Environment minister: Green building snarled in red tape

Gilad Erdan: If the public understood how much advantage will grow from green building, demand for it would be much greater.

"Besides its contribution to people's quality of life, green building is one of the important growth engines for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants. The contribution to quality of life is the icing on the cake, but we must still focus on the bread and butter, and do what we can to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants," said Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan today at a joint conference of the Association of Contractors and Builders in Israel and the Israel Green Building Council.

Erdan added, "Seven million square meters of buildings are built every year in Israel. Therefore, if we don’t understand as a government that our job is to reduce the harmful effects of construction on the environment, and no one has any intention to stop construction, the result will be an intolerable standard of living in Israel. I'm talking about the contamination of soil and water sources, air pollution, and piles of garbage.

"40% of Israelis' energy consumption is consumed by construction. Therefore, the guiding principle is first of all, even before talking about incentives, is to include environmental aspects in building plans at the early stage, both for residential and public buildings.

"Regrettably, there are market failures that are delaying green construction. The biggest economic failure is that the contractor bears the extra cost of green construction, so it doesn’t pay for him. The second failure is the lack of public awareness. If the public understood how much advantage will grow from green building, demand for it would be much greater. The third, and main, barrier is government chaos. There are 12 government agencies dealing with green building, and to get 12 government agencies in Israel to cooperate is a big problem."

"The Office of the Chief Scientist now supports green building projects with zero royalties. This is an important opportunity for green building projects," said Manufacturers Association president Shraga Brosh.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 6, 2010

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018