Investigating and evaluating the application of green building principles in the Iraqi construction legislation

Abstract

The environment is considered a basic element of life. It affects the living system of all organisms directly and indirectly. The proliferation of energy problems and environmental degradation supports the urgent need to implement green building principles. The study aims at investigating and evaluating the application of green building principles in the Iraqi construction legislation through conducting a comparative analysis of Iraqi environment and construction legislation with green building principles. In addition, it aims at developing a questionnaire designed to study the extent of Iraqi engineers' understanding of green building principles in the Iraqi legislation, and how these principles are employed in the legislation from engineers' perspective. Based on the analysis results, the principles of indoor environmental quality followed by materials and resources and water efficiency were partially applied; whereas the other four principles were not applied. From engineers' perspective, the results indicated the failure to apply all principles of green building. The results of the study have identified the deficiency found in the legislation and developed a set of recommendations and solutions that contribute to the application of green building principles, the most important of which include the inclusion of green building principles in the syllabus of engineering colleges.