A high-performance building is a building that unifies and optimizes all the major high-performance attributes, including energy conservation, environment, safety, security, durability, accessibility, cost-benefit, productivity, sustainability, functionality, and operational considerations.
High performance, here, means designing, constructing, and operating facilities with a strong focus towards sustainability, integration and collaboration, and feedback and data collection.
High-performance buildings are designed to achieve significant energy conservation. They use at least 30 percent less energy each year than buildings designed only to meet basic requirements. Their design coordinates high-efficiency equipment with the building shell, orientation, insulation, ventilation, zoning, and more, to create a high-performance built environment.
High-performance buildings(HPB) that also integrate sustainable site design, indoor environmental quality, and resource conservation are considered Green buildings.
Green building is a subset of the more general category of sustainable construction. A green building can be defined as a healthy facility designed and built in a resource-efficient manner, using ecologically-based principles. Whereas, High-performance buildings are designed, built, renovated, operated, and disposed of using ecological principles for the purpose of promoting occupant health and resource efficiency and minimizing the impact of the built environment on the natural environment.
Characteristics of High-Performance Buildings
Health
A high-performance building is healthy in all aspects. It has an orientation that complements the ventilation system in the building; It is built with materials that do not use harmful chemicals that can “off-gas” into the building; It provides an aura that is wholesome for the occupants. If we don’t fall sick, we are more productive.
Comfort
High-performance buildings are also more visually, thermally, and acoustically comfortable. We can perform our tasks while staying unbothered by the climatic wrath. The right amount of daylight and electric light provides adequate, uniform, and glare-free illumination for all our visual tasks. Insulation keeps us away from outside noises or sounds from our neighbors.
Efficiency
High-performance buildings are efficient in every respect – energy, water, and materials. Efficiency, here, translates to lower costs for construction and operation, meaning that more money can be used in other areas central to the underlying purpose of the organization. Of all the features in a high-performance building, energy efficiency is the best understood. To develop analysis tools, cost-effectiveness criteria, and design strategies to improve energy use, Fig. (3-3), but material efficiency is the newcomer.
Maintenance
Though High-performance buildings may sound like a sophisticated concept, systems in it are easy to use and maintain. Occupants have control over the temperature, airflow, acoustics, and lighting in the building and are trained on how to use the systems in the best possible way. However, the best high-performance buildings are based on simple principles.
Commissioning
High-performance buildings are commissioned to ensure that they function as intended. Commissioning is just a form of “systems check” for the facility to verify that key building systems perform properly at the optimum levels of efficiency and comfort.
Environmentally Responsive
High-performance buildings are environmentally responsive. All the possible, existing natural areas on the site are protected and restored; storm-water runoff is minimized, and erosion is mitigated; construction does not produce pollution or degrade the site; and only environmentally friendly materials are selected that minimize the environmental impact related to the extraction, harvest, production, and transportation.
Security
High-performance buildings are safe and secure. Users and visitors feel secure anywhere in the building or on the ground. Security is introduced through site zoning and the smart use of building layout, visual surveillance, and other techniques.
Stimulating Architecture
Finally, high-performance buildings feature stimulating architecture that invokes a sense of pride and is considered a valuable asset, not only for the owner but also for the entire community.
FAQs
A high-performance building is a building that unifies and optimizes all the major high-performance attributes, including energy conservation, environment, safety, security, durability, accessibility, cost-benefit, productivity, sustainability, functionality, and operational considerations.
High-performance buildings are designed to achieve significant energy conservation. They use at least 30 percent less energy each year than buildings designed only to meet basic requirements. High-performance buildings(HPB) that also integrate sustainable site design, indoor environmental quality, and resource conservation are considered “green’ buildings.
Green building is a subset of the more general category of sustainable construction. A green building can be defined as a healthy facility designed and built in a resource-efficient manner, using ecologically-based principles. Whereas, High-performance buildings are designed, built, renovated, operated, and disposed of using ecological principles for the purpose of promoting occupant health and resource efficiency and minimizing the impact of the built environment on the natural environment.
Read more: What Makes a Building Green? – Green Building Concept
Read more: 23 Different Green Building Materials
Read more: LEED Rating System For Green Buildings and Other Building Types
Read more: Elements or Components of Green Building-Material, Water, Energy Health