Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development?
The world’s population keeps growing together with the construction rate of buildings that need to reduce their environmental footprint in order to mitigate global warming. This paper analyses if the spread of green buildings can be used as an indicator of broader sustainable development. The study...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/3005 |
| _version_ | 1797615781948686336 |
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| author | Antonio Marotta César Porras-Amores Antonio Rodríguez Sánchez |
| author_facet | Antonio Marotta César Porras-Amores Antonio Rodríguez Sánchez |
| author_sort | Antonio Marotta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The world’s population keeps growing together with the construction rate of buildings that need to reduce their environmental footprint in order to mitigate global warming. This paper analyses if the spread of green buildings can be used as an indicator of broader sustainable development. The study is carried out with data taken from Eurostat Database and green buildings directories for 27 EU countries in the 10-year period spanning from 2010 to 2019. The relationship between the indicators is examined through simple linear regressions, and the results confirm the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis: in developed countries, a growing economy (more GDP) is related to an environmental improvement (fewer GHG emissions). In addition, this study proves that the variance of green buildings expresses with a consistent probability the variance of GDP per capita (<i>p</i>-value = 0.0004 and R<sup>2</sup> = 0.8475) and the variance of GHG emissions (<i>p</i>-value = 0.0002 and R<sup>2</sup> = 0.8825), meaning that green buildings are indeed an indicator of sustainable development. This is due to the upfront cost required to implement advanced construction technologies that ultimately cut GHG emissions during the building lifecycle. This also points out that policy makers should encourage green building implementation through tax relieves and grants. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:30:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4741956417cf4ae9a519f7d50c86d507 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:30:36Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-4741956417cf4ae9a519f7d50c86d5072023-11-17T07:18:00ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172023-02-01135300510.3390/app13053005Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development?Antonio Marotta0César Porras-Amores1Antonio Rodríguez Sánchez2Departamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas y su Control, Escuela Técnica Superior de Edificación (UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Avenida Juan de Herrera, 6, 28040 Madrid, SpainDepartamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas y su Control, Escuela Técnica Superior de Edificación (UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Avenida Juan de Herrera, 6, 28040 Madrid, SpainDepartamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas y su Control, Escuela Técnica Superior de Edificación (UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Avenida Juan de Herrera, 6, 28040 Madrid, SpainThe world’s population keeps growing together with the construction rate of buildings that need to reduce their environmental footprint in order to mitigate global warming. This paper analyses if the spread of green buildings can be used as an indicator of broader sustainable development. The study is carried out with data taken from Eurostat Database and green buildings directories for 27 EU countries in the 10-year period spanning from 2010 to 2019. The relationship between the indicators is examined through simple linear regressions, and the results confirm the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis: in developed countries, a growing economy (more GDP) is related to an environmental improvement (fewer GHG emissions). In addition, this study proves that the variance of green buildings expresses with a consistent probability the variance of GDP per capita (<i>p</i>-value = 0.0004 and R<sup>2</sup> = 0.8475) and the variance of GHG emissions (<i>p</i>-value = 0.0002 and R<sup>2</sup> = 0.8825), meaning that green buildings are indeed an indicator of sustainable development. This is due to the upfront cost required to implement advanced construction technologies that ultimately cut GHG emissions during the building lifecycle. This also points out that policy makers should encourage green building implementation through tax relieves and grants.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/3005European Unionclimate changeEnvironmental Kuznets Curvesustainable developmentgreen buildings |
| spellingShingle | Antonio Marotta César Porras-Amores Antonio Rodríguez Sánchez Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development? Applied Sciences European Union climate change Environmental Kuznets Curve sustainable development green buildings |
| title | Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development? |
| title_full | Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development? |
| title_fullStr | Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development? |
| title_short | Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development? |
| title_sort | are green buildings an indicator of sustainable development |
| topic | European Union climate change Environmental Kuznets Curve sustainable development green buildings |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/3005 |
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