Latin America. Green buildings in Europe and the United States are becoming more common. In the European Union especially, governments encourage the creation of green homes and buildings that save energy and reduce CO2 emissions into the environment.In Latin America, despite the fact that government entities do not encourage green construction, private organizations are worrying about creating environmentally friendly buildings, according to Julio Londoño, manager of belimo's independent pressure valve department.
In the region, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Chile are the countries that lead this new type of construction and associations that care about them, although their implementation is not as high as it should be and their promulgation is little.
Julio assures that one of the most important factors to declare a green building is to have the LEED certification (Energy and Environmental Design Directives, for its acronym in English), which establishes more demanding and efficient building standards to maintain good indoor air quality, as well as to allow energy savings and efficiency in water consumption, among other factors that allow validating that a project is environmentally friendly.
"Having the LEED certification gives clarity to a building in terms of its mission and the concept of green construction, it is necessary to have this certification to declare it green, any building can obtain this endorsement in the region" adds Julio Londoño.
Latin America has made progress on this issue; There are many professionals accredited in LEED by the USGBC, United States Green Building Council (for its acronym in English), automation costs have fallen and knowledge of the subject has increased in the region, suggesting an increase in green (automated) construction in the medium term. (In the photo: EPM Smart Building, Medellin, Colombia)
