Barriers To Green Building Policy Adoption In The International Construction Industry

Background Information

The aspect of environmental protection and sustainability has become an integral part of every industry. Sustainable development is aimed at meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the right of the future generation to meet their needs with the same resource. According to Cooper, Liu, Kosasih, and Yan (2016), there are three essential aspects of sustainable development. These include the social development, environmental protection, and economic development. However, green building has been considered as the forth component of the environment (Tam et al., 2017). Green building (GB) is the process of adopting structures by the use of processes that consider resource-efficient and environmental responsibility as the primary goal throughout the life-cycle of the building process (Ciora, Maier & Anghel, 2016). It covers the construction and design all through to maintenance, operation, deconstruction, and renovation processes.  In the construction industry, green building is gaining an increased acceptance as a viable solution to achieving the growing demand for a healthy and environmental friendly building. Also known as the high performance or sustainable buildings, green buildings consider the comfort, durability, utility element, and economy of a building.

In the current global construction industry, the concept of green building is being adopted in the global wake of environmental stewardship. With the rise in demand of healthy lifestyles, the concept of green building is taking a stole whether it is the design of an office or a house. However, there is still limited knowledge on sustainable or green building in the global construction industry. According to Tam et al. (2017), the adoption of green housing requires various rating systems for sustainable buildings as they have to meet certain standards to qualify as green building. As a result, there is a need to take into consideration the initiative and concern of green building policy adoptions while planning for the process within the industry.

Cooper et al. (2011) denote that the uptake of GB technology is not as apparent as is expected in the international construction environment. With the growing interest, there still exist many barriers that persists in adopting green building policies. The examination of these barriers is essential is it creates lack of efficiency in the potentiality of the economic and environmental benefits on the green building policies in the construction industry. Just as important is the evaluation of issues affecting the adoption of green building policies to effectively foster the implementation of sustainable building. The main aim of this study is thus to identify common challenges or barriers to effective policy adoption of initiatives in green building. The paper evaluates these aspects from the stakeholder perspectives with the aim of proposing effective recommendations that can be adopted as solutions to the policy challenges identified.

Purpose of the Study

The objective of the research is to examine and evaluate the possible hindrances that need to be considered to achieve a green policy building. The result will then be a framework highlighting the obstacles in adopting the green policies with the aim of helping raise awareness on the importance and benefits of green building and it can promote a healthy lifestyle

Marketing the green building will as well help in the protection of the depleting environment as an aspect that should be adopted by policymakers in planning and development of the global construction industry.  Evaluating the different policies adopted by other countries on green building will as well help in the identification of the primary challenges facing the design and planning of sustainable building

The hypothesis of the research will be that there are no gaps existing between the barriers.  It will help in examining and evaluating the possible hindrances that need to be considered to achieve a green policy building. The result will then be a framework highlighting the obstacles in adopting the green policies with the aim of helping raise awareness on the importance and benefits of green building and it can promote a healthy lifestyle.

In this chapter, the study presents the general idea of the green building and how it is adopted in the global construction industry. It focuses on addressing the background information on aspects of GB and the related issues.

In this section, we will go through the literature relating to understanding green buildings and issues regarding adoption of green building policies. As a whole, the issue of adopting the construction of green buildings comes with a fair share of challenges as they occur in any green management initiative. According to Visscher, Laubscher, and Chan (2016), barriers that affect affecting environmental management systems are information scarcity, inadequate information, inappropriate knowledge, ineffective financial resource management, improper implementation techniques and harsh organizational culture. The paper is thus focused on pointing out the gaps that exist in barriers conjoint in the adoption of green building policies. In detail, this chapter covers the barriers to adoption of green building policies.

For a building to be termed green, then it would be appropriate for the construction project to allow the preservation of the natural environment that surrounds it. Putting up the building will enhance a healthy environment that will not interrupt the land, water, and resources within and outside the building. The green building should be in a position to promote the development of environment, health, and economy.

Objectives

Information is critical to be able to have adequate information or understanding, and it also entails creating acceptance and public awareness of the Australian’s. It is important to note that green building technology is usually sophisticated than the conventional building technology. Therefore, the availability of knowledge is significant in green building arena. McAuley (2018) points out that, the carrying out of green technology research is a matter that is tedious to developers, contractors, and clients. In Australia, some researchers point this challenge to the scarceness of green building information, familiarity, technical expertise, research, and education according to Miller, Spivey, and Florance (2008). With these paucities, it is crucial to point out that these hindrances are correlated and in turn affect implementation of green building policies in Australia.

Without proper research, it is a challenging task to come up with a business idea for a green building that is considerable. With information and reliable research being inadequate, for stakeholders to improve their awareness and understanding they will not be in a position to act in a manner that suggests that they support the matter. Lack of information is the critical barrier for stakeholders to adopt green policies (Nath, 2014). Together with the lack of research, these impact the stakeholders negatively to be able to be aware of the importance of green building technologies in Australia. Even if investors or the government understand green technologies, several populations do not understand green technologies making implementing the programs trying (Hwang, Zhu, Wang, & Cheong, 2017). Improper or lack of understanding may result in the inappropriate definition of green building and this, in turn, hinders green development in Australia. Implementing green building guidelines will be a daunting task because stakeholders will desist from green building adoption reason being, they are not familiar with the green designs, products, materials and related technologies.

Economic or financial concerns are a major hindrance to the adoption of green building policies leave alone other policies worldwide. During construction of green building projects, the cost is one of the critical economic factors. When a general comparison is carried out, it costs more to start and finish green building projects due to its expensive materials compared to the conventional buildings and such factor translates to their policy adoption. Third party costs thwart embracing of green building policies (Visscher, 2016). Such third part costs in Australia include high consultant costs and green building costs. McAuley (2018) denotes that, financial barriers to green building guidelines include inaccurate perceptions that green building has the possibility of inviting high initial investments. Economic issues occur in the form that in Australia, new conventional buildings are increasing at skyrocketing rate, energy prices aren’t low, and the use of resourceful technologies such as green technologies and renewable technologies are not efficiently exhilarated.

Hypothesis

Necessary calculations have been carried out by investors, and the results are that they discover that the costs of green building are high and this makes the buildings have an extended payback period. It, in turn, discourages their participation in the coming up or implementation of green building policies. Green building specialists put an approximation that the cost of green building is 3 to 4% higher than the conventional structures (McAuley, 2018). In China, the high additional costs that are related to green building technologies are considered as one of the primary barriers to their policy implementation. In developed counties such as Canada, the situation is of no difference. In Australia stakeholders are forced to import the green technology from other countries, this raises the costs in most cases and turns to affect policy execution. Policy implementation becomes an uphill task when financial institutions and individuals are not willing to fund green building projects.

According to Love et al., (2012), governments play a vital role in the elevation and relegation of green technologies. The Australian government is in a position of creating rules and systems that favour environment conservation and these results into the Australians obligations to green technologies applications. With this being taken to effect, contrary to the outcome can be realized when green technologies are not given the serious attention they deserve. Such government barriers represent a hindrance to the adoption of green building policies in Australia. Enforcing regulations by the government are critical for the accomplishment of government strategies, and the nonexistence of enforcement bodies can creep up rules related to green buildings like in China (Koski & Lee, 2014). Legal systems with penalties exist in Australia, but sometimes, the weak judicial system makes it challenging to enforce such laws. In a country like China, the management and monitoring systems are vulnerable in green building systems. Australian government push will be significant in accelerating green building development. Thus they should have the capacity to provide incentives (both financial and non-financial), act as a green building supporter, form and regulate standards.

It is important to note that there is a significant role played by stakeholder’s attitude and this cannot be wished away in the green building market. The attitude in this point also entails behaviour and lifestyle. Stakeholder’s such as the government, investors, and clients approach significantly influence the adoption of green technologies (Love et al., 2012). The Australian citizens being the users and the ones with funds put them in the stakeholder’s category in the development of green building policies. Hence they are in the in the top level of decision making. If the Australian citizens have less or no interest in matters green technologies, then it is not practicable for other project teams to adopt green building policies. The clients form an integral part of the green building policy implementation, and if they show eagerness, then there is a source of stimulus for other players in the policy adoption.

Literature Review

Koski and Lee (2014). Note that stakeholder’s attitude being negative affect green building market and when they are resilient to change from using the conventional building technologies and practices then it negatively affects policy adoption. Due to the lack of information concerning green technologies and the stakeholder’s unchangeable traditional ideas, many Australians become uncertain of the quality and performance of the green buildings. The suspicion impedes espousal of the green building policies.

Australia faces numerous challenges in green building policy adoption. Economic or financial barrier being a vital issue, then there are high chances that lack of incentives will also cripple the policy execution. This makes it demoralizing for those who participate in green technology to contribute to the policymaking. Green designs are not approved quickly in several countries due to inappropriate knowledge to its benefits, and this discourages the stakeholders to participate in green technology policy enactment (Joachim et al., 2017). Many Australians who occupy the green buildings raise concerns about the green buildings. Different issues come into play with topics ranging from querying how comfortable the buildings are and if they are worthy of the cash they pay. The occupant’s problems are influenced by the same barriers of green building technologies discussed in this literature review. The green building occupants raise numerous concerns making it uncomfortable for stakeholders to engage in the green building policy implementation.

There have been severe barriers to green building technology development in Australia. The restrictions make it challenging for green technology defenders to be available. Nath (2014) asserts that in many countries it’s difficult to find green technology development defenders since the citizens in most cases usually are resistant to change from the conventional to green buildings. The resistance to change and inefficient knowledge causes lack of green building champions who can be part of the stakeholders to drive implementation of the policies.

Australia faces the task of developing its economy and protecting its ecological environment is on top of its priorities. Green buildings have the capabilities to diminish the negative impact of constructing buildings on the natural environment. The adoption of green building policies is affected by many barriers. Australia faces numerous obstacles to adoption of green building policies. This literature review aimed at analysing the problems in adoption of green building policies in Australia. With the comparison of different experts and journals, most of the barriers explained in this review are found to be critical. The barriers that are most critical include non-existence of knowledge, financial issues, government barriers, attitude, and market.

Nonexistence of knowledge and awareness

This section will evaluate the methodological design that will be adopted by the study. It presents the hypothesis and research questions that will guide the research towards finding objectives related to the research. It also focuses on the instrumentation as well as related factors that directly or indirectly affect the study process.

3.1. Hypotheses

The research examines the following hypotheses:

1. The role of economic costs and market prices on the adoption of GB technology
2. Unwillingness to change and lack of interest in new techniques is the reason for slow adaptation of the GB technology
3. Inadequate government incentives to promote GB technology is the main reason for its slow prevalence in the country
4. There are no sufficient GB data base information

The following table summarises the nature of hypotheses and research questions that will be addressed during the research as:

Chan et al (2017) observe that a viable research must be supported by reliable and accurate data. Considering the broad aspect of the topic, both qualitative and quantitative data will be used during the study. The main instruments will be the adoption of interviews and research surveys in the sample population. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected to provide the opportunity for varied comparisons of the data.

The questionnaire survey will focus on addressing issues of knowledge awareness, time, and cost in adopting greenhouse-building (GB) technologies. These factors have received considerably more attention in the previous research studies. Nix and Hall (2016) attest that focusing on long-familiar issues in study enhances a desirable feedback because respondents are cognizant of the underlying factors. Bearing that the factors are applicable to respondents, examining them will be very significant since they aid in understanding issues discommoding adoption of GB technologies.

Prior to designing questionnaire and carrying out interviews, a pilot study will be conducted to ascertain the feasibility of the study. The pilot study will rely on the professor’s advice. The feedback obtained from the pilot study will be used as a blueprint to conduct interviews. The questionnaires will disseminated to selected GB gurus. Research publications will used to identify the experts. Chan,  Darko,  Ameyaw,  and Owusu-Manu (2017) define expert as someone who holds an office an office in professional arena, or someone who have an especial knowledge and skills manifested in their line of profession or organization. An expert can also be someone known for publishing recognized journals. The criterion for identifying experts will be tied to their broad knowledge on the fundamentals of GB technologies as well as their experiences in in the GB construction.

  An email of  Microsoft Word file will be attached to the research questions to facilitate online feedback. The aim is to make a special request to potential respondents to forward the questionnaire to their colleagues who have basic knowledge on GB technology or any suitable expert within their reach. To encourage feedback, the respondents were will be assured that they will have copy of outcomes of the study. Due to financial constraint and time factor, only 60 questionnaires will distributed. The questionnaires will also printed in English only.

Economic Issues

Out of 60, the responses will be collected from GB experts, 10 from online surveys, and 5 via email. In this context, the survey will consider responses from GB experts to be the most reliable and accurate. Nix and Hall (2016) asserts that survey respondent is the best playbook to assure anonymity and confidentiality of respondents. As such, the survey will not gather any information that reveals respondent’s identity, in terms of names, postal address, or email address. The survey will critically analyse experts’ opinions with utmost confidentiality by ensuring that none of the identity information leaks.

Insofar as the adequacy of the sample size is concerned, bearing the underlying constraints in obtaining a larger sample, the study targets at least 20 responses from GB experts. Ideally, the question of validity and adequacy is subjective. However, Shea et al (2013) argue that the validity of the survey vests on the meaningfulness and the appropriateness of the researcher’s inferences based on data collected.

A telephone conversation interview will also be conducted, 40 calls will be made in a span of 10 days. Telephone interview is convenient since it is less costly and will save time compared to face-to-face interview. Due to high cost of telephone calls, 40 calls will be efficient. Live-scribe smart pens will be used to record the interview (Olsen & Sage, 2012). The recorded audio files will be transcribed then deleted. The will interview conducted on basis of respondent’s willingness to give feedback. During the process, generally accepted interview procedures will adhere to. The practices include making respondents feel comfortable, listening carefully, avoiding personal questions, avoiding leading questions, following the respondent’s train of thought, and extracting insights. After ending the interview, the interviewees will given time to add any information that they thought would have helped with research.

During the interview, out of 40 calls made, the study will target at least 30 to be successful. Most importantly, the respondents will be guaranteed confidentiality and anonymity of their feedback. Mallinson et al. (2017) identifies seven common interview errors and stipulates suitable methods of mitigating them.

According to Nix and Hall (2016), ethical consideration means that respondents should not suffer physical pain, loss of privacy, discomfort, or embarrassment. Ethical consideration also stipulates that dignity of the research respondents should be upheld. Ethical consideration also underscores importance of assuring confidentiality and anonymity of the respondents (Chan, Darko, Ameyaw, and Owusu-Manu, 2017). Besides, any deception or misleading information regarding research objectives should be avoided. Based on these criteria, adequate measures will be taken to ensure that respondents do not suffer in any way by participating in this research. The identities of the respondents will be adequately secured. Throughout the survey and interview, high level of objectivity will be observed. The language used will also be non-discriminatory.

Whereas deliberate steps will be taken underscore the validity of the research, some limitations may be inevitable. For instance, the study is limited to a sample of population. Due to time and cost, the questionnaire will rely on small sample of those who were issued with survey questions.  

Conclusion

This chapter has discussed the research data collection methods that will be adopted during the study. The chapter has illustrated how interview and survey instruments will be employed to collect relevant data with the aim of addressing research questions. The chapter has also examined the design of the interviews and the questionnaire in accordance with the feedback and methods of analysis.

References

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Chan, A. P., Darko, A., Ameyaw, E. E., & Owusu-Manu, D. (2017). Barriers Affecting the Adoption of Green Building Technologies. Journal of Management in Engineering, 33(3), 04016057. doi:10.1061/(asce)me.1943-5479.0000507.

Tam, V. W., Khoa, N., Cuong, N., Tran, X. W. & Wang, J. (2017). A Review of International Green Building Designs. International Journal of Construction Project Management. 9 (1), 144-189.

Ciora, C., Maier, G. & Anghel, I. (2016). Is the higher value of green buildings reflected in current valuation practices? Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 58-71.

Cooper, P., Liu, X., Kosasih, P. & Yan, R. (2011). Modelling net zero energy options for a sustainable building research centre. 12th Conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association, Building Simulation 2011 Conference (pp. 2799-2806).

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Joachim, O. I., Kamarudin, N., Aliagha, G. U., Hakim Mohammed, M. A., & Ali, H. M. (2017). Green and Sustainable Commercial Property Supply in Malaysia And Nigeria. Geographical Review, 107(3), 496-515. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=123488842&site=ehost-live

Koski, C., & Lee, T. (2014). Policy by Doing: Formulation and Adoption of Policy through Government Leadership. Policy Studies Journal, 42(1), 30-54. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=95005667&site=ehost-live

Love, P. D., Niedzweicki, M., Bullen, P. A., & Edwards, D. J. (2012). Achieving the Green Building Council of Australia’s World Leadership Rating in an Office Building in Perth. Journal of Construction Engineering & Management, 138(5), 652-660. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000461

Mallinson, C., Childs, B., & Van, H. G. (2017). Data Collection in Sociolinguistics: Methods and Applications, Second Edition. Milton: Taylor and Francis.

McAuley, T. (2008). Understanding Green Building Cost and Value. AACE International Transactions, 1-43. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=33720007&site=ehost-live

Miller, N., Spivey, J., & Florance, A. (2008). Does Green Pay Off? Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, 14(4), 385-399.  Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=35980207&site=ehost-live

Nath, V., Kumar, R., Agrawal, R., Gautam, A., & Sharma, V. (2014). Impediments to Adoption of Green Products: An ISM Analysis. Journal of Promotion Management, 20(5), 501-520. doi:10.1080/10496491.2014.946200 https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=99282952&site=ehost-live

Nix, I., & Hall, M. (2016). Collecting Questionnaire and Interview Data: Evaluating Approaches to Developing Digital Literacy Skills. doi:10.4135/978144627305015595384

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Visscher, H., Laubscher, J., & Chan, E. (2016). Building governance and climate change: roles for regulation and related polices. Building Research & Information, 44(5/6), 461-467. doi:10.1080/09613218.2016.1182786

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