Brazil’s “green building” industry will expand in the coming years, spurred by construction of low-impact venues to be used in the 2016 Olympics venues, an expert on environmental construction said in an interview.
Global concerns about the impact of arenas and stadiums led the International Olympic Committee to require arenas built for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro meet international standards for low carbon emissions and energy efficiency.
This has boosted local interest in developing real estate that with lower environmental impact than existing buildings, a trend that comes as the Brazilian government is carrying out a long-term infrastructure expansion program meant to make its economy more competitive.
“The Olympics have had a clear impact on the interest in green construction,” said Marcos Casado, technical manager for Green Building Council Brasil.
“It’s most evident in Rio de Janeiro. If you look at the buildings under development by the city and state governments, nearly all of them include sustainability criteria.”
Venues such as the Rio Olympic Village where athletes will stay have to demonstrate a range of practices meant to meet a series of environmental criteria that include low energy consumption and use of local construction materials.
Those facilities will reduce energy usage through measures such as increasing the use of natural light, adding solar panels to reduce consumption of power from the grid and installing “intelligent” elevators that make fewer trips.
Casado said he expects a 30 percent annual increase in the total amount of green building space in Brazil in the coming years from the current level of 7.5 million square meters (80.7 million square feet).
Close to one-third of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions are linked to energy consumption from building operations, according to the U.N. Environment Programme, making building efficiency a key part of the fight against global warming.
Unlike the Olympics, stadiums for the 2014 World Cup championship in Brazil are not required by the event’s organizers to receive certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, but most of the developers decided to seek them anyway.
Four of the 12 stadiums to be used in the Cup already have LEED certification and another four are seeking it, Casado said.
More green projects
Brazilian private sector companies are getting involved as well, with Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista’s EBX group remodeling an old hotel near downtown Rio with green certification.
State oil company Petrobras’ recent expansion of a Rio-based research facility was carried out under green construction practices, Casado said.
Other criteria for a building to receive LEED certification include using materials made from recycled objects such as plastic bottles, installing rainwater collection to cut water usage and avoiding paint and carpeting with toxic chemicals, Casado said.
The rise of green construction comes as Brazil has launched a plan for infrastructure investments worth nearly $1 trillion meant to bring roads, railways and ports into line with emerging-market competitors such as China, Russia and India — which together with Brazil form the so-called BRIC nations.
The push for green Olympic venues comes amid criticism that global sporting events require countries to tear down existing venues and replace them, consuming massive amounts of fossil fuels and construction materials.
Primarily designed for Europe and the United States, Casado said LEED certification criteria were being “tropicalized” to fit with different rainfall and climate patterns of countries like Brazil that require different types of materials and have different energy use patterns.
“Green buildings aren’t just about the buildings themselves — they also include factors such as whether or not people can get to their jobs on public transportation or whether they have services such as doctors nearby,” he said.
Though construction costs can be higher than in traditional buildings, the additional outlays can be recovered in three to five years given the energy savings they provide, Casado said.
This incentive is particularly strong in Brazil, where electricity prices are among the world’s highest.
Using paint and carpet with fewer chemicals also improves air quality within buildings, improving office productivity by cutting down on respiratory illnesses, he said.
