Brasília – In the year in which the fight against waste climbed to the top of the international environmental agenda, the Brazilian market is fighting for one more step in the global ranking of sustainable business. Today, Brazil is in the fourth place among the countries with most buildings raised following environmentally adequate criteria. The United States brings together the greatest number of enterprises under analysis, followed by China and the United States.
Over 720 Brazilian projects are awaiting international certification, granted by the international non-governmental organisation Green Building Council (GBC), which is responsible for stimulating green construction in the world. At least 99 buildings in the country have the seal. The government and building industry expectation is to reach 900 projects for analysis by the organisation by the end of the year.
In case the country can reach this target, Brazil should occupy the third position in the list of countries with more designed environmental constructions. Civil construction is responsible for the high consumption of natural resources and uses energy in a large scale, according to figures disclosed by the International Construction Council. Over 50% of solid residues generated by human activities are generated by the sector.
"The concept of sustainable construction is maturing and consolidating itself within the civil construction productive chain,” said Wagner Soares, Environment manager at the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais (Fiemg).
To reach this status, engineers and architects must observe a series of pre-requisites and measures, like the reduction of energy consumption and grant a priority to natural lighting and low-consumption bulbs, as well as the use of more economic appliances (recommended by the Procel stamp).
The Federal Government, in turn, develops actions to stimulate environmentally sustainable programmes. The Environment Ministry makes available Internet courses on procedures that may be adopted to make public buildings more adequate to this sustainability system. The Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life) housing project began two years ago, making compulsory the use of solar energy in all new enterprises turned to families with a maximum income of three minimum wages.
*Translated by Mark Ament
