Driving forces for green building technologies adoption in the construction industry: Ghanaian perspective

Publication date: 15 November 2017
Source:Building and Environment, Volume 125
Author(s): Amos Darko, Albert Ping Chuen Chan, Samuel Gyamfi, Ayokunle Olubunmi Olanipekun, Bao-Jie He, Yao Yu
As a response to mitigate various negative environmental effects of the construction industry, recent years have witnessed a growing interest in green building technologies (GBTs) adoption and development. Consequently, many studies have been conducted on the forces driving the GBTs adoption in different countries. However, there have been few studies identifying the driving forces (DFs) for GBTs adoption in developing countries such as Ghana. This study aims to identify the major DFs for GBTs adoption within the developing country of Ghana. To achieve the objective, 21 DFs were identified from a comprehensive literature review. Through a questionnaire survey with 43 professionals with green building experience, the results first indicated that “setting a standard for future design and construction”, “greater energy efficiency”, “improved occupants' health and well-being”, “non-renewable resources conservation”, and “reduced whole lifecycle costs” were the top five forces driving the GBTs adoption. Further comparative analysis showed that the topmost rank of “setting a standard for future design and construction” is unique for GBTs adoption in only the developing country of Ghana, not in the developed country of the US. Additionally, factor analysis revealed that the underlying forces for the 16 significant DFs were environment-related, company-related, economy and health-related, cost and energy-related, and industry-related forces. This study improves understanding of the major DFs for GBTs adoption, providing a valuable reference for practitioners and policy makers to promote the wider adoption of GBTs. Future study will investigate the interrelationships between the significant DFs and their impacts on the GBTs adoption process. Future work is also required to employ a larger sample and investigate in greater detail the differences between the GBTs adoption DFs in Ghana and many other specific countries.