QScience Connect - Volume 2017, Issue 2, Special Issue on Shaping Qatar’s Sustainable Built Environment-Part I

The aim of this paper is to start a conversation about the cost premium for green buildings in Qatar. It examines what Qatar has achieved over the last decade and explores the root cause of green building cost premiums, why they exist, what can we do about them, and why should we accept them. For the purposes of this paper, the term green building specifically refers to buildings pursuing certification under USGBC's “LEED” or GORD's “GS Read More

The assessment of adaptive facades presents a barrier as there is no established assessment technique. Many of the available facade performance evaluation systems or frameworks have limited applicability for such advanced building facades. The complexity of adaptive or dynamic facades' evaluation is related to the performance evaluation of facade elements, systems, and overall building performance coupled with occupant be Read More

This study presents the centrality of the issues pertaining to sustainability at the urban level. It suggests that in contrast to market based understandings and representations of sustainability has significant connections to social and cultural forces. By focusing on three case studies, the study showcases how sustainability needs to be understood in terms of the way market-based economic actions and institutional initiatives embed market bas Read More

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation is the fastest growing technology in the distributed generation sector. In addition to integrating renewable energies, current grid is required to be reliable, stable, and of high-quality power. The large-scale integration of PV power into the grid is bound up with problems of the safe operation of the grid, bringing new challenges to the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) system. The objective of this paper was to st Read More

Sustainability has become a primary concern of new communities worldwide. With regard to planned communities specifically, sustainability planning has taken into account technical environmental standards as well as economic and technological factors. However, planned communities must consider social factors, or their “culture of sustainability” if their endeavors should prove to be truly successful in not only being environmentally sustai Read More

This paper examines some of the methods by which manufacturers certify their building materials as “sustainable” and communicates those certifications to the market. Using company marketing materials, along with specific case studies, the paper will present examples of how these certifications and presentations can cause consumer confusion. In light of this situation, the paper endeavors to present readers with basic g Read More