| 27 May 2009 |
|
'Jordan needs to develop sustainable or green construction practices'
- Text size
AMMAN - With energy demand expected to increase by 50 per cent over the next 20 years, Jordan has no option but to adopt policies that enhance energy efficiency and develop investment in sustainable energy proposals using clean and environment-friendly resources, HRH Princess Sumaya said on Tuesday.
She made the remarks at the opening of the "Think Green 2 in Real Estate Development Conference", which seeks to promote the adoption of environmentally responsible designs and encourage the use of efficient energy, water management systems and building materials that minimise the use of non-renewable resources.
The Princess highlighted that Jordan is a developing country that suffers from the global problems of energy and increasing pollution, especially with poor energy resources and inefficient use.
"...Jordan needs to develop sustainable or 'green' construction practices based on traditional concepts with modern material and practices," said the Princess, president of the Royal Scientific SocietyRoyal Scientific Society
.
She noted that a truly green building "is one which makes sustainable living second nature rather than a conscious effort, which helps rather than hinders people's efforts to be green and which makes sustainable living attainable and affordable for everyone".
The two-day conference, which brought together decision makers from Arab countries, architects, designers, contractors and environmentalists, seeks to address challenges facing the construction industry in directing investments into efficient, cost-effective and sustainable projects that reduce the use of non-renewable resources and minimise environmental impact during the entire lifecycle of the project.
Meanwhile, Minister of Public Works and Housing Alaa Batayneh noted that the move for sustainability has evolved in Jordan as a partnership between the government and developers.
He noted that the National Building Codes Council has worked on and approved four energy efficient codes over the past year for electrical services specifications, gas piping, updating thermal insulation and energy efficient building.
"All the codes will be incorporated into a green building manual that will be available for developers wanting to go green. This manual will be made available by mid-2010," Batayneh said at the event.
In addition to the manual, the council will assign a technical committee to put together an incentive scheme to encourage developers to incorporate green-building techniques and ideas in their designs by the end of 2010, the minister noted.
By Hana Namrouqa
© Jordan Times 2009
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Loading ...
Post a Comment
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.