Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology’s Building (estimated to have eight floors and two basements) has been approved by City People's Committee to be built in accordance with the green building model of Lotus standards to become a model for the city.

Accordingly, the advantages of the construction of buildings according to the Lotus standard remain the application of advanced technology solutions to minimize the operation costs of businesses. Averagely, green buildings can reduce 30% of energy consumption, 35% of carbon emissions, 30-50% of water consumption and 50% - 90% of the cost for waste treatment.

However, that too many buildings are built in the urban areas will make it difficult to ensure the ecological and energy factors. The architects at a workshop of energy saving architectures and designs in buildings, which has just been held in HCM City, said that it is a challenge that HCM city must resolve in the near future. The biggest difficulty is the real estate businesses and clients have not been “familiar" with green buildings. From the business point of view, investors only focus on the immediate profit, while customers, due to their insufficient financial capacity, may not be interested in environment-friendly elements.

By Duc Minh