Green Technologies in Production and Construction

Madina Isaeva

1 a

, Tamerlan Magomaev

1 b

and Elman Akhyadov

2 c

Grozny State Oil Technical University named after Academician M. D. Millionshchikov, Grozny, Russian Federation

Chechen State University, Grozny named after A.A. Kadyrova, Grozny, Russian Federation

Keywords: Greenhouse gases, environmentally sustainable architecture, people's safety, "green" construction, projects.

Abstract: It is believed that the main cause of global warming is technological progress. Technospheric human activity

leads to an increase in the content of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to the increasing combustion of

fuel, which is a factor that increases the temperature. Climatic anomalies provoke social cataclysms. The most

important task at the present stage is to reduce global risks and improve people's safety. An effective tool to

improve the sustainability of the environment is the construction of "green" buildings. This article provides

an analytical review of the current focus of work in the field of "green" construction in Russia and in foreign

countries. The basic principles of "green" construction, the conceptual foundations of buildings with low

energy consumption are considered. It is shown that "green" roofs and "green" facades are important elements

in the formation of an environmentally sustainable architecture of energy-saving construction. The problems

of increasing energy efficiency during thermal renovation of building facades are considered. The principles

of rating assessment in "green" construction are considered. The results obtained are of great practical

importance. Systematization and generalization of data on "green" construction allow us to outline further

ways to improve the energy efficiency and environmental safety of buildings and structures in solving the

urgent problem of increasing the sustainability of the living environment in urban planning and architecture.

1 INTRODUCTION

Starting from 1974, after the global energy crisis, a

direction appeared in the world construction practice,

called “construction of energy-efficient buildings”,

and the scientific foundations for the design of such

buildings began to be created quite intensively, which

not only have not lost their relevance to this day, but

are in demand in which is constantly increasing. Since

the 1980s, special attention has been paid to the

environmental safety of the home and the quality of

indoor air. The following pattern is formulated:

among energy-efficient technologies, priority is given

to those that improve the environmental safety of the

home. Since the late 1990s, the requirements for

energy efficiency and environmental friendliness

have been supplemented by requirements that protect

the environment from destruction (Surowiecki,

2021). The development of "green" standards began

in the 90s of the last century. Currently, the number

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3079-4791

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5817-4191

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0793-1727

of "green" standards applied in international practice

to buildings (design, construction and operation) is

several dozen. The choice of assessment criteria, as

well as the actual rating assessment of buildings, is

different. It is worth noting that they were developed

taking into account national characteristics and were

initially used in the country of origin, and then began

to be used around the world. In technically developed

countries, rating systems for assessing the quality of

design and construction solutions for buildings

according to the criteria of energy efficiency,

ecology, comfort, and resource saving have become

widespread. Among the most advanced national

rating systems, it should be noted the American one -

LEED (The Leadership in Energy and Environmental

Design), the English one - BREEAM (Building

Research Establishment Environmental Assessment

Method), the German one - DGNB (Surowiecki,

2021). The relevance of socio-economic and

technological factors in the development of "green

building" in Russia is beyond doubt. As well as the

Isaeva, M., Magomaev, T. and Akhyadov, E.

Green Technologies in Production and Construction.

DOI: 10.5220/0011554100003524

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Methods, Models, Technologies for Sustainable Development (MMTGE 2022) - Agroclimatic Projects and Carbon Neutrality, pages

32-37

ISBN: 978-989-758-608-8

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

need to create our own national "green standards" and

a rating system that meets our regulatory and

methodological framework, national priorities of the

economy, energy, and the environment, taking into

account the significant climatic and resource

differentiation of the country's regions.

As follows from the data presented, the scale of

the use of digital tools in the framework of the

greening of industry remained relatively small in

these years. Nevertheless, it is impossible not to note

the expansion in all areas of the "green" agenda in the

pandemic period of 2020, which has sharpened the

issue of environmental friendliness in many activities

of manufacturing enterprises. The survey showed that

industrial enterprises were most interested in such

areas as improving energy efficiency (growth from

17% in 2019 to 22% in 2020), improving the

efficiency of water use and raw materials (from 13 to

16%), as well as waste disposal (from 12 to 15%). At

the same time, if the last two areas showed average

growth rates in 2020 (by 3 p.p., respectively), then the

increase in the number of enterprises involved in

improving energy efficiency using digital

technologies (by 5 p.p.) in 2020 was one of the

maximum among all directions. In general, these

results indicate that at the moment, from the point of

view of greening, the resource component and energy

efficiency, along with waste disposal, remain the

main priorities in the industry (Evangelista, 2020;

Surowiecki, 2021).

At the same time, although the areas related to

environmental efficiency were significantly less

represented in the sample, they gradually gained

popularity. Thus, in 2020, compared to the previous

period, the number of enterprises using digital

technologies as part of the development of the electric

transport fleet increased by 5 percentage points (from

2 to 7%), and the number of enterprises implementing

digital technologies increased by 3 percentage points.

technologies for creating clean and safe energy (from

4 to 7%). Relatively little attention was paid to

improving the efficiency of greenhouse gas and

pollutant emissions in 2020 (an increase of only 1

p.p.), however, the scale of development achieved in

2019 (coverage of 6% of enterprises) allows us to

place this area of greening in the middle ranking in

terms of priority. In addition, technological measures

aimed at reducing material consumption (growth

from 5 to 9%) can be included in the same group. The

least developed area among all those presented should

be recognized as the use of digital technologies for

the transition to renewable energy sources. In 2019,

only 1% of enterprises from the entire sample

registered this direction, and in 2020 the number of

such enterprises increased by only 2 percentage

points to 3%.

The Green Deal is also fraught with very

significant challenges for the EU bloc as a whole. On

the one hand, the policy of active decarbonization is

beneficial for the European Union, since it allows

maintaining its international competitiveness in

political and economic aspects in the context of

global instability and the transition to the fourth

technological order. Today, hydrocarbons make up a

significant share of the EU energy mix, while the

share of renewable energy sources does not exceed 20

percent19. The transition to renewable energy in such

conditions will not be possible without a powerful

technological and economic transformation. At the

same time, it should be noted that the Green Deal

implies significant solidarity within the EU and

significant investment in the transformation of

economies that are most in need of restructuring and

cannot afford it. Thus, the states of Eastern Europe

will still receive assistance in the implementation of

the EU Green Deal. Non-EU countries probably won't

have that option. The introduction of a carbon tax

could put many Russians in a difficult position. The

Boston Consulting Group estimates that if a CO₂ tax

is introduced, Russian exporters are likely to lose

between $3 billion and $4.8 billion a year if they don't

decarbonize their production. This will affect the

exporters of rolled metal products, paper and

chemical products - it is expected to reduce profits by

about half. However, oil and gas and metallurgical

companies will have to pay the most in this case,

which is associated with large export volumes.

According to KPMG's forecast, on average, gas

suppliers will incur additional costs of around 1.4-2.3

billion euros per year (Souter, 2019).

2 RESEARCH METHODS

The term "green building" in the generally accepted

world practice means such an approach to the design

and construction of buildings, structures, as well as

the architectural environment, which takes into

account the requirements of energy efficiency,

resource saving and environmental safety to the

maximum. Often people who are not specialists in

this field interpret this term literally, and understand

the problems of landscaping and gardening,

landscape design, etc. by them.

Of course, these are very close and interconnected

issues, however, "green building" is a broader

concept, it is a new, dynamically developing area of

architecture and construction, associated with the

Green Technologies in Production and Construction

revision of the priorities of modern society in its

growth.Currently, in foreign countries and in Russia,

the concept of building "green" buildings with zero

energy consumption is actively developing. A zero-

energy building (ZEB) is a highly energy-efficient

building capable of producing energy on site from

renewable sources and consuming it in equal amounts

throughout the year. If the amount of energy produced

is less than the energy consumed, such a building is

called a near zero-energy building (nZEB). The

choice of an indoor thermal comfort model to

establish optimal humidity conditions has a

significant impact on the energy consumption of zero-

energy buildings in hot climates.

In 2013, the first office building with zero energy

consumption was put into operation in Germany

(Souter, 2019; Braverman, 2019). The two-storey

building is located in Berlin and is designed in such a

way that the total annual energy consumption is lower

than the receipts from renewable energy sources. The

actual total annual consumption of electrical energy

is close to the design data. However, monitoring of

the building showed a significant discrepancy

between the expected and measured values of

electricity consumption for individual indicators: for

heating and hot water supply (+172%), ventilation (-

36%), lighting (-33%), engineering equipment and

auxiliary needs (-14 % and -13% respectively)

(Korchagina, 2019). To investigate the causes of

these deviations, as well as to further improve the

energy performance of the building, a numerical

model was developed, calibrated in various ways. The

average systematic error between observed and

simulated energy performance is less than ±2% for all

considered energy uses. According to the results of

observations and modeling, a good agreement was

established, both in terms of the energy needs of the

air conditioning system, and in terms of changes in

the air temperature in the room during the heating and

cooling periods of the year. The identified deviations

in the consumption of electrical energy are mainly

related to the characteristics of the building under

study and the behavior of people. The results obtained

allow us to propose measures aimed at further

reducing the energy consumption of buildings.

An important element of the heat-insulating shell

of a "green" building is the "green" roof (green roof).

This is a multilayer enclosing structure, consisting of

a reinforced concrete roof slab (with a cement-sand

mortar ramp), the main layer of a waterproofing

carpet, thermal insulation from extruded polystyrene

foam boards, a separating layer of geotextiles, a

drainage and filtering layer, a soil layer, a plant layer.

Depending on the type of vegetation layer, roof

gardening can be divided into intensive and

extensive. In intensive landscaping based on the use

of tall plants with a developed root system (roof

garden), a massive soil layer up to 1 m thick may be

required; such a roof requires, as a rule, constant care

by gardeners. Extensively green roofs, on the other

hand, do not require systematic maintenance, and a

minimum layer of soil or compost is required to

accommodate plants. Compared to "intensive" roofs,

"extensive" roofs have a simpler design solution

(Gakaev, 2020).

The construction industry has great potential to

protect the environment and improve the comfort and

well-being of people. The concept of sustainable

development meets the three main challenges of our

time - improving the quality of human life, saving the

planet and generating profits. As a response to these

challenges, one of the tools is a special approach - life

cycle analysis. According to the concept of

sustainable development, at each stage of the

existence of a building: design - construction -

renovation, the comfort and well-being of people

should be improved, the consumption of natural

resources, including electricity, should be minimized,

damage to the environment should be reduced, and

economic efficiency should be increased.

The nature of the project. Buildings and their

construction are the activities that worldwide account

for the largest share of the use of natural resources

and the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere. It

is known that in developed countries, the construction

and operation of buildings are responsible for 25-40%

of the use of the total amount of energy consumed, up

to 30% of the use of raw materials, up to 40% of

global greenhouse gas emissions and up to 40% of

solid waste production. The demand for green

buildings is on the rise, and this is especially evident

in the growing number of eco-labeled materials in

building construction around the world. The number

of certified square meters under green building

programs has increased markedly over the past 10

years. Standards, policies and regulations are

developed using a building life cycle analysis, from

the extraction of raw materials to the demolition of a

building and its recycling of its components. The

construction industry as a whole is restructuring

towards increasingly sustainable building methods.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

At the moment, Russia is facing not only such

traditional challenges as the need to diversify the

economy and reduce dependence on the commodity

MMTGE 2022 - I International Conference "Methods, models, technologies for sustainable development: agroclimatic projects and carbon

neutrality", Kadyrov Chechen State University Chechen Republic, Grozny, st. Sher

sector, but also the downturn in global business

activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the

accompanying fall in demand and prices for fossil

fuels, which may become long term. Also, some of

the world's major economies, including neighboring

countries, are beginning a large-scale transformation

of their economic systems in response to the global

climate and environmental crises. In the absence of a

timely and appropriate response to these events,

Russia risks increasing its economic and

technological gap with the world's leading economies

(Vladimirov, 2019). How Russia will emerge from

the COVID-19 crisis will largely determine the

trajectory of its economic development in the coming

years or even decades. Since the start of the

pandemic, dozens of civil society organizations,

corporations, and even ministers from the world's

leading countries have presented their vision of a way

out of the COVID-19 crisis. The vast majority of

these statements contain a call to stimulate the

economy through the development of green sectors.

The European Union remained committed to the

European Green Deal announced before the

pandemic and continued to develop it, and also

decided to support green sectors as part of its anti-

crisis policy. China, Japan and South Korea have

pledged to set official targets for carbon neutrality by

mid-century soon. Elected in November 2020, US

President Joe Biden plans to push for a 100% clean

energy transition and zero net emissions in the US by

2050.It is known that the effect of "heat islands" in an

urbanized environment is due to higher temperatures

of the outer surfaces of buildings, in particular roofs.

The installation of "green" roofs contributes to the

equalization of the temperature on the outer surface

and a significant reduction in energy consumption.

The authors of the article (Molchanova, 2019) Y.-Y.

Huang, C.-T. Chen, Y.-C. Tsai assessed the effect of

hydroponic coatings of "green" roofs on the

amplitude of temperature fluctuations and heat flow.

(Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in

artificial media without soil.) Factors such as the

thickness of the water layer, types of plants and

nutrient medium were studied. The experiments were

carried out in Taichung, the third largest city in

Taiwan, in a subtropical climate. The results showed

that to ensure efficient operation of the hydroponic

cover, it is sufficient to have a layer of water about 10

cm thick. The combination of vegetation and

hydroponic cover leads to a decrease in temperature

on the roof surface by 3–5 K, while the amplitude of

the heat flux fluctuation decreases by 16% compared

to roof without vegetation. The type of plants does not

affect the amplitude of temperature fluctuations and

heat flow. It is shown that the application of a solid

hydroponic cover is more difficult in terms of

installation and maintenance of the roof system.

"Green" roofs are an effective way to increase the

green area in the urban environment and improve the

microclimate of buildings. The article (Egorova,

2020) (authors Y. He, H. Yu, N. Dong et al.) studied

the thermal and energy characteristics of an

extensively green roof in an unconditioned and air-

conditioned building in Shanghai, a coastal city with

hot and humid summers. The experiment was carried

out on two full-scale models of the building premises.

One room had a green roof covering, the other a

standard covering. The results show that when

exposed to solar radiation, the green roof has the

greatest cooling effect. Soil moisture content has a

significant impact on the energy balance of a

building. In recent years, "green" building coatings

have become increasingly popular due to the clear

environmental benefits. The authors of the article

(Meckling, 2020) X. Tang and M. Qu, based on

experimental studies and numerical simulation,

assessed the energy characteristics of "green" roofs in

cold climates. The test bench was located on the

rooftop of Schleman Hall on the campus of Purdue

University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The stand was

equipped with a recording device and sensors for

measuring soil temperature, moisture content, etc.

The experiment consisted in determining the thermal

characteristics of a "green" roof in a cold climate and

assessing the effect of phase transitions of moisture in

the nutrient medium of the coating on thermal

characteristics. This article provides new insights into

the process of moisture phase transition in green roofs

and its impact on the thermal performance of the

structure (Molchanova, 2019; Egorova, 2020).

Green roof structures are widely used for energy

saving purposes in many countries with different

climatic conditions. The scope of their application in

heated and cooled buildings is highly dependent on

the design features and the outdoor climate. In

particular, an increase in the thermal storage capacity

of "green" roofs compared to traditional roofs is

shown. The authors P. La Roche, U. Berardi in the

article (Korchagina, 2019) explore the energy saving

potential of "green" roofs with "variable insulation

strategy". Four examples of insulated traditional

roofs, non-insulated green roofs, insulated green

roofs, and variable insulation green roofs were

studied over the course of several years in hot, dry

climates with mild winters. The results of the study

showed that the use of "variable thermal insulation"

is more effective. The color of the coating has a great

influence on the thermal regime of roofs. Recently,

Green Technologies in Production and Construction

"white" (whites) and "green" roofs began to replace

the usual "black" roofs (black roofs) in order to

mitigate their negative impact on the urban

environment. It is shown that in comparison with

"black" "white" and "green" roofs provide a

significant economic effect. The choice of coating

color is based on the preferences of the customer

(Mauritzen, 2016). To address global warming, light-

colored roofs should be used, which are three times

more efficient than green roofs. If local

environmental factors are at the forefront, "green"

roofs should be used to provide a "natural" urban

landscape. Recommendations are given for the

gradual reduction of the area of roofs with a dark

coating in a warm climate.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In 2020, Russia faced critical economic challenges

that jeopardize its further development while

maintaining a modern economic model: the limitation

of economic activity due to the coronavirus pandemic

and the resulting drop in global demand for fossil

fuels; a sharp drop in prices for energy resources on

world markets, followed by a recovery to lower levels

than at the beginning of 2020. According to the

forecasts of the International Energy Agency (IEA),

the demand for energy in 2020 will decrease by 5%.

At the same time, oil consumption will decrease by

8%, coal - by 7%, natural gas - by 3%, and electricity

consumption from renewable energy sources will

increase by 1%. The main reasons for the positive

trends in renewable energy during the general

downturn are the low operating costs of RES and the

priority access of RES-based power plants to the grid.

According to World Bank estimates, oil prices fell by

30% in the first three quarters of 2020. In 2019, a

barrel of oil cost an average of $61 (Meckling, 2020;

Hibbard, 2019). At the end of 2020, it is expected that

its average cost will be $41, and in 2021 - $44. Gas

prices recovered after the spring decline, especially in

Europe. At the end of October, they were only 5%

below the pre-pandemic level. Coal prices remain low

- 25% lower than before the introduction of the self-

isolation regime. According to World Bank

expectations, gas prices will recover in 2021, while

coal prices will remain at current levels. Despite

attempts to diversify the Russian economy over the

past decade, the fuel and energy complex still plays a

crucial role in Russia's development. The World Bank

estimates that the fossil fuel sector generated about

14% of Russia's GDP in 2018, and fuel provided 52%

of the country's total merchandise exports. The share

of oil and gas revenues in the federal budget for 2018

was 46%, for 2019 - 39%. For comparison, in 2006

this figure was 47%. The coronavirus pandemic has

had a sharply negative impact on the Russian energy

sector. In April-May 2020, Russian oil and gas

revenues decreased by 43% compared to the same

period in 2019; in the period from January to May,

the decrease was 30.1%. In the second quarter of

2020, the federal budget had a deficit of 823 billion

rubles, for the first time since 2017 (Monasterolo,

2018). The corporate "green" standard was launched

in May 2010 after a year of active discussions among

industry participants in the preparation process for the

Games. This event marks the first attempt at an

integrated approach to understanding the

sustainability of the construction industry in Russia.

All green building advocates and the most influential

non-profit environmental organizations such as

WWF, Greenpeace, FSC and RuGBC eagerly

awaited the release of the standard and also

participated in its development. The corporate

standard has become innovative due to the fact that it

is the first such standard in Russia, and also due to the

fact that it covers not only free-standing buildings, but

also infrastructure facilities such as roads and

railways. The preparation of the standard was carried

out with the participation of representatives of

environmental and architectural organizations. The

working groups developed criteria, analyzed their

relevance, and also described the procedure for

passing the assessment. The standard, which is

currently voluntary, has all the prerequisites to

become mandatory. For successful implementation

and development, the standard needs to be tested and

constantly improved. International environmental

standards such as BREEAM have been tested and

refined over more than 20 years. Such results in

Russia can only be achieved through extensive

investment and a long period of time allotted for the

process of “running in” the standard.

REFERENCES

Evangelista, R., Guerrieri, P., Meliciani, V., 2020. The

economic impact of digital technologies in Europe. рр.

802–824.

Surowiecki, J., 2021. The wisdom of crowds: Why the many

are smarter than the few and how collective wisdom

shapes business, economies, societies, and nations. р.

89.

Souter, MacLean, Okoh and Creech. ICTs, 2019. Internet

and Sustainable Development: Towards a new

paradigm, IISD, Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada.

MMTGE 2022 - I International Conference "Methods, models, technologies for sustainable development: agroclimatic projects and carbon

neutrality", Kadyrov Chechen State University Chechen Republic, Grozny, st. Sher

Braverman, A., Saulin, A., 2019. Integral assessment of the

performance of enterprises. Economic issues. 6(1). pp.

108-121.

Korchagina, E. V., 2019. Economic sustainability of the

enterprise: types and structure. Problems of the modern

economy. 3(15). pp. 68-71.

Gakaev, R. A., Bayrakov, I. A., Bagasheva, M. I., 2020.

Ecological foundations of the optimal structure of forest

landscapes in the Chechen Republic. Environmental

problems. Looking into the future. pp. 50-52.

Vladimirov, A. M., Imanov, F. A., 2019. Principles for

assessing the ecological flow of rivers. pp. 225-229.

Molchanova, Ya. P., 2019. Hydrochemical indicators of the

state of the environment. p. 192.

Egorova, N. I., Mityakova, O. I., 2020. Environmental

Innovation and Sustainable Development. pp. 209-215.

Meckling, J., Hughes, L., 2020. Protecting Solar: Global

Supply Chains and Business Power. New Political

Economy. pp. 88–104.

Hibbard, K. A., Archer, S., Schimel, D. S., Valentine, D.

W., 2019. Biogeochemical changes accompanying

woody plant encroachment in a subtropical savanna.

Ecology. p. 82.

Mauritzen, J., 2016. Cost, Contractors and Scale: An

Empirical Analysis of the California Solar Market. pp.

105-214.

Monasterolo, I., Raberto, M., 2018. The EIRIN Flow-of-

Funds Behavioural Model of Green Fiscal Policies and

Green Sovereign Bonds. Ecological Economics. 144.

pp. 228–243.

Green Technologies in Production and Construction