Design of green office buildings to promote green occupants

Abstract

Few studies focus on researching the potential of sustainable buildings to promote the sustainability of their occupants. Therefore, this study aims at analyzing the use of LEED credits, with the intention of promoting pro-environmental behaviors. The methodology is exploratory in nature, with a descriptive logic, and comparatively analyzes LEED-certified office buildings [Argentina (n = 351); Chile (n = 494); Colombia (n = 432); and Peru (n = 282)], between 2012 and 2020. The results revealed that the most used credits were: "Access to Public Transportation", (99.34%); “Surrounding Density”; (98.34%); and, “Tenant construction and design guidelines”, (96.53%); and the least used ones were: “Enhanced commissioning”, (44.30%); "Daylight" (31.31%); and, "Controllability of systems", (7.53%). It is concluded that those who choose to include the occupant in the design, choose to intervene in the culture, while those who choose not to include them, choose technology.