Pakistan academic on greening buildings using architectural salvage

Lahore, Pakistan - AHMAD Rafay Alam, a high court advocate and expert on urban planning law, recommends that Pakistan should be looking at greening its buildings by, among other things, reusing architectural salvage rather than new materials.

Citing the US LEED and various European certification schemes, he says, "Greening buildings is not rocket science. It can be done by using rapidly renewable materials like bamboo. Where this is not possible, greening looks to other avenues. Care must be taken to extract building materials from local manufacturers or to generate it on-site to reduce the energy costs embedded in their transportation. Architectural salvage may be resorted to and, wherever possible, carcinogen-free insulation should be used."

In the absence of sensible building energy footprint policies simply increasing the supply of power and materials would be as effective in providing for the energy needs of the city as it would be to try and lose weight by having your trousers taken out by a tailor rather than exercising.

Full story - The News, Sat 18 Aug 2007, Pakistan