CURRENT STATE OF GREEN BUILDING MARKET IN SLOVAKIA IN COMPARISON WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES

References: 17th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2017, www.sgem.org, SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7408-13-3 / ISSN 1314-2704, 29 June - 5 July, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 62, 81-88 pp, DOI: 10.5593/sgem2017/62/S26.011

ABSTRACT

Construction of green buildings has become a kind of global trend, but its implementation varies greatly by country and region, including the rate of growth in green involvement, triggers and obstacles impacting their growth. Green buildings gives to the forefront of energy efficiency also the impact of buildings on the environment, the environmental burden through production of raw materials and the impact of buildings on the whole region. Green building is therefore designed, built and operated also with regard to environment, health and comfort of users. Slovakia since 2010, through the establishment of Slovak Green Building Council (SKGBC) is a member of World Green Building Councils which are independent, nonprofit organizations made up of businesses and organizations working in the building and construction industry. The World Green Building Council is a global network of Green Building Councils in over 70 countries which deal with sustainable construction including green buildings. The process of certification of sustainable buildings in Slovakia are just starting. There is known only energy certification, what is entirely something else, respectively only one small part of the whole called sustainable construction. It could be mentioned that Slovakia, together with other CEE countries, most notably with the Czech Republic and Hungary are among developing countries in terms of the Green Building market. The current state in Slovakia is documented by the fact that now there is no legislation regarding Green Buildings, nor there are not any financial support or tax incentives that would encourage investors to increase their activities towards sustainable construction. The following contribution is focused on the Slovak Green Building market, where maps out the current situation in terms of numbers of constructed green buildings, but also are comparing Slovakia with other neighboring countries. It also analyzes the most significant investors and key local companies related to Green Buildings in Slovakia and finally, the author pays attention to current or future gaps in the market.

Keywords: green building, Slovakia, energy efficiency, sustainable construction