Building Green
Many office buildings in New York City have been built either as “green” or with “green” or environmentally friendly materials and systems. These buildings can take advantages of the New York State Green Building Tax Credit Law. Applications are available from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in Albany. Concrete can be “green” too. A “green” concrete design mix would include recycled material such as fly ash. Fly ash is used to increase the strength of concrete.
Energy Efficiency
The majority of concrete is produced locally, minimizing fuel requirements for handling and transportation. Once in place, concrete offers significant energy savings over the lifetime of the structure. The mass of a concrete structure makes it a significant thermal reservoir with the ability to store large amounts of energy. In the heating months, concrete walls and floors absorb the interior heat during the day and radiates the warmth back into the space at night. Concrete’s ability to store heat helps reduce energy consumption and provides a comfortable indoor climate. This helps insulate building environments from fluctuations in outdoor temperatures. The same principle holds true for cooling. This thermal inertia allows concrete to help maintain a relatively steady interior temperature.
By storing and releasing the energy needed for heating or cooling, concrete delivers year-round energy benefits. Together, insulation and concrete contribute to highly energy-efficient buildings reducing peak energy demands and the size of HVAC equipment required.
Recycling
Concrete is an inert material that is easily recyclable. Old concrete that has reached the end of its service life can be reused as aggregate for new concrete mixtures. The addition of industrial by-products such as fly ash, silica fume, and blast furnace slag, makes concrete less permeable, while incorporating materials that would otherwise be deposited in landfill sites.
