City to roll out plans for Green Building Guidelines

By Cindy Witten
30 October 2008

The City of Cape Town is to launch its draft of Green Building Guidelines from 2- 4 November. According to Jacques Du Toit who heads the department of Sustainable Livelihoods and Greening Programmes Environmental Resource Management for the City Of Cape Town, this is the perfect opportunity to impact how much energy we use and to what extent we impact the environment.

“The aim of the Green Building Guidelines is to promote the greening in the construction industry, in all buildings in the City of Cape Town area,” said Du Toit.

According to Du Toit, more than 40% of all energy that we use is used in the construction and management of buildings. That includes the production process for material manufacturing, management as well as the energy consumed during the running of any building. By buying into the idea of Green Building Guidelines, the city will be able to “minimise the negative environmental impacts of the built environment, while maximising positive social and economic impacts”.