Panama. Environmental management and sustainable construction are concepts that are closely related, as both aim at sustainability, said Héctor Ortega, president of the Panamanian Chamber of Construction (CAPAC) during the forum on successful environmental management in the construction industry.
"In this environmental impulse we have implemented recycling programs in the real estate fairs that we organize and extended it to our headquarters, we also established in the Grand Prize Excellence an award to companies that dedicate efforts to carry out good practices in compliance with environmental standards," added Ortega.
CAPAC has also developed a roadmap with concrete steps of an action plan that allows to give sustainability to the construction industry.
Along the same lines, the Planning, Infrastructure and Urban Planning Commission was created with the aim of establishing financial mechanisms to execute the works required by national development, always within a consequent environmental management.
The theme was focused on the reduction of the carbon footprint using solar energy, the harvesting of rain in the manufacture of cement and the reuse of vegetable oil used as fuel for boilers.
Other topics were the impact of renewable energies on national electricity demand, the contributions of high-performance concrete to the sustainability of projects and permeable concretes for low-impact urban development.
Meanwhile, Alexis Fletcher, coordinator of the Commission on Environment and Sustainable Construction of the CAPAC explained that at present, the construction industry is responsible for the use of 50% of the natural resources produced by the planet, and 40% of the total energy generated globally.
The above has to do with the distance in which raw materials are obtained, the location of construction projects, the increase in the emission of pollutants in extraction, processing, and waste from materials used in this industry.
"That is why it is important to apply new waste management models not only because it is a potential source of pollution, but also an originator of secondary raw materials," Fletcher said.
The CAPAC seeks to promote the elevation of environmental culture and the role of all social actors in the framework of environmental management consistent with the character of integrality that must accompany all its constructive activities , Ortega said.
"In this context of sustainability, we must incorporate into our work terms such as sustainable construction, energy construction, green buildings and passive architecture, among many others, to demonstrate that our industry is aligned with concrete actions in its permanent commitment to successful environmental management," said the president of CAPAC.
