ABSTRACT
An extraordinarily hot day and night, as well as the air pollution, are the major causes of serious community health problems in Hong Kong in recent years. In 2019, Hong Kong recorded the longest consecutive hot nights but only one day of Cold Weather Warning. The heat island effect generated and greenhouse gases emitted by high-rise buildings have also exacerbated these phenomena that have caused physical and community health problems to the public. Undoubtedly, high temperature can cause people discomfort and heat exhaustion. In order to avoid the aggravation of these problems, green buildings can be considered to improve the health of the community. This chapter revisits the concept of green buildings to show its important role in enhancing the physical and mental health of building occupiers as well as in the improvement of environmental impacts by way of green building measures and proper management. More discussions on the Hong Kong setting will be delivered with the use of BEAM Plus selected as a green building evaluation system used to assess the effectiveness of green buildings fairly and objectively in regard to their performance. Other incentives, such as the Gross Floor Area (GFA) concession to promote further use of this system by the developers will also be scrutinised with a view to improving community health by green buildings.
