Government Buildings

Green Government Building

Generally, building facilities always burden the environment with load from their planning and construction to operation and scrapping. It is necessary to take steps for reducing the environmental load throughout the whole life cycle of building facilities.
MLIT is pressing forward with the coordination of "Environmentally Friendly Government Building (Green Government Building)" as the government buildings, which will become the models responding to the environmental preservation measures in Japan's architectural field.

Guidelines for the Planning of Environment-Friendly Government Building

Chapter 1: General Provisions
1.1 Purpose
The purpose of these Guidelines is to contribute to the promotion of global environment preservation measures related to the construction and administration of government buildings by articulating the basic issues in the planning and designing of environment-friendly government buildings based on the Standard Concerned with the Location, Scale, and Structure of Government Buildings (Ministry of Construction Notice No. 2379 dated December 15, 1994).

1.2 Definitions
(1) For the purposes of these Guidelines, "environmental load" means any adverse effect on the environment that may interfere with environment preservation generated by the construction or operation of government buildings.
(2) For the purposes of these Guidelines, "environment-friendly government building" (hereinafter referred to as "green government building") means a government building which incorporates efforts to lessen the building's environmental load throughout its life cycle from planning and construction through operation and scrapping in accordance with the basic principles in the Basic Environment Law (Law No. 91 of 1993) and which is a model building for environment preservation measures in the field of architecture and construction in Japan.
(3) For the purposes of these Guidelines, "greenification" means the reduction of the environmental load of government buildings.

Chapter 2: Basic Issues
2.1 General Issues
In the planning and designing of green government buildings, efforts shall be made to reduce as much as possible the building's environmental load by actively and effectively adopting greenification technologies taking into consideration the location, scale, and structure of the facilities.

2.2 Approaches to Greenification
In the planning and designing of green government buildings, measures shall be taken to create an environmental design, to ensure the conservation of energy and resources in the administration of the building, to secure the long life of the building, to use eco-materials, and to perform appropriate utilization and appropriate disposal of waste.

2.3 Assessment of Green Government Buildings
Quantitative and qualitative assessments for all forms of environmental load shall be performed as much as possible on green government buildings, and life-cycle carbon dioxide (LCCO2) emissions shall be used as a key index.

Chapter 3: Greenification Guidelines
3.1 Environmental Design
(1) The placement of the facility in the building plot shall be determined with an eye to reducing the adverse effects on the environment, including minimizing alterations to geographical features.
(2) Efforts shall be made to reduce the heat load and to protect and enhance the local ecosystem and urban environment by such measures as increasing the amount of greenery inside and outside the facilities.
(3) Efforts shall be made to prevent air, water, soil, and other pollution of the environment by such measures as controlling the discharge of toxic substances.

3.2 Energy and Resource Conservation in Building Operation
3.2.1 Control of Environmental Load
(1) Efforts shall be made to reduce the heat load emitted through the building itself, namely, the walls, roof, and floor, by such measures as using construction methods and materials with superior insulating properties.
(2) Efforts shall be made to reduce the heat load emitted through doors, windows, and other openings by such measures as installing eaves and window panes with superior insulating and sunray-shielding properties.
(3) Efforts shall be made to reduce the use of air conditioning and ventilation systems by controlling the emission of heat and pollutants inside the facility.
(4) Efforts shall be made to reduce the loss of energy in utilities systems.

3.2.2 Use of Natural Forms of Energy
(1) Efforts shall be made to reduce the use of electric lights by actively incorporating natural light.
(2) Efforts shall be made to reduce the use of air conditioning by actively incorporating natural ventilation.
(3) Efforts shall be made to use natural forms of energy, including solar power generation, solar-powered water heaters, and cooling with outside air.

3.2.3 Effective Utilization of Energy and Resources
(1) Efforts shall be made to use energy effectively and efficiently.
(2) Efforts shall be made to lower demand peaks.
(3) The amount of electric energy used by building equipment for water circulation, ventilation, and other conveyance shall be minimized through the use of efficient control systems suited to the individual sections in the facility.
(4) The amount of energy used for lighting shall be minimized through the use of high-efficiency lights and lighting systems suited to the individual sections of the facility.
(5) The consumption of water resources shall be reduced by using various types of water-saving systems while at the same time using rainwater and processed wastewater as part of non-drinking water in the facility.
(6) The amount of energy consumed by the facility shall be kept at the minimum necessary by constructing a management system to ensure highly reliable and optimal operation of the facility.

3.3 Efforts to Ensure the Long Life of the Building
(1) Efforts shall be made to facilitate the maintenance and management of the building, including the flexible alteration of the functions conducted in the individual sections of the building, by providing extra floor height and floor area and allowing for extra floor weight.
(2) Efforts shall be made to ensure the long life of the building by using construction materials and methods with superior durability and anti-seismic properties.
(3) Efforts shall be made to use efficient, durable facilities, equipment, and systems that are easy to maintain, manage, and replace.

3.4 Use of Eco-Materials
(1) Efforts shall be made to use natural materials with a low environmental load.
(2) Efforts shall be made to ensure the optimal usage of frames made of lumber from tropical forests in light of the deterioration of such forests.
(3) Efforts shall be made to reuse construction by-products and to use recycled materials.
(4) Efforts shall be made to use module materials and materials that are easy to dismantle so that it is easy to replace individual materials and pieces of equipment.

3.5 Appropriate Utilization and Appropriate Disposal of Waste
(1) Efforts shall be made to reduce the amount of construction by-products and to reuse such by-products.
(2) Efforts shall be made to limit the use of materials and equipment that contain substances with a high environmental load, and to appropriately recover such materials and equipment.
(3) Efforts shall be made to incorporate systems that appropriately dispose of waste that is produced in the operation of the facilities.

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