ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly buildings that minimise damage to the planet are sweeping the developed world as home-builders and developers seek to limit their carbon footprint.

To do this every aspect of the house in question is scrutinised – including the building materials, design and even the waste disposal – to reduce as much as possible the impact on the environment.

But this trend has so far to make any discernable impact in Myanmar, although there are a number of people within the industry already putting their minds to work on it.

“When you are constructing a green building, the client, architects, engineers and suppliers need to discuss at every stage what materials and techniques have the least environmental impact,” says U Kyaw Htun, managing director of Kyaw Htun and Associates Design Studio.

He says one key factor is stopping the development of such buildings in Myanmar: “We don’t have any green buildings here because the initial costs are too high.

Daw Chaw Klyar, an architect with Design 2000 Co, says building green is complicated.

“There are more steps in the design process when we build a green building. We have to know the energy consumed to make every material used in the building and use those with the lowest energy cost,” she says.

U Kyaw Htun gives an example of how this would actually work: “Suppose we are going to construct a green building in Yangon and can choose wood from Bago, Pyinmana or Myitkyina; we would probably choose the wood from Bago because it is the closest and would require the least energy to transport,” says U Kyaw Htun.
“Moreover that wood needs to come from a sustainable forest, which means that every tree cut down is replaced with a new seedling. A forest like this must be certified by a third party, not be the Ministry of Forests,” he explains.

Other building materials like paints, plastics and varnishes can also significantly harm the environment if improperly used or disposed, says Daw Chaw Klyar.

Energy efficiency is another characteristic of green buildings and efforts must be made to use natural lighting and ventilation as much as possible to reduce energy consumption.

Another key consideration is waste water.

“Domestic waste water can pollute our rivers and underground water and can also spread infectious diseases if it is not treated properly and is just pumped into the rivers,” U Kyaw Htun says.

Green houses treat water that goes down the drains from showers, baths and hand-basins and recycles it through the toilets and garden watering systems.