Construction industry is very important to the global urbanization. At the same time, the construction industry

itself has tremendous impact on the environment especially during the construction and operation stage.All economic sectors, including construction industry, currently face an inescapable challenge posed by the term of sustainable development.The construction industry also lags behind compared to other sectors in its response to the term of sustainable development. The construction activities can contribute in putting sustainable development into practice by enhancing and protecting the natural environment, minimising its impact on the consumption of energy and natural resources especially during the construction stage. The construction industry faces its most serious challenge over the next two to three decades in finding appropriate solutions to overcome many issues regarding the term of sustainable development.Nowadays, green technologies play a very important role to promotes a societal move toward sustainability.Green technologies are practical solutions to achieve economic development and human satisfaction in harmony with the environment.For the construction industry,

the use of green technologies are also a crucial issues towards achieving sustainable construction.In Malaysia,

Construction Industry Development Board has initialised the Green Technology programme since 1999 as an environmental development programme initiative with the establishment of Technical Committee of Good Environmental Practices. However, after more than 10 years, the level of application of these kind of technologies are still at the infancy level.This paper attempt to identify the current level of green technologies among the Malaysian construction

practitioners which include the contractors, consultants and clients

Mohamed Udin, Zulkifli

Osman, Wan Nadzri

Salleh, Dani

UUM Repository

GREEN TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR APPLICATION IN MALAYSIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY Wan Nadzri Osman I, Assoc. Prof. Dr Zulkifli Mohamed Udin I ,  2 Assoc. Prof. Dr Dani Salleh 1 School of Technology Management and Logistics, UUM College of  Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia 2 School of Government, UUM College of Law, Government and International Study, Universiti Utara Malaysia Abstract Construction industry is very important to the global urbanization. At the same time, the construction industry itself has tremendous impact on the environment especially during the construction and operation stage. All economic sectors, including construction industry, currently face an inescapable challenge posed by the term of sustainable development. The construction industry also lags behind compared to other sectors in its response to the term of sustainable development. The construction activities can contribute in putting sustainable development into practice by enhancing and protecting the natural environment, minimising its impact on the consumption of energy and natural resources especially during the construction stage. The construction industry faces its most serious challenge over the next two to three decades in finding appropriate solutions to overcome many issues regarding the term of sustainable development. Nowadays, green technologies play a very important role to promotes a societal move toward sustainability. Green technologies are practical solutions to achieve economic development and human satisfaction in harmony with the environment. For the construction industry, the use of green technologies are also a crucial issues towards achieving sustainable construction. In Malaysia, Construction Industry Development Board has initialised the Green Technology programme since 1999 as an environmental development programme initiative with the establishment of Technical Committee of Good Environmental Practices. However, after more than 10 years, the level of application of these kind of technologies are still at the infancy level. This paper attempt to identify the current level of green technologies among the Malaysian construction practitioners which include the contractors, consultants and clients. Keywords : Construction industry, Green Technologies, Sustainable Construction 1.0 Impact of Construction Industry Construction activities are considered as a major contributor to environmental pollution (Augenbroe and Ashworth, 1998). Construction industry consumes huge portions of  raw materials (Ding, 2005). The impact of construction sector is produces undesirable remnants which includes depletion of non- renewable resources, estruction of  landscapes and creation o f  health and safety problem both relating directly & indirectly to the people involved with the construction industry (Azapagic, 2004). The environmental costs resulting from the construction process is substantial (Ofori, 1992). Much energy is used in the production of materials such as cement, steel,wood, transportation of materials and components to sites, operating of plant and machineries on site. The construction process results in waste, which in turn results in, inter alia, the waste of land resources and the contamination of natural resources and ecologies. The construction industry accounts for nearly 40 percent of the material flow compared to other sector (Roodman and Lenssen, 1995) and in developing countries, it consumes about 50 percent of the total energy consumption (Levin, 1997). The construction industry also has been estimated to account for 30 to 40 percent of the total energy consumed in many countries (Macozoma, 200 1 ). The construction sector has a negative image mainly as a result of the industry's failure to change the attitudes, processes, technologies and cultures. As mentioned above, these problems has led to the issues of natural resource depletion, accumulation of waste and environmental degradation (Watuka, 2002). To increase the consideration to Sustainable Construction (SC), the construction stakeholders especially the clients, consultants and contractors must be willing to change their attitudes and culture in exploring new territory and willing to adopt new ideas and practices (Ofori et.al 2000). Regarding to these issues, construction sector becomes priority in todays development programmes which aimed at improving the quality of life and contributing towards the formation of a caring society. 2.0 Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP 2006-2015) The recently launched Construction Industry Master Plan 2006-201 5 (CIMP) has identified the future challenges on environmental practice and new construction method as mentioned in Strategic Thrust 3 (Strive for the highest of quality, occupational safety and health and environmental practices and Strategic Thrust) and Strategic Thrust 5 (Innovate through R&D to adopt a new construction method). According to CIDB (2007a), the demand on environmental sustainability is necessary to achieve and sustain economic growth and social development. A systematic effort is required to avoid undesirable environmental impacts and enhance ecosystem management. To cope with these challenges, Malaysian construction industry has been urged to use Green Technologies and to shift from conventional practice to greener practices. 3.0 Green Technologies In Malaysian Construction Industry Technology plays a very important role in sustainable development because it is one of the most significant ways in which we interact with our environment. Technologies is use to extract natural resources, to modify them for human purposes, and to adapt our man-made living space. However, many of these short term technologies improvements in the immediate quality of life have also exacted a great toll on the environment. According to Vanegas, (1 996), Green Technologies (GT) is needed in order to proceed toward sustainability. GT are the application of the environmental science to conserve the natural environment and resources, and to curb the negative impacts of human involvement. According to Goodland, (1992), GT cause minimal negative environmental impacts and maximizing positive impacts is an important objective of sustainability since the environment consists of ecosystems whose ongoing health is essential for human survival on earth. To qualify as GT, these solutions must have the following which include minimize use of nonrenewable energy and natural resources, satisfying human needs and aspirations with sensitivity to cultural context and Minimazation of negative impact on the earth's ecosystems Regarding to limited application of GT in the construction industry, Malaysia currently rank in 26th position in the world's green leaders sharing the position with Denmark whereby Switzerland and Sweden are the world's green leaders (Newsweek, July, 2008). This indicates that Malaysia is away behind in term of the environment concern. Many of environmental issues that occur in Malaysia are due to lack of environmental considerations in the exploitation, development and management of resources as well as lack of control of pollution resources. For malaysian construction industry, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has initialised the GT programme since 1999 as an environmental development programme initiative with the establishment of Technical Committee of Good Environmental Practices which is also known as TC9. The committee aided in determining the core direction and various proposals in order to strengthen environmental practice in construction industry; to date, the committee had successfully produced several guideline publication's on good environmental practices. The committee is divided into six Working Group (See table 1.1). Table 1.1 : Technical Committee of Good Environmental Practices Working Group Working Group 1 1 Working G r o u ~  3 1 Guidelines for Soil Erosion Management I Tasks Published Strategic Recommendations for lmproving Environmental Practices Working Group 2 - " 1 Working Group 4 1 Guidelines on Good Environmental Practices in Construction in Construction Industry Guideline for Storm Water Management --A In the year 2010, as a continuation from the committee, ClDB has established a Technical Committee of Best Green Technology Practices in Construction Industry, which consists of various governments, professionals, academic bodies and associations related with the construction industry. GT is the development and application of products, equipment and system used to conserve the natural environment and resources which minimizes and reduces the negative impact of human activities. GT shall be a driver to accelerate the national economy and promote sustainable development. Four pillars of National Green Technology Pol icy: Working Group 5 Working Group 6 i. Energy independence and efficient utilization ii.  Environment conservation and minimization impact on environment iii. Economic enhancement through use of technology iv. Improve the quality of life. ~ e v e l o ~ m e n t T f  3-tier Environmental System for Contractors Waste Minimisation and Recycling Potential for Construction Materials -- 4.0 Research Objectives The objective of this study is to identify the current level of Green Technologies application in Malaysian construction industry among the local construction stakeholders. 5.0 Research Methodology The sample of this study was determined using simple random sampling technique. This type of sample is most suitable where every element in the population has a known and equal chance of being selected as a subject. In other word, each single of element in the list has the same or equal probability of being chosen. The quantitative research was carried out and the main respondents were the Malaysia's local construction stakeholders. Previous researchers who carried out research in the sustainable development assessment frameworks suggested that the following stakeholders are crucial in attaining construction sustainability which include the Consultants (architects, quantity surveyors and engineers), Contractors (manifesting the design into reality), and the Clients (the ones who drive the sustainability needs of the projects). The numbers of questionnaires received were 128. However, only 122 questionnaires were usable out of the total responds. 6.0 Data Analysis The level of Green Technologies Adoption in Malaysian construction industry is presented in Tables 1.3. This study employed four-point scale to measure the perception of the respondents where 1= strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= agree and 4 = strongly agree for section 2 until section 4. . The purpose of rating scale is to enable respondents to express the direction and strength of opinion on the statements in the questionnaire. The use of 4-point scale in this present study was considered appropriate because it was found to increases the reliability of the measure, reduce social desirability bias among respondents, respondents aware of what was being examined, respondents are given the option to typically skip the scale in the case of ambiguity, and has been used by previous researchers. To identify the criticality index for each factor, the factor criticality was defined as in the Table 1.2 below. Table 1.2 : Criticality Assessment Criteria >3.5 - 4.0 4 Mostly idopthd -1 Criticality Level Least Ado~ ted  Mean Factor Score Range < 2.0 >2.0 - 3.0 >3.0 - 3.5 Independent Variable - Green Technologies Criticality Index 1 2 Mildly ~w-1 3 7Moderatelv Ado~ ted  The mean score of Green Technology (GT) adoptation for the whole data set as perceived by the construction players was 3.005 which can be considered as moderately adopted. The minimum and maximum scores were 2.7787 and 3.2623, respectively, with the theoritical range of 1-4. To identify the criticality index for GT, the factor was criticality defined as in Table 1.3 below. Table 1.3 - Mean Analysis for Green Technologies ( Mean Factor 1 Criticality Index 1 Items 1 1 I 1 the environmental i m ~ a c t  I Score Range P 2.9098 1 3.0492 3 ( Continously improving equipments and processes 2 2.9508 3.0246 2.7787 I 3 .OOOO 3 .OOOO 3.0328 2 3 2 I 3.0000 - - towards the used of GT Top management support towards the used of GT Top management consideration of GT. Our organization has enough environmental equipments and machinaries to handle current project. 2 2 3 3.2623 3.1967 GT sharing GT knowledge sharing Organizational support 2 technology system to communicate about GT We have information technology system to 1 3 3 communicate about GT 1 am willing to explore about the new environmantal technology Most of the projects that need to apply GT are buildable projects. From the table 1.2 above, travel plan and transport policy, promoting the used of GT, top management support of GT, the used of GT equipments, GT sharing, the used of information technology system can be considered as mildly adopted with the mean score range was 2.7787 to 2.9098. Other items can be categorised as moderately adopt with the mean score range between 3.0000 to 3.2623. 7.0 Conclusion General objective was met through the accomplishments of the research. More importantly, the current level of sustainability performances were identified among the Malaysian construction stakeholders. Currently, the application of Green Technologies in Malaysian construction industry can be categorised as moderately adopted. Based on this study, it proved that there are a lot of initiatives that need to be done in order to improved the application of  Green Technologies specifically in the construction industry. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) for providing the necessary funding to undertake this project. The authors are also appreciate the input provided by the industry practitioners who participated in the questionnaire survey. References : [ I ]  Augenbroe, G., & Pearce, A. R. (1998). Sustainable Construction in the United States of America A perspective to the year 2010 [2] Azapagic, A. (2004). Developing a framework for sustainable development indicators for the mining and minerals industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 12(6), 639-662. [3] Ding. (2005). Developing a multicriteria approach for the measurement of sustainable performance. Building Research & Information 33(1), 3-1 6 .  [4] Goodland, R. (1992) The Case that the World has Reached Limits. in Population, Technology, and Lifestyle - The Transition to Sustainability,Washington, DC: Island Press pp. 3-22. [5] Levin, H. (1997). Systematic evaluation and assessment of building environmental performance (ASEABEP). Proc. Second International Conference on Buildings and the Environment, CSTB and CIB, 2, Paris, June, 3-10. [6] Macozoma, D. S. (2001). "Report - Building Deconstruction." International Report, Prepared for International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) [71 Newsweek, July 7IJuly 14,2008 Issue [8] Ofori, G. (1992) The environment: the fourth construction project objective? Construction Management & Economics, 10 (9,369-395 [9] Ofori, G, Briffett, C, Gang, G and Ranasinghe, M (2000) Impact of I S 0  14000 on Construction Enterprises in Singapore. Construction Management and Economics, 18,935 - 947. [lo] Roodman, D.M. and Lenssen, N. (1995). World Watch Report 124, A building revolution: how ecology and health concerns are transforming construction. World Watch Institute, March. [l I] Vanegas, J., DuBose, J. & Pearce, A. (1996). Sustainable technologies for the building construction industry. proceedings, Symposium on Design for the Global Environment, Atlanta, GA, Nov 2-4. [12] Watuka, Jennifer (2002) Sustainable Construction: An Investigation into the awareness and implementation of sustainable construction practices in the Kenyan construction industry. Unpublished research project, University of Nairobi. 

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