Green Building & Sustainable Construction

CO₂-neutral buildings must be operated with high energy efficiency and therefore require very precise, forward-looking planning. To achieve this, energy must be supplied exclusively from on-site sustainable energy sources or through sustainable procurement. Ultimately, operating a CO₂-neutral building means that the building services systems and electricity supply must be generated entirely from renewable sources. This requirement alone places high and complex demands on the building services systems of special-purpose buildings.

In our projects, we go one step further and develop technologies that make a building CO₂-neutral over its entire lifecycle and also offset the CO₂ emissions generated during the building’s construction. To achieve this, the building’s overall operation must not only be CO₂-neutral; it must generate a negative CO₂ balance, for example through renewable electricity generation. This can only be achieved if the technology within the building produces more energy from on-site sustainable energy sources than the building consumes during operation. It is precisely for these buildings—which are truly CO₂-free over their entire lifecycle—that the LEED and DGNB certification systems are currently being further developed and adapted.

The political goal of reducing CO₂ emissions in Germany to “zero” by 2030 calls for new, innovative approaches. To actually meet this goal, buildings and their building services systems currently being planned and constructed must already meet these requirements today. 

The certification of buildings, including the building services systems installed within them, is becoming increasingly important in the context of sustainable construction and green building. A number of different international and national rating systems exist for this purpose.

Buildings certified under the DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council), BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Assessment Method/UK), LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design/USA), or a comparable national program, not only have lower CO₂ emissions; they also operate more economically and efficiently, provide appropriate comfort for users, and are therefore, for example, more profitable to sell. 

The LEED rating system, for example, requires that planning teams collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner from the preliminary planning phase through to the building’s completion. The categories assessed include Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, Innovation, and Design Process. LEED certification is awarded at the Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels.

The DGNB seal of quality goes beyond the ecological aspects of green building and considers the building’s economic performance as well as sociocultural and functional aspects to be of equal importance. The DGNB system thus covers all relevant areas of sustainable construction and recognizes outstanding projects in the categories of Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

BREEAM is the oldest certification system for sustainable construction and awards a certification in six levels based on a simple points system across ten assessment categories. The criteria take into account, for example, impacts at the global, regional, local, and indoor levels. 

Common to all certification systems is the concept of integrated planning, which defines the goals of sustainable construction for a project at an early stage and consistently implements them through to completion and operation.

Through the successful certification of a building, sustainability thus becomes concretely measurable and comparable. 

Liebert has been a member of the DGNB for many years. Our expertise in sustainable and ecological planning of building services is evident in many successfully certified projects. A whole series of office buildings have been awarded DGNB Gold and LEED Platinum certifications.

Green Building Projects

At Liebert, we want to make a significant contribution to the sustainable design of our future, because we are aware of our responsibility and understand the potential that building services engineering can bring to this effort.

You, too, can underscore the call for greater sustainability through your project. Rely on our expertise, our experience, and our commitment. Together with you, we will develop a customized, comprehensive sustainable solution for “your building of the future.”