The impact of LEED certification on energy performance and occupant satisfaction: A case study of residential college buildings

Abstract

This article investigates the energy consumption and occupant comfort of a LEED-certified residential college building compared to non-LEED-certified buildings on a university campus. Eight residential buildings, including one LEED-certified building (ranked silver) and seven non-LEED-certified buildings, were selected as a case study. Several data collection methods have been used to gather data regarding building physical features, weather data, monthly electricity, natural gas and water consumption, occupancy information, and occupant level of comfort and satisfaction. In addition, several data analysis methods have been used in this study to investigate the impact of LEED certification on energy consumption and occupant comfort in the studied residential college buildings. This study also investigates occupants’ levels of satisfaction in different areas, including room temperature, water temperature, water pressure, air quality, natural and artificial lighting amount, and overall comfort, by conducting a survey. The results showed that the studied LEED-certified building had higher energy consumption rates but also a higher satisfaction rating for overall comfort compared to the non-LEED-certified buildings. It is concluded that the higher energy consumption of the LEED-certified building is because of its low score in the category of energy and atmosphere, while its better performance in overall comfort satisfaction is because of its acceptable score in the category of indoor environmental quality on its LEED scorecard.