoor environment does not necessarily produce dissatisfaction with the environment overall”. According to Kumar and Fisk (2002), several studies have been carried out on the effects of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) on health, comfort and performance of occupants. While the effects of IEQ on the occupants’ well beings have become essentially important and they have been considered something of interest to the property managers while they are also concerned with the energy use. They concluded that the employers are looking forward to satisfy their workers by creating comfort to enhance productivity, reduce absenteeism and health related costs, and reduce the risk of litigation. According to Kumar and Fisk (2002), the adoption of green buildings could help improve productivity gains that valued between $6 billion and $14 billion annually by reduction in the cost of treating ARIs and the potential economic gains are $1 billion to $4 billion for IEQ for allergies and asthma. A study conducted in Malaysia by Syazwan et al (2009) concluded that there will be considerably reduction in the sick building syndrome (SBS) when the ventilation rates per person among typical office buildings increases. Green homes use low volatile organic compound paint with reduction in health related problems and this provides better indoor air quality compare to the conventional homes (Alias et al, 2010).

2.2.4 Demand for Higher Building Value

In another study carried out by Halim (2012), it was concluded that green office building commands higher rental rates in Malaysia which is around RM0.50 – RM2.25 per square feet while operating cost saving is aroundnRM0.164 per square feet. Also, Australia and United States studies “have found that developing green buildings can help landlords achieve higher values, fetch higher rents and enjoy higher occupancy rates than comparable non-green buildings” (Chong, 2010). A survey was conducted in America involving 718 executives in architecture, construction, Real Estate consulting, corporate owner-occupants, developers, engineers, real estate owners, corporate tenants and real estate service providers on the adoption of sustainable buildings. They pointed out that energy efficiency, operations and maintenance costs, and building value as the primary reasons for incorporating green features into a construction project (Yaron and Noel, 2013). According to Green Building Council of South Africa, the past studies have proved this assertion on the green buildings for Australia and United States with 12% and 11% valuation premiums, respectively. Bertrand (2010) said that the most future buyers

in Malaysia are ready to pay at least 5% more for green properties due to the quality, comfort, environmental friendliness, increase in productivity due to natural lighting and that it helps healing fast. According to Bertrand, the average costs for green buildings and non-green buildings in United States are not significantly different.

2.2.5 Demand for Cost Savings

There is reasonable body of evidence that previous finding that green building results to higher costs may have been based on outdated information and poor green building skill and practices. Good life cycle assessment, integrated building design, effective commissioning, operation and maintenance complement to guarantee continuous cost savings. In this regard lack of knowledge of life-cycle costing and analysis that take into account not only design and construction costs, but also long-term operations such as maintenance, repair, replacement costs in decisions and procurements of equipments is very likely translate to higher building cost. The reverse would likely be the case when there is skilled knowledge of life-cycle costing and analysis. A study in neighbor country, Singapore reveal that green buildings save approximately 10 percent in operating cost, and green commercial buildings increase in market value by about two percent. The average savings from a sample of 23 retrofitted buildings (comprising office, retail, hotel, and mixed-used developments) was about 17 per cent of the total building’s energy consumption, compared to before retrofitting (Uma, 2011). Bertrand (2010) studied on the benefits of green building construction to the real estate developers and found out that the “developers can effectively reduce their costs and risks in achieving green building accreditation.

2.2.6 Demand High Workforce Turnover

In a study carried out in Australia, Kato et al (2009) concluded that those who occupy the Green Star-certified properties were highly satisfied generally and they are proud of their green working areas. The occupants were stronger psychologically as benefits they derived from green buildings than the real physical benefits for them to work in the green office. The Green Building Council SA stated that since the experienced members of staff are difficult to attract and retain, therefore the younger ones that are now conscious of sustainability and health related issues could well be motivated with working in a green environment.

Chapter 3

3.1 Introduction

Methodology is a system of broad principles or rules from which specific methods or procedures may be derived to interpret or solve different problems within the scope of a particular discipline. Unlike an algorithm, a methodology is not a formula but a set of particles. Methodology includes a concepts or ideas as they relate to a particular discipline or field of inquiry. Methodology refers to more than a simple set of method, rather it refers to the rationale and the philosophical assumptions that underlie a particular study relative to the scientific method. The work procedure is done step by step in a systematic plan called methodology. Starting from planning of the project until the end of project which are conclusion and recommendation.

The Diamond Building was designed and built with the concept of a sustainable building with consideration to the following aspects: reduction in fossil fuels, water conservation, sustainable building materials, waste minimisation and avoidance, indoor environmental quality, traffic and transport management, construction and demolition management plan. This building is expected to have an energy index of 85 kWh/m2/year, in contrast with the standard index of 135kWh/m2/year(MS1525).

3.2 Design concept

This building is inspired by the original form of the diamond, which form symbolises transparency, value and durability; characteristics which represent the Energy Commission's role and mission as a regulatory body. The diamond shape is found to be the most aerodynamic and effective form to prevent air infiltration through the advantage of tilted facade. The Atrium has been designed to optimise daylight utilisation with reflective panels and an automatic roller-blind system responsive to the intensity as well as the angle of the incident sunlight. In addition to providing a high quality indoor environment, a good outdoor environment is also provided through extensive landscaping and a sunken outdoor garden.

Atrium daylight design.

The atrium has been carefully designed optimize daylight utilization for each floor employing the combination of the following three strategies. First, automated blind with six different configuration to maintain the appropriate daylighting levels at all times. The blinds with 30% light transmittance are adjusted every 15 minutes and follow a three different control strategies for morning, mid-day and evening .The windows size becomes larger deeper into the atrium to cater for lower daylight levels lastly, a band of Tannenbaum reflector panels are applied to 4th and 5th floor to deflect daylight across the atrium to 1st and 2nd floor where daylight levels are the lowest. The ‘christmas tree’ profile reflectors have an inclination of 10° and reflect about 85% of the light in semi-diffuse manner, hence, avoiding visual glare issues for the building occupants.

Diamond shape

The Diamond Building BIPV system is equipped with sensors to measure ambient and module temperature, solar irradiance and wind speed. Data loggers are used to collect performance data to evaluate the effectiveness of the BIPV system installed. PV panels are installed to harvest sun energy from East, West, North and South of the building.

The figure above show that the plan of the Diamond Building which has been designed for the tropical climate by orientating it optimally for day lighting. The diamond symbolizes transparency, value and durability; characteristics which represent the Energy Commission’s role and mission as a regulatory body. The unique shape represents an optimum design approach to achieve energy efficiency

Water effieciency

The ST Diamond Building also boasts its extensive water saving strategies. By using rainwater for toilet flushing and irrigation, annual potable water consumption has been reduced by 35% compared to potable water otherwise used for industry standard water fittings and irrigation as defined by the Green Building Index. The rainwater is collected from the 700m2 catchment area and stored in four 2,600 gallon (10,000 liters) rooftop tanks. Also, all water from the sinks and floor traps (grey water) is piped separately through a sand filter to a collection tank from where it is reused for irrigation of a mini wetland instead of going to the sewerage. 2000-3000 liters of water are recycled every week day. The usage of water efficient fittings is able to reduce the potable water usage by more than 67% compared to conventional plumbing fittings.

Indoor enviromental quality (thermal comfort via radiant cooling).

Figure above shows: Sectional perspective showing the embedded thermal pipes in the concrete slab for radiant cooling Photo Credit Greening Asia – Emerging Principles for Sustainable Architecture

Another unique point about the ST Diamond Building is the floor slab cooling system. The radiant cooling from the floor slab is achieved by cooling the reinforced concrete floor slabs with chilled water by 19 degrees Celsius using polyethylene-reinforced thermal pipes embedded in the concrete slab. The concrete slabs act like a thermal storage, which will be charged every night from 10 p.m. to 6am and be cooled to around 22°C. During the day-time, the system is shut off, and floor slab passively absorbs heat gains from people, computers, solar gains etc. During the day, the floor slab increases its temperature by about 1°C only to be cooled down again the following night.

By doing so, this reduces cooling transport energy by 64% because it is more efficient to transport cooling with water than with air. Also, with much of the cooling being shifted to the slabs, so the AHU system can be down-sized about 30%. By shifting 30-40% of the cooling to night time, the ST Diamond can save cost from the lower off-peak energy rates and from reduced maximum demand charge. In fact, the building management system was used to reduce the peak demand by another 50% by sequencing the start-up of the AHUs.

Indoor environmental quality (thermal comfort via radiant cooling)

Coupled with a green roof helps to further reduce urban heat and effect whereby the hard scape areas are reduced and replaced with soft green landscape. Buildings near or surrounded by greenery have lower ambient temperature (surrounding temperature) than the ones away from the greenery and it is seen as aneffective way to lower the ambient temperature. A green building puts equal amount of attention on occupants’ well being too. By using low VOC paints and carpets, which are certified by Green Label certification, the total volatile organic compounds parts per billion is sufficiently low to satisfy the indoor air quality criterion. A 12 month post occupancy comfort survey was carried out to collect occupants’ responses regarding thermal comfort, glare comfort and odor problems. The result is over 80% of the occupants expressed satisfaction. The thermal comfort is addressed by the usage of CO2 sensors that regulates the demand control variable air volume (VAV) ventilation system. IAQ measurements throughout the different levels of the building indicates the CO2 parts per million (ppm) is less than 500 ppm, hence, giving the occupants plenty of fresh air, as the maximum limit is 1000ppm. The basement car park is natural ventilated through the sunken garden and equipped with carbon monoxide and temperature sensors in the event if mechanical ventilation is needed. However, observations have shown that it is virtually not used, as the natural ventilation is normally sufficient.

Green transportation

Acknowledging the significant amount of carbon footprint per household in transportation, which is 68%, green buildings such as ST Diamond Building is designed to address solutions for occupants to have alternatives towards a lower carbon footprint of transportation. As such, 2 Electric Vehicle charging stations are available, ten percent of parking garage spaces are designated for green/fuel-efficient vehicles and carpool vehicles; secure bicycle racks; location served by public transportation and shaded walkways for pedestrians linking to the master development.

Solar panel

Climate and the solar path of equatorial Malaysia (3° north) helped shape the building’s diamond design. Solar studies showed that 25° tilting façades would provide self-shading on the north and south façades. To maximize daylighting, a central atrium was introduced, and the diamond shape was born. The diamond symbolizes transparency, value and durability, characteristics that represent the Energy Commission’s role and mission as a regulatory body. The shape also represents an optimal design approach to achieve energy efficiency. The building includes seven floors above grade and two underground levels for parking. The seventh floor includes a small theater, board room and dining room. Low-e glazing helps reduce direct solar heat gain for the east and west façades. The glazing’s visual light transmittance (VLT) of more than 0.5 allows for effective natural lighting to the office interior in conjunction with light shelves. The inverted diamond shape increases the ground space available for landscaping, which helps reduce the heat island effect.

The building’s eco-friendly measures cost USD$1 million, representing about 6% of the total construction cost. Savings of almost USD$333,000 annually in operating costs from energy efficiency (USD$317,000) and solar power generation (USD$15,000) result in an estimated payback of 3.5 years despite Malaysia’s subsidized utility tariff rates.

Materials:

Tilted roof panel

Tilted roof panels reflect light to the lounge area.

Photovoltaic solar panels

Photovoltaics (PV) is the name of a method of converting solar energy into direct current electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon commonly studied in physics, photochemistry and electrochemistry. A photovoltaic system employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells to supply usable solar power. The process is both physical and chemical in nature, as the first step involves the photoelectric effect from which a second electrochemical process takes place involving crystallized atoms being ionized in a series, generating an electric current Power generation from solar PV has long been seen as a clean sustainable energy technology which draws upon the planet’s most plentiful and widely distributed renewable energy source such as sun.

Embedded water pipes

A water pipe is a pipe or tube, frequently made of plastic or metal,that carries pressurized and treated fresh water to a building, as well as inside the building.

Reflective panels

A retroreflector is a device or surface that reflects light back to its source with a minimum of scattering. In a retroreflector an electromagnetic wave front is reflected back along a vector that is parallel to but opposite in direction from the wave's source. The angle of incidence at which the device or surface reflects light in this way is greater than zero, unlike a planar mirror, which does this only if the mirror is exactly perpendicular to the wave front, having a zero angle of incidence.

Thin-film photovoltaic solar cells

A thin-film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers or thin film (TF) of photovoltaic material on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are commercially used in several technologies, including cadmium telluride ,copper indium gallium di selenide (CIGS), and amorphous thin-film silicon (a-Si, TF-Si).Film thickness varies from a few nanometers (nm) to tens of micrometers (µm), much thinner than thin-film's rival technology, the conventional, first-generation crystalline silicon solar cell (c-Si), that uses wafers of up to 200 µm. This allows thin film cells to be flexible, lower in weight, and have less drag or friction. It is used in building integrated photovoltaics and as semi-transparent, photovoltaic glazing material that can be laminated onto windows. Other commercial applications use rigid thin film solar panels (sandwiched between two panes of glass) in some of the world's largest photovoltaic power stations.

Chapter 5

Introduction

Incidences in the past decades have indicated that economic growth does have environment consequences. Malaysia, being a developing country, is concerned with the ecological changes happening around us. The key to achieving a balance between economic growth and taking care of the environment that we live in is through sustainable development. The World Commission on Environment and Development through its 1987 Report defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.1 In addressing this need and the continuous effort of Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) to propagate sustainable development, there is the urgent need to view productivity, quality and competitiveness with new light. This second sustainable development study provides insights on Energy Commission that is situated at Precinct 2 in Putrajaya and green buildings.

From the research have been done before, there are some benefits that diamond building was established. Benefits that can be seen are such as the main concept diamond building been constructed as green building. Besides, diamond building that has a unique shape. The unique shape of the Diamond Building was designed according to the climate and solar path of equatorial Malaysia. Solar studies showed that the North and South façades would be self-shading with 25-degree tilting façades, which were also applied to the East and West façades. To maximize the use of daylighting, a central atrium was introduced and the diamond shape was adopted. Next, material used in this building is a green concept. Such as, floor cooling slab, embedded pipe, solar panel, green transportation and rainwater harvesting.

Recommendation

State and local governments are working to incentivize new green building design and construction using a variety of techniques. In many cases these programs have been successful in accomplishing their goals. However, some have faced struggles in encouraging sustainable construction, including the costs of new programs, resource reallocation, and implementation difficulties. It is important for jurisdictions, as they develop green building initiatives, to incorporate the appropriate incentive systems in order to develop a holistic green strategy for their community.

Existing incentive programs range from those that are short-term to those that are longer term in nature. This divergence can be problematic for certain developers, depending on the preferred development business model. Often, there is more inducement to design and build green if the development community knows that the incentive will still be in existence by the time the project comes to fruition. As such, incentives with longer life spans combined with inducements for limited time horizon investors are generally the most effective in encouraging green construction. The effectiveness of each incentive option is also highly dependent on more research and increased education. Case studies on how different programs would develop and operate in cities with differing issues (e.g., population, density, proximity to a metro area, etc.) would strengthen the argument for proponents of these tools to implement them in their own jurisdictions.

Conclusion

Recent years have seen sustainable building practices or eco-friendly buildings gaining popularity in Malaysia due to the need to be more environmental friendly. Eco-friendly buildings have also been known to be more feasible and cost saving in the long term. According to Green Building Index, when the six key criteria of energy efficiency, indoor environment quality, sustainable site planning and management, material and resources, as well as water efficiency and innovation are met, a building is considered to achieve the GBI recognition. As equipment and materials for an eco-friendly building are now available locally and readily, more residential and commercial property owners should opt for eco-friendly buildings that provide better quality living and work environment. In addition, current global environmental issues and corresponding rising cost of living have also made adopting eco-friendly ways a needed way of life to achieve and ascertain a sustainable future for all.