IMPLEMENTATION OF GREEN BUILDINGS IN AFGHANISTAN

WALI NOOR KHAN PAIKAN

DR. SHAMIL AZMAN

Master Engineering (Civil)
Civil Engineering
Unversiti Teknology Malaysia (UTM)
2020.03.09
 Chapter One

1.0. Introduction

Increasing efficiency of buildings by using the practice of green buildings to reduce the consumption
of water, energy, materials and to reduce the buildings impacts on human health and environment
through better planning, design, construction, maintenance, operation, and removal.

 The environmental impact of the building design, construction, and operations industry is
enormous. Buildings annually consume more than 30% of the total energy and more than
60% of the electricity used in the United States. The commercial sector produced moreover
than 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006 which was 30% greater than 1990 levels.
Just for flushing the toilets, 5 billion gallons of potable water had been used each day. About
1.6 pound of solid waste generates by a typical North American commercial building
employee per day. For a building which has 1500 employees, the amount of waste per year
will be 300 tons.
Development alters land from natural, biologically diverse habitats to hardscape that is
impervious and devoid of biodiversity. The far-reaching influence of the built environment
necessitates action to reduce its impact. The negative environmental impacts can be
substantially eliminate or reduce by high-performance, market-leading design, construction,
and operation practices by applying green buildings practices.
As an added benefit, green operations and management reduce operating costs, increase
workers’ productivity, enhance building marketability, and reduce potential liability resulting
from (IAQ) problems[ CITATION USG09 \l 1033 ].
Meanwhile, Green building is not simply about protecting the biosphere and natural resources
from over-exploitation or over-consumption, nor is it simply about saving energy to reduce
our heating bills, it considers the impact of buildings and materials on occupants and the
impact of our lives on the future of the Earth[ CITATION Tom05 \l 1033 ].

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Problem Background

1.1.2. History of Green Buildings

Green building has gained in momentum over the past decade, but it's not new. The early beginning of
green buildings go back to the nineteenth century. David Gissen, who was a curator of architecture
and style at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., the structures like Milan’s Galleria
Vittorio Emanuele II, and London’s Crystal Palace had used passive systems like roof ventilators, and
underground air-cooling chambers to moderate indoor temperatures [ CITATION VIN07 \l 1033 ].
In the starting point of the 20th century, there were a kind of revolution in the buildings
construction techniques. The cooling approach was one of these new technique which get
involved in construction industry. Not just this, but also the air conditioning system,
reflective glass, and the wide spread of use of glass enclosed structural steel were the special
invention in the urban and rural building construction companies[ CITATION Sha14 \l 1033 ]. The
buildings which were made within this new method were easy to cool and heat with this big
HVAC system by using less and inexpensive amount of easy available of fossil fuels
[ CITATION Sha14 \l 1033 ] . The American Institute of Architects (AIA) organized a Committee
on Energy which was divided into two groups. To get environmentally friendly materials, one
of the two groups tried to find passive methods such as materials which can reflect in the
roofs and to site the buildings with the method to be useful for the buildings environmentally,
while the other group was focus on technological solutions like the use of three layers of
glass in windows. All of these efforts were conducted to save energy in buildings
construction industry. To bring the green buildings/sustainable idea to the center of the
dialogues tables, the green build/sustainable communities start their work from White House
when Bill Clinton elected as a president of the United State in 1992. After twenty-three years
on the initial Earth Day, White House took place as a model of building which was in the first
category of less energy consumption and waste produce buildings, which was announced by
the president “Bill Clinton”. By greening of White House, according to a report in March
1996, they save $150,000 per year after two years by saving energy, water, and landscaping
costs. There was other expenses related to the waste management which was also saved. Due
to some others additional projects, the savings amount reached to $300,000 in 1996.
The savings was due to reducing the loss of energy, through the windows, roof, and walls by
using natural lights and energy-saving lights in the White House which was one of the
“green” implementation concept. They rent-out the cleaner-burning fuels cars and starting to

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use the energy savings equipment in the offices and begin recycling program in the White
House.
Other governmental agencies like Pentagon, the Presidio and the U.S. Department of
Energy also made a decision to follow the White House the greening program because of its
great success by becoming green[ CITATION Sha14 \l 1033 ]. One the most important green
building program“LEED” (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) republished in
2003 in the current form which is the major resource for evaluating a building for its
greenness in the construction and design communities [ CITATION SHA15 \l 1033 ]. It was not the
last effort for greenness, many others countries start to change their construction industry to
green construction.

The world green building movement has been started in 1993 by firming the Green Building
Council in the United States. The council was founded by Rick Fedrizzi, David Gottfried and
Mike Italiano to develop the practice of sustainability in the in the industry of building
construction. It was the first time of the producing advance green buildings. The movement
of green industry was watching by the other green leader industries around the world. When
they saw the impact of U.S. Green Building in the construction industry, they also decided to
start the similar movement in their own countries which was leading by USGBC [CITATION
WGB18 \l 1033 ].

Green buildings movement got more and more interest around the globe which was supported
by USGBC. With this eager for green buildings around the David Gottfried prepare a
formation of the UN of the Green buildings Councils to the mission of supporting green
buildings development around the world and to bring all of them together with the common
voice and purpose [CITATION WGB18 \l 1033 ]. By taking these action, the World Green Building
Council was found and held the first founding meeting in 1999 in California, US. Three years
later in 2002 the WorldGBC was officially formed under the name of Green Building
Councils in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and USA. In 2007, a
Secretariat for WorldGBC was formally established in Toronto, Canada, and vital support
was provided by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) [CITATION WGB18 \l
1033 ]. Many countries in the world have already developed a green buildings guideline and
some of them are starting to develop the guideline for their countries including Canada,
Korea, Australia, U.S., U.K, Japan, and India. USGC is the one of the fast runner because
they launched the LEED guideline for the first time in 2000 which is one of the most accurate
and trustable guideline around the world. LEED has more than 12,659 certified project in all

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50 U.S provinces and 85 or than that registered project around the world [ CITATION Sin09 \l
1033 ]. Implementation of these guidelines can help to reduce usage of non-renewable
resources which is not a solved issue yet. Green buildings movement similarities and
differences in different countries will be helpful for taking first step on building framework
for green buildings to assess the system adoption in the international arena.
It is clear that construction industry is one of the much more waste having industry in
the world. The green buildings movement effort has been started to rise the recycling and
reuse process of construction materials in construction industry to reduce cost and increase
the efficiency of the energy of the buildings and save money [ CITATION Cha16 \l 1033 ]. More
should be done to run faster the green building movement around the world but need varies of
efforts to decrease human environmental impact and increase efficiency of usage materials.
1.1.3. Green buildings in Afghanistan

The diverse geography of Afghanistan which has grasslands and planes in the north side of
Afghanistan, central mountain part, east fruitful mountain valleys, deserts and semi-deserts in
the southwest and west. Afghanistan has a top climate. Most of the time, summers are dry
and hot, but the winter of Afghanistan is very cold with a lot of snow. Some of the provinces
of Afghanistan have very high temperature in the summer while the others provinces are
inverse with these provinces in winter. For example, the temperature of “Nimroze” province
can be rise over 50 degrees Celsius, while the temperature of “Ghore” province can be drop
off to -45 degrees Celsius. This varied of geography make Afghanistan vulnerable to the
climate change and natural disasters which are happening most of the time in Afghanistan in
almost every season. Afghanistan has ranked the second country amongst the most affected
countries in the world by the weather related events like floods, droughts, storm etcetera in
2016. The most significant challenges that Afghanistan is facing now are not just landslide,
droughts, floods and so on but the air pollution is another most dangerous problem that not
just Afghanistan is getting suffering but the whole world has affected. The rapid urbanization
and population growth together with climate change can rise the weakness and undermine
measurable ability of any urban system of Afghanistan. It is crucial to adopt future
cities planning and house development with climate change and other
disaster management to keep the people safe [ CITATION Mic17 \l 1033 ].
As Afghanistan has a rapid urbanization because of the necessity people have and also the
climate change which bring many problems to the people of Afghanistan adaptation with
climate change and others necessities are very significant. To overcome and solve this serious

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issue, one of the effective solution will be implementation of green buildings in Afghanistan
which is not an option but a serious exigency. Implementation of green buildings concept for
the countries like Afghanistan is the first priority for approaching Afghanistan Sustainable
Development Goals (A-SDG’s). During implementing of construction projects, there will a
big amount of materials, water, energy and others resources wasting which is not acceptable
and should stop. For this purpose, investment and implementing in green infrastructure is
inevitable for the country economically and sustainably improvement. The concept of
environmentally and sustainably improvement is increased all over the world but
unfortunately, in Afghanistan, there is not any official or private organization to imply this
concept.

1.1. Problem Statement

Afghanistan is one of those countries which are suffering from the climate change
on the planet. The air pollution and others disaster that the country is face in the recent years
are more dangerous. According to WHO (World Health Organization) ranking report,
“Afghanistan is the lowest among non-African nations in deaths from environmental
hazards”.
Experts believe that war may kill thousands of civilians a year in Afghanistan, but choking
air pollution in the capital Kabul is more deadly. The air pollution is a silent killer of large
number of Afghan citizens and Kabul residents bear the brunt of the pollutions. Considering
this fact, Afghan government has to counter pollution more seriously than terrorism. The
factories, bathhouses and brick kilns must be standardized and moved outside the city. A big
part of this air pollution is created by the fossil fuel. These fossil fuel have used by people for
many purposes. By implementation of green buildings concept in Afghanistan, a big amount
of energy which is used will be save and the consumption of fossil fuel will reduce to the low
level.

Household Air Pollution (HAP) is the single most important environmental health risk factor
worldwide. In Afghanistan, it is estimated that HAP causes over 27 000 deaths per year,
whereas Ambient Air Pollution (outdoor) causes over 11 000 deaths annually. An estimated
3000 Afghans die due to second-hand smoke every year. Women and children are at
particular risk of exposure to household air pollution as they stay at home more than men.
Although there is a need for further research, strong epidemiological studies suggest that

6
 exposure to HAP contributes to low birth weight, stunting and pre-term birth [CITATION
WHO2020 \l 1033 ]. Green buildings implementation will effectively reduce these numbers of
deaths in Afghanistan.

1.2. Objectives

Followings are the objectives proposed for this study: -

(1) To evaluate indoor air pollution and health improvement by implementation

of green buildings.
(2) Green buildings effectiveness in Afghanistan.
(3) The barriers and solutions in the implementation of green buildings in Afghanistan.

1.3. Scope of the Study

This study is focus on green buildings implementation in Afghanistan. The study will clear
discuss the indoor air quality (IAQ) of buildings in Afghanistan. As I mention before, this
study indoor air quality pollution is very serious problem in Afghanistan. According
WHO, there are many disease which can be found in the result of indoor air pollution
specially lung disease.
I try to find the main issues during implementation of green buildings in Afghanistan and
also the solutions for these issues. It is not as easy task as there is not any type of literature
regarding green buildings in Afghanistan. It will be the first research regarding green
buildings in Afghanistan.

1.4. Significance of the Study

The lack of sources of energy is one of the serious problem in Afghanistan. According to
Asian Development Bank “Afghanistan is among the lowest in electricity usage globally—
about 100 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year per capita consumption—with only 30% of its
population connected to the grid. Peak demand in 2014 was 750 megawatts (MW), although
the unsuppressed demand is estimated at 2,500 MW. In 2014, almost 80% of power was

7
supplied by imported power, and demand in major cities increased by 25%. Although the
reliability of the grid has improved significantly since 2002, load shedding is still common
and private generators fill the gap”. These generators use fossil fuel which is the main source
of greenhouse gas. By implementation of green buildings, Afghanistan can reduce a big
amount of fossil fuel energy.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

The paucity of literature in the Indian context forced us to consider the literature
available for other developed/developing countries and assume a somewhat similar scenario
for India for identifying the relevant renewable/sustainable energy technologies. I should put
this somewhere here in this context.
The literature review for the title of “implementation of green building in Afghanistan”
mainly addresses the literature from the golf countries, Asian countries and neighbours
countries of Afghanistan contexts ‘as these countries almost the same whether conditions’ to
provide a strengthen background of the research areas for theoretical concepts. These areas
include the implementation of green buildings in Afghanistan and the implementation of
green buildings in other countries to determine how green building is being implemented in
Afghanistan compared with other countries. The literature review chapter focuses on the
effects and benefits of the implementation of green building which resulted in comfortable
and healthy indoor and outdoor built environment that encompass improving indoor air
quality, reducing energy consumption, reducing water consumption, and economically

8
beneficial. In addition, to create buildings and infrastructure in such a way that minimize the
use of resources, reduce harmful effects on the ecology, and create better environments for
occupants. Green buildings exhibit a high level of environmental, economic, and engineering
performance[ CITATION SHAHNAZALI2015 \l 1033 ] . Green constructions are energy efficient
constructions due to their design, technology, material and other installations that are capable
of separating external environment from affecting the regulated interior conditions [ CITATION
SAAR2011 \l 1033 ]. Moreover, the chapter identifies the problems that prevail during the
implementation of green building in order to evaluate and seek to improve the
implementation of green building in Afghanistan and other countries.
Generally, environmental pollution is one of the major cause of global warming. This
pollution affect mostly the environmental health. Environmental health is an area of growing
importance for the Region, with environmental risk factors, such as air, water and soil
pollution, chemical exposures, climate change and radiation, contributing to more than 100
diseases and injuries. The health impact of environmental risks is reflected in both
communicable and noncommunicable diseases in all countries in the Region, with
environmental hazards responsible for about 22% of the total burden of disease. The top
environmental health-related causes of death in the Region are heart disease, stroke,
respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases, targeting the most vulnerable, including
children and the elderly. It is estimated that more than 850 000 people die prematurely every
year as a result of living or working in unhealthy environments – nearly 1 in 5 of total
regional deaths, with 72% of these the result of noncommunicable diseases and injuries
[ CITATION WHOEMRO \l 1033 ].

As we know air pollution is the second major concern in Afghanistan after war. According to
WHO estimates, deaths due to environmental risks constitute 26% of all deaths in
Afghanistan. Household Air Pollution (HAP) is the single most important environmental
health risk factor worldwide. In Afghanistan, it is estimated that HAP causes over 27 000
deaths per year, whereas Ambient Air Pollution (outdoor) causes over 11 000 deaths
annually. An estimated 3000 Afghans die due to second-hand smoke every year
(EMRO/WHO, 2016). Women and children are at particular risk of exposure to household air
pollution as they stay at home more than men. Although there is a need for further research,
strong epidemiological studies suggest that exposure to HAP contributes to low birth weight,
stunting and pre-term birth [ CITATION WHO2017 \l 1033 ]. In 31 Dec 2019 at least 17 people have
died of respiratory infections in Kabul over the past week due to hazardous levels of air
pollution. More than 8,800 patients have visited government hospitals in a week, suffering

9
from health conditions, including lung problems, as air quality worsened in the capital
[ CITATION ZaheenaRasheed2019 \l 1033 ] . Air pollution has further increased as thousands of
families started to use plastic, car tires and raw coal in their stoves as the temperature drops in
winter. The capital of Afghanistan “Kabul” ranks among one of the most polluted capital
cities in the world. About 3,000 people die every year in the capital due to air pollution-
related diseases. Illegal housing in Kabul, where approximately 6 million people live, is also
regarded as one of the reasons for rising air pollution levels. In 2017, about 26,000 people
lost their lives due to air pollution related diseases nationwide, while 3,483 people lost their
lives due to conflict and violence, according to a report published in October by the
Afghanistan Research Center in Kabul [CITATION SayedKhodaberdiSadat2020 \l 1033 ] . However, in
2003, UNEP (UN environment programme) helped to establish Afghanistan’s National
Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), the country’s leading environmental policy-
making and regulatory institution. Since its inception in 2004, and formal recognition under
national legislation in 2007, UNEP has worked to strengthen and grow NEPA by providing
technical assistance and facilitating coordination and consultations among key stakeholders.
This support has helped to ensure environmental considerations are included in key
government and development strategies [ CITATION UNEP2017 \l 1033 ]. These efforts are the
starting point for reduction of pollution in Afghanistan specially capital Kabul but not as
effective as they should be. There are different kinds of problems that NEPA is not able to
control the air pollution in the country. For the last three decades, Afghanistan has endured
the scourge of war. From the Soviet invasion and occupation in 1979, to the Civil War from
1989 to 2001, culminating in the American invasion following the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001, peace, stability, and progress have been elusive for most Afghans. The
current war continues to ravage the majority of the country with a peaceful resolution
unlikely in the near future. The United States and its partners in Afghanistan find themselves
entangled with an increasingly sophisticated Taliban-led insurgency. Both sides compete for
the trust and confidence of the Afghan people, yet the ordinary Afghan and his or her
interests are often lost amidst the fighting and posturing. The coalition is often left fighting an
enemy that is indigenous in most areas of the country, possesses a superior understanding of
local cultural customs and mores, and has ties with the population [CITATION Legena2010 \l
1033 ]. Fortunately, The US and the Taliban have signed an "agreement for bringing peace" to
Afghanistan after more than 18 years of conflict on 29 Feb 2020 [ CITATION Lyse2020 \l 1033 ].
This peace agreement in which the government of Afghanistan is not involved has brought
hope to the Afghan people. Afghanistan is among one of the poorest countries around the

10
globe. The conflicts that have continued for more than three decades is the main reason the
economy has not attained a self-sustaining stage and consequently depending mostly on
foreign aid [ CITATION JavaidMohammadKhalid2014 \l 1033 ] . Poverty and a lack of electricity which
lead to use of low quality coal for heating houses and second-hand cars by residents all over
the city [ CITATION Farid2019 \l 1033 ]. Illegal housing in Kabul, where approximately 6 million
people live, is also regarded as one of the reasons for rising air pollution levels [CITATION
SayedKhodaberdiSadat2020 \l 1033 ]. The use of non-standard fuel, lack of green spaces, unpaved
roads and unplanned settlements are other factors contributing to smoggy and polluted air in
Kabul [ CITATION Farshad2019 \l 1033 ]. At a household level, the use of solid biomass resources –
firewood, charcoal, animal dung, and crop residues – is very high, about 90% of total (Table
2); firewood provides 65% of the domestic fuel. Anecdotal evidence and historical sources
show that rural population is almost totally dependent on biomass fuels for cooking and
heating, while lighting is provided by kerosene. In urban areas, there is a push to use
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to offset fuelwood consumption and its resulting air pollution.
The high altitude and severe winter conditions for much of the population result in a very
high per capita consumption of fuelwood and charcoal, which increases to more than 10 t/yr
for households in some circumstances [ CITATION Ane11 \l 1033 ] . Exposure to smoke inside the
home, either from cooking with solid fuels or from smoking tobacco, has potentially harmful
health effects. Sixty-seven percent of households in Afghanistan use some type of solid fuel
for cooking. The majority of households in urban areas use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or
natural gas (83%), but in rural areas most households use solid fuel (84%) such as wood,
animal dung, or straw/shrubs/grass (Table 2.3). Exposure to cooking smoke is greater when
cooking takes place inside the house rather than in a separate building or outdoors. In
Afghanistan, cooking is done inside the home in more than half (55%) of households.
Additionally, in 19% of households someone smokes inside the house daily [CITATION Cen15 \l
1033 ]. Smoke from burning these polluting fuels inside homes has profound negative impact
on respiratory health. The respiratory illness from such
exposures would not only raise morbidity but also
reduce productivity and life expectancy. Household air
pollution from solid fuels is the leading risk factor for
the disease burden in South Asia and the fourth largest
risk factor for the global burden of disease. Worldwide,
around 2.854 million people each year die prematurely from illness attributable to household
air pollution from solid fuels according to the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD)

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[ CITATION Moh18 \l 1033 ] . Thus, attaining clean indoor air is an important public health
goal[ CITATION Ell15 \l 1033 ]. For improving indoor air quality, there are three basic strategies to
improve indoor air quality;

1. Source Control: Usually the most effective way to improve indoor air quality is to
eliminate individual sources of pollution or to reduce their emissions. Some sources, like
those that contain asbestos, can be sealed or enclosed; others, like gas stoves, can be adjusted
to decrease the amount of emissions. In many cases, source control is also a more cost-
efficient approach to protecting indoor air quality than increasing ventilation because
increasing ventilation can increase energy costs[CITATION EPA \l 1033 ].

2. Improved Ventilation: Another approach to lowering the concentrations of indoor air

pollutants in your home is to increase the amount of outdoor air coming indoors. Most home
eating and cooling systems, including forced air heating systems, do not mechanically bring
fresh air into the house. Opening windows and doors, operating window or attic fans, when
the weather permits, or running a window air conditioner with the vent control open increases
the outdoor ventilation rate. Local bathroom or kitchen fans that exhaust outdoors remove
contaminants directly from the room where the fan is located and also increase the outdoor
air ventilation rate. It is particularly important to take as many of these steps as possible while
you are involved in short-term activities that can generate high levels of pollutants — for
example, painting, paint stripping, heating with kerosene heaters, cooking, or engaging in
maintenance and hobby activities such as welding, soldering, or sanding. You might also
choose to do some of these activities outdoors, if you can and if weather permits. Advanced
designs of new homes are starting to feature mechanical systems that bring outdoor air into
the home. Some of these designs include energy-efficient heat recovery ventilators (also
known as air-to-air heat exchangers). Ventilation and shading can help control indoor
temperatures. Ventilation also helps remove or dilute indoor airborne pollutants coming from
indoor sources. This reduces the level of contaminants and improves indoor air quality (IAQ).
Carefully evaluate using ventilation to reduce indoor air pollutants where there may be
outdoor sources of pollutants, such as smoke or refuse, nearby. The introduction of outdoor
air is one important factor in promoting good air quality. Air may enter a home in several
different ways, including:

 Through natural ventilation, such as through windows and doors.

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  Through mechanical means, such as through outdoor air intakes associated with the
heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

 Through infiltration, a process by which outdoor air flows into the house through
openings, joints and cracks in walls, floors and ceilings, and around windows and
doors.

Natural ventilation describes air movement through open windows and doors. If used
properly natural ventilation can at times help moderate the indoor air temperature, which may
become too hot in homes without air-conditioning systems or when power outages or
brownouts limit or make the use of air conditioning impossible. Natural ventilation can also
improve indoor air quality by reducing pollutants that are indoors. Examples of natural
ventilation are:

 opening windows and doors

 window shading such as closing the blinds

Most residential forced air-heating systems and air-conditioning systems do not bring outdoor
air into the house mechanically, and infiltration and natural ventilation are relied upon to
bring outdoor air into the home. Advanced designs for new homes are starting to add a
mechanical feature that brings outdoor air into the home through the HVAC system. Some of
these designs include energy efficient heat recovery ventilators to mitigate the cost of cooling
and heating this air during the summer and winter[CITATION EPA \l 1033 ].

3. Air cleaners: There are many types and sizes of air cleaners on the market, ranging from
relatively inexpensive table-top models to sophisticated and expensive whole-house systems.
Some air cleaners are highly effective at particle removal, while others, including most table-
top models, are much less so. Air cleaners are generally not designed to remove gaseous
pollutants. The effectiveness of an air cleaner depends on how well it collects pollutants from
indoor air (expressed as a percentage efficiency rate) and how much air it draws through the
cleaning or filtering element (expressed in cubic feet per minute). A very efficient collector
with a low air-circulation rate will not be effective, nor will a cleaner with a high air-
circulation rate but a less efficient collector. The long-term performance of any air cleaner
depends on maintaining it according to the manufacturer's directions.

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Another important factor in determining the effectiveness of an air cleaner is the strength of
the pollutant source. Table-top air cleaners, in particular, may not remove satisfactory
amounts of pollutants from strong nearby sources. People with a sensitivity to particular
sources may find that air cleaners are helpful only in conjunction with concerted efforts to
remove the source.

Over the past few years, there has been some publicity suggesting that houseplants have been
shown to reduce levels of some chemicals in laboratory experiments. There is currently no
evidence, however, that a reasonable number of houseplants remove significant quantities of
pollutants in homes and offices. Indoor houseplants should not be over-watered because
overly damp soil may promote the growth of microorganisms which can affect allergic
individuals. At present, EPA does not recommend using air cleaners to reduce levels of radon
and its decay products. The effectiveness of these devices is uncertain because they only
partially remove the radon decay products and do not diminish the amount of radon entering
the home. EPA plans to do additional research on whether air cleaners are, or could become,
a reliable means of reducing the health risk from radon[CITATION EPA \l 1033 ].

As I discuss before, because of the two decade war in Afghanistan, there are water and
electricity crisis in Afghanistan. People who have 24hour available water and electricity, they
should save and use efficiently of these sources to get them. Here, the question is how they
can do so.
Water crisis is another challenge in Afghanistan. Water used to be available 24 hours
every day, but Most of the population doesn’t have 24 hour available water.

Unfortunately, there are not any kind of rules for green buildings implementation in
Afghanistan.

In the time of enjoying the comfortable life which has brought by the rapid development of
the economy, today society has gradually realized that this types of luxury and comfort are
based on the prevailing ecological environment, the shortage of natural resources and the
instability of climate, making people the demand for harmonious nature is constantly
increasing. A huge quantity of land resources have occupied by the construction industry and

14
also consume a large amount of water resources, and has a great negative impact on the city's
air quality and urban micro-environment which has direct affect the indoor environment of
the buildings. In these past tow decades, due to the urbanization process in Afghanistan, a
large number of new houses have been built in urban and rural areas across the country. The
annual scale of new buildings exceeds very fast because of the necessity of the people who
live here since long time ago and the people who are return back from the neighbour
countries Pakistan and Iran after the war finished. Due to unreasonable construction land
planning and architectural design, waste is serious. At this time, energy consumption per unit
building is much higher than that of the standard [ CITATION JaingeXu2018 \l 1033 ]. At present,
the construction industry is one of the fastest as it was before in 2001. growing industry in
terms of energy consumption and environmental pollution in the national economy. China's
construction steel consumption accounts for 50% of the world's total output, and building
energy consumption accounts for 30% of the total national energy consumption (Institute of
Climate Change and Low Carbon Economy, Renmin University of China, 2010). Based on
the contradictions and environmental constraints of the above-mentioned supply and demand,
the concept of green building has been proposed in the continuous improvement and
innovation efforts. The concept guided the building under construction throughout their
entire life cycle (Song, 2013). In response to China’s increasingly severe resources scarcity
and environmental issues, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the
Communist Party in 2005 clearly stated that it is necessary to build a resource-conserving,
environment-friendly society and consider it a national economic and social development
plan (Song, 2013).

At present, China is in an important period of rapid urbanization. This is a rare

opportunity to further promote building energy efficiency and accelerate the development of
GB. China's urban and rural construction methods are still lagging behind. China has a large
population and more than half of its population lives in rural areas. Many rural houses
occupy cultivated land and woodland, and even built places that are not suitable for living.
The houses have not been planned and designed, and they are all built by the farmers
themselves (Yanyan, 2017). The energy consumption of buildings during construction and
use is extremely high, and the resource utilization rate is extremely low (Cong, 2015).
Building energy consumption accounts for more than 27% of all energy consumption, and is
increasing at a rate of 1% per year. The annual total discharge of construction waste is about
1.55 billion tons to 240 million tons, accounting for about 40% of urban waste, less than 1%

15
of resource utilization, far lower than 90% of Germany and Japan, 80% of the United
Kingdom and 70% of the United States (Cong, 2015). Therefore, vigorously developing GB
and guiding the construction and development of urban and rural areas with the concepts of
green, ecological, and low-carbon cannot only efficiently use resources, but also have a
minimal impact on the environment. At the same time, they can also improve people’s
quality of life and living conditions, and widely establish conservation and environmental
protection concepts.In addition, it can also fully bring about innovations in building
technologies such as land saving, water saving, material saving, energy saving and
environmental protection, promote the transformation of building production methods, and
promote the optimization and upgrading of the construction industry, thereby stimulating
new energy applications, energy conservation and environmental protection (Yan, 2006).

Meaningful and significant changes are needed to reduce the environmental impacts
during a building's life cycle and to give residents an adequate living environment (Cole,
1998). Therefore, many countries and organizations have developed building environmental
assessment systems, such as the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment
Management (BREEAM) in the UK in 1990, the Leadership Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) of the U.S. in 1993, and the Comprehensive Assessment System for Built
Environment Efficiency (CASBEE) of Japan in 2001. The purpose of these systems is to
assess building performance according to environmental issues.

At the same time, with the development of the society, people's demand for
architecture is also constantly developing usability and function to improve the quality of
their experience. Many researchers have studied factors related to residential satisfaction.
They have concluded that physical, social and management aspects of the living environment
are related to their satisfaction (Joo, 2013). Although people are more concerned about their
quality of life as well as the physical conditions of architecture, there is limited knowledge
about how the systems influence residents. People are not familiar with the systems and they
even don’t understand the specific items of system because of the complex terms. Therefore,
there is an invisible gap between residents and professionals. When the professionals develop
evaluation systems, they just follow their experience and ignore residents’ suggestions.

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Background and Context
Lead the reader into the topic and scope of your research.
Afghanistan as ‘the Switzerland of Asia’ [The French diplomat Rene´ Dollot
1937] https://www.icrc.org/fr/doc/assets/files/review/2010/irrc-880-maley.pdf

1.5. Problem Statement

Buildings exist to protect people from the elements and to otherwise support human activity.
Buildings should not make people sick, cause them discomfort, or otherwise inhibit their
ability to perform. How effectively a building functions to support its occupants and how
efficiently the building operates to keep costs manageable is a measure of the building's
performance.

The growing proliferation of chemical pollutants in consumer and commercial products, the
tendency toward tighter building envelopes and reduced ventilation to save energy, and
pressures to defer maintenance and other building services to reduce costs have fostered
indoor air quality problems in many buildings. Occupant complaints of odors, stale and stuffy
air and symptoms of illness or discomfort breed undesirable conflicts between occupants or
tenants and building managers. Lawsuits sometimes follow.

If indoor air quality is not well managed on a daily basis, remediation of ensuing problems
and/or resolution in court can be extremely costly. So it helps to understand the causes and
consequences of indoor air quality and to manage your building to avoid these problems.
[CITATION Age17 \l 1033 ]

Green Building Progress

With the green buildings movement, construction industries had a little bit problem until
twenty first century and the concept of the green building was not completely accepted. At
the early time of twenty first century, green building had a big influence on buildings design,
construction, operation, and others part of the building development industry like real estate,
sales markets and so on. For that reason, having detail knowledge is a prominent necessity for
any organization who preparing design and construction services. As the information about
the benefits of green buildings increasing in the society, the number of registered commercial
buildings for a LEED buildings assessment increasing parallel. In 2006, the number of LEED
certified buildings was about 6,000 which were registered for LEED. This number had grown
up over than 69,000 in 2015 which registered for LEED certification and 27,000 had already
been certified [ CITATION Cha16 \l 1033 ]. Solely for commercial buildings, the area of LEED
certified buildings was about 3.6 billion square feet in 2015 which shows enormous
development since 1999 when was a few square feet at that time [ CITATION Cha16 \l 1033 ] .

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Many governmental and private organizations, universities, federal and state governments,
several cities and construction holders have accepted and declared green or sustainable
materials and methods as their standard for procurement.

Obstacles

As we discuss before, a huge development got by LEED and the United State green
building movement. Despite these enormous success, there are many challenges that this
movement cannot go faster as it should. The traditional method of construction is one of
serious challenges during implementing sustainability principles in the construction industry.
This is clear that the proponents of green buildings are ample for implementation of the
concept while the conventional design and procurement process changing will be not easy
task with a large scale. Despite this additional impediments also might be put on. Like for the
control of storm water system, the jurisdictions do not permit yet for elimination of storm
water infrastructure to use natural systems [ CITATION Cha16 \l 1033 ]. Other barriers may include
technical, financial, and market barriers such as inappropriate valuing structures.
Governmental barriers, political barriers and regulatory barriers also social, and
environmental barriers. Some of these obstacles related to a specific area or country while
others are related to special technology [ CITATION Sun15 \l 1033 ]. According to “Alsharif” the
biggest challenge is planning and design of green buildings and the lack of thereof. Proper design
will take a long time to come to the green building industry with standard and accurate
formulation. To tackle this problem, it is relate to all green buildings industries owners to come
together and find an appropriate solution. Lack of knowledge among the costumers is another
issue which seriously impact green buildings development in countries [ CITATION Ras181 \l 1033 ].
As people need light at night, this necessity for the light at night cannot be removed by the
daylight system. Additionally, the devices, sensors and also the special glazing windows,
light shelves, skylights and others which should be used to increase the efficiency of the
building increase the cost of the project. Technically the complexity of the lighting system
and water system which need a high type technology is also one of the slow development
reason of green buildings [ CITATION Cha16 \l 1033 ] . As the concept of green building is new,
many constructors are not familiar with, that is the reason that there few developer in the
market. Naturally accepting of new idea among society is also one of the major problem not
just in this case but also in others cases. Human nature likes those things which have been
experienced already by them. The cost of green building materials is more than the materials

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replace instead of them. For example, compressed wheatboard also known as ecoboard which
is one of green buildings materials is almost four time costly than playwood it replaces. All
these associated line with green buildings project need additionally budget that the owners of
the project should add to the project cost to get green certification for the building. For
controlling the cost of the project, the first to be engineered –valued is sustainability line item
in the time of construction management [ CITATION Cha16 \l 1033 ].

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