Building Assessment Systems Research Articles

Examining indicators coverage in a sample of sustainable building assessment systems

ABSTRACTThis research examines the usage of indicators and the attributes of sustainability they measure in 11 renowned sustainable building (SB) assessment systems from various regions of the world. The work develops and uses a “Comprehensive List of Sustainable Building Indicators (CLoSBI)” as a base-case to examine the indicators’ usage in different SB assessment systems and to what extent these systems are consistent in their coverage of sustainability attributes. The results reveal a deep variation between examined practices, and a lack of consensus not only on the type and the optimal number of indicators used in a system, but also on the depth and breadth of coverage of various SB attributes. The results shows that, in general, most of the examined systems reflect a low to adequate comprehensive coverage, the highest of which is found in the environmental followed by social categories. On the other hand, the most of the examined systems reveal a very low representative coverage, which suggests that a large portion of important SB attributes across the three core dimensions of sustainability are not covered by any indicator. The economic dimension of building's sustainability reflects severe lack of comprehensive and representative coverage in all examined systems. The results also suggest that deep coverage of some SB attributes comes, in many cases, at the cost of underrepresenting some other important sustainability attributes. Furthermore, the research results demonstrate the usefulness of using the coverage analysis framework as a structured and efficient approach to evaluate the appropriateness of a set of indicators to assess the various aspects of SB attributes.

Assessing the contribution of water and energy efficiency in green buildings to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Jordan

Water and energy efficiency are given high priority in all green building assessment systems. However, a method to assess and improve their contributions to achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has not been developed. This research aims to fill this gap. At the time of this research, most certified green buildings in Jordan were under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) v2.2 new construction. The relationships between the LEED v2.2 “water efficiency” (WE) and “energy and atmosphere” (EA) standards and the UN SDGs were explored using a quantitative descriptive methodology. Structured questionnaire surveys yielded 55 responses from Jordanian building industry experts. Pearson's Chi-square and frequency tests were carried out to examine these relationships. We propose a new Comprehensive Contribution to Development Index (CCDI) to assess the contributions of the implementation of LEED v2.2 WE and EA to achieve the UN SDGs. The results show a positive relationship between LEED v2.2 prerequisites and credits in both WE and EA categories with the UN SDGs 6–9, 12–13, and 15, suggesting that the proposed CCDI is a reliable and robust tool for the evaluation of the contribution of water and energy efficiency in LEED v2.2- certified green buildings to achieving the UN SDGs in Jordan.

The Impact of Noise in the Environment on the Acoustic Assessment of Green Houses

In various green building assessment systems involving sustainable building projects, certain specific acoustic aspects are important. In Europe the most common system addressing the problem is the British system Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), American system Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), or German system Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB). The green building certificate comprises the assessment of noise impact generated by technical equipment of buildings on their external surroundings. The measures undertaken to counteract noise-generated pollution involve green certification, but it is also a global challenge to find appropriate technological solutions contributing to the protection of areas inhabited by people. We determined the impact of the surroundings of the assessed building in specific background noise conditions. We described the problem of appropriate selection of measurement points and the impact of noise generated by building installations on the acoustic assessment of green buildings in BREEAM system. A theoretical model of the simulated house was developed close to a road, with changes to traffic parameters including heavy vehicles and the summary acoustic power of the equipment mounted on the roof of the investigated house. We analysed the impact involving the location of the investigated building on the possibility to obtain ‘credits’ in view of environmental acoustics. Instead of a single case study, we used simulation to illustrate different situations such as the changing acoustic background represented by the existing traffic system or changing noise of the sources represented by noise generating units.

A comparison of green building assessment systems

Construction is one of industries that have negative impacts on the environment. Relevant organizations both in Thailand and other countries have been trying to minimize these impacts. Developing green building assessment systems is one of efforts in reducing environmental impacts and using natural resources efficiently. Currently, there are many green building assessment systems with different objectives and assessment scopes in some details. This could cause some confusion in selecting the suitable system for the project in accordance with its environmental, social and economical contexts. This study was aimed to compare and provide overview and components of these systems. The comparison results can be used as a guideline for further development of green building assessment systems. It is found that most major green building assessment systems still concern only environmental issues while newly developed systems have included social and economic issues in their criteria. Furthermore, the system which is developed in one environment could not be used with full capabilities in another. This will lead to more research in developing the assessment system that is more comprehensive and adaptable enough to be used effectively in various environment.

Can sustainability auditing be indigenized?

Although there are different approaches to sustainability auditing, those considered authoritative use scientific indicators and instruments to measure and predict the impact of organizational operations on socio-ecological systems. Such approaches are biased because they can only measure phenomena whose features lend themselves to quantification, control, and observation directly with the instruments produced by technology. This technocratic bias is a product of the mechanistic worldview, which presumes that all components of socio-ecological systems are identifiable, discrete, and material. In contrast to the mechanistic worldview, indigenous people use animist familial representations. In the case of New Zealand Māori a family tree (whakapapa) is used to represent socio-ecological systems. This is a flexible conception, which views socio-ecological systems as both composites made up of interlinking causally-connected parts but also as reciprocating systems that have intangible elements such as consciousness, emotion, and agency. The technocratic approach is ontologically incapable of incorporating intangible elements to such a degree we consider that it incompatible with animist approaches. It is not, however, epistemologically-incongruous for indigenous peoples because of the flexible hybridity of their worldview. This worldview provides a broad moral framework, which avoids discrediting subjectivity and reducing socio-ecological systems to only their instrumental value. Finally, we conclude that the indigenous approach has much to offer the field of sustainability auditing, given that it provides a moral framework, and insight into building assessment systems upon abductive reasoning.

Indoor Air Quality Evaluation of Isolation Room for Hospital in Thailand

The increased awareness of building energy consumption and environmental friendly has resulted to the development of various rating system for evaluate performance and sustainability. The indoor air quality is a significant was applied to assessment. This research was to study guidelines to improve indoor air quality of isolation room for hospital in Thailand in order to develop appropriate green building assessment system in the future. The study was conducted the indoor air quality inside single patient room of the government hospitals with 250 beds or more of 11 hospitals in the northeast of Thailand. The analysis of carbon dioxide (CO2) carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), relative humidity (RH), temperature (ºC) and wind speeds showed the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air does not exceed of the ASHRAE standard, with an average of 609.81 ppm but some case was found to exceed with an average at 1,022.92 ppm. In addition, the measurement of the concentration of volatile organic compounds in the air and the concentration of carbon monoxide in the air that is not greater than the standard, with the average at 0.40 ppm and 0.99 ppm respectively. Moreover, the measurement of air temperature in the room alone for patients with a mean of 25.59 ºC, the relative humidity of the air averages as 53.11%, but some has a relative humidity over the EIT standard is an average of 64.43 % and the wind speed found that an average of 0.09 m/s. The results of the indoor air quality monitoring within the isolation room which CO2 exceed 1,000 ppm found the relative humidity that over the standard and low velocity is an average of 0.05 m/s. The guideline is installing a fan for improve the ventilation in one hospital from eleven case study which CO2 exceed the standard. The ventilation rate required is 29.54 cubic meters per hour. The cooling load increases due to additional ventilation, the volume of 0.033 kW, resulting in costs of electricity rise at 3.50 baht per day.

Toward a national sustainable building assessment system in Oman: Assessment categories and their performance indicators

The new generation of sustainable building-rating systems especially in developing countries is geared toward incorporating the variations in regional social, cultural, governmental and economic aspects. Likewise, the Sultanate of Oman possess its unique local context, geographical conditions, traditions and culture. The governmental and political requirements including the Omanization program, have also been highly considered in the Oman National Comprehensive Human Development 2040. The National Development Plan 2040 of Oman aims to bring the country into a more a sustainable life style.The aim of this study is to develop a framework for sustainable building construction in Oman by proposing an assessment system for the construction industry. While addressing sustainability, the system should respect the unique context of Oman in terms of its unique geographical, political, cultural, and societal features. No dedicated sustainability-rating system currently exists for Oman. Hence, this study involves two main stages to establish the sustainability assessment system for Oman. The first stage concentrates on further developing the formulation of the proposed system structure in relation to Oman by reviewing the literature on sustainable development and buildings, as well as analyzing international and regional sustainability-rating systems. The structure of the proposed system development is composed of 5 themes (environmental, economic, social, cultural and governance requirements), 11 categories, and 86 indicators. The second stage focuses on formulating assessment categories and their relevant performance indicators, which are validated through conducting a survey including different stakeholders of the industry from building engineers, building regulators, and sustainability experts. Pairwise and direct ranking method comparisons are used as data collection methods to examine the relative importance and weights of each category and each indicator respectively. The analysis of survey data shows that a prominent relative importance and balanced weights are given to indoor environment quality, natural and human resources, social, and governance requirements. The research output shall help and promote future studies to develop a detailed assessment system for sustainable construction in Oman.

Sustainability assessment for recreational buildings

ABSTRACTA large amount of natural resources and energy is wasted during and after the building construction process which might cause environmental problems such as climate changes. In order to achieve higher standards of environmental protection a range of building assessment systems has been established. However, they are mostly connected with the efficiency of an environmental protection and consumption of resources. Only few of them have limited possibilities to assess social and economic sustainability. A sustainable building includes aspects of environment, economy and society and therefore requirements to its assessment systems should be complex. We suggest that sustainability principles, that is, environmental, social and economic sustainability, should be estimated in the same equal weightings. The authors of this article created a model for assessing the sustainability for recreational buildings. Our model was created, in collaboration with experts, using breakdown, compensation and the analytic hierarchy process methods. The sustainability of Druskininkai Snow Arena (Lithuania) was assessed using a sustainability assessment system based on the proposed model.

Sustainability Assessment of Family House

Sustainable construction of buildings provides an ethical and practical response to issues of environmental impact and resource consumption. Sustainability assumptions include the entire life cycle of the building and its significant components, from resource extraction through disposal at the end of the materials’ useful life. Sustainable building design relies on renewable resources for energy systems, recycling and reuse of water and materials, minimal intervention for landscaping, passive heating, cooling, and ventilation; and other approaches that minimize environmental impact and resource consumption. At present, sustainable buildings are defined by the assessment systems, that rate and certify them. Building assessment systems simply score or rate the effects of a building's design, construction, and operation, among them environmental impacts, resource consumption, and occupant health. Health in building can be deduced by the presence or absence of chemical and biological substances within circulating air, as well as the relative health and wellbeing of the building occupants. Building assessment systems used in the world evaluates various types’ buildings (office, hotels, government buildings, educations, institutional, industrial facilities, facilities of health-care, residential buildings). Assessment systems evaluate new buildings, major renovations or existing buildings. The aim of this paper is to highlight the evaluation of the selected family houses in various categories aimed at location and site, building constructions, energy efficiency, water efficiency and waste.

Diffusion of green building guidelines as innovation in developing countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to comprehend the ways of knowledge and application of green building guidelines and assessment systems as innovations diffuse in developing countries’ Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries. Design/methodology/approach – Building up on recent research on the India case, this study focused on Indonesia and Turkey and further studied “how green building assessment systems diffuse in developing countries”. A total of 110 experts representing individuals from private and governmental sectors from both countries responded to the conducted survey. Findings – Findings show insights to adoption of green building guidelines in developing countries, including their diffusion paths, barriers to their use and their applications. Additionally, the results are compared with the India case from the recent literature and analysed via the lens of the diffusion of innovation theory. Research limitations/implications – A random sampling of the AEC industries in developing countries in future studies and capturing of the evolution of the trends over time will provide further insights into the diffusion of innovation phenomena in the context of green building guidelines. Practical implications – Innovation adoption paths for green building guidelines in Indonesia, Turkey and India are similar, while a higher adoption rate is observed in the case of India. “Diffusion of innovation” categories for green building guidelines that define the state of each adopter at the time of survey conduct in India, Indonesia and Turkey are found. Environmental groups as innovator, large business houses as early adopter and nodal agencies as early majority are the common adopters and categories of green building guidelines. The study findings align with those in the literature and show that clients and market conditions can catalyse the diffusion of innovation in AEC industries in Turkey and Indonesia. Social implications – Diffusion of green building guidelines as innovations in developing countries’ AEC industries showed alignment with the Roger’s (2003) model. However, respondents in both Turkey and Indonesia reported approximately ten times as many innovators and twice as many early adopters as Roger’s (2003) model would predict. Because of the small proportions of late adopters and laggards in these two countries, any useful innovation should be quickly incorporated. Originality/value – Aligning with the literature, findings show that clients and market conditions catalyse diffusion of innovation in AEC industries in Turkey and Indonesia. It is important to note that both countries approximately have ten times as many innovators and twice as many early adopters as theory would predict. Because of the small proportions of late adopters and laggards in these two countries, useful green building innovations could be quickly incorporated.

Developing Key Parameters for Green Performance of Partition Wall Blocks

To promote sustainable construction, it is important to consider green performance of construction materials throughout the life cycle. Selecting inappropriate materials could not only affect the functional performance but also preclude the achievement of green building performance as a whole. Green performance of construction materials has therefore been one of the primary considerations of green building assessment systems. Using partition wall blocks as an example, this paper examines green performance of building materials primarily from the cradle to gate boundaries. Nine key parameters are proposed for the green performance of partition wall blocks. Apart from environmental features, technical performance of partition wall blocks is also taken into consideration since it is the determinant of the lifecycle performance. This paper offers a roadmap to decision makers to make environmentally responsible choices for their materials of internal walls and partitions, and hence provides a potential sustainable solution for green buildings.

The Practice Research Based on the POE System of Environmental Performance of Green Residential Building

Based on green building development, it has become an inevitable trend to promote urban development pattern transformation and to realize the city green, ecology, sustainable development. In such circumstances, it becomes very important how to apply green building assessment system scientifically and accurately, whether green building is real energy-saving in operation stage. This paper will use the established POE system of environmental performance of green residential building. We will make a case study for a green residential building in the cold region and it aims at verifying its scientificity and rigor. After evaluation, the POE system provides technical support for green residential building in our country and so on related work.

Evaluation of Leed “Innovation in Design Process” and “Location & Linkages” Case Study: Diyarbakir Turkey

The paper focuses on the LEED rating system of Diyarbakır Houses to an assessment with respect to “Innovation in Design Process and Location & Linkages”, assuming to conduct a trial of the building assessment and certification systems, which were highly popular in Europe and in the U.S. in the 1990s and in Turkey in the 2000s, on the “traditional building”. The aim of the paper is to bring a criticism of and suggestions to the LEED credits in connection with environmentalist design criteria, and to be able to determine that these credits, which are limited in the first place, may already be part of the design of traditional buildings in Turkey. Three different typological houses of Diyarbakır were selected for the research and detail evaluated with the scope of LEED for Homes credits. Using this assessment system, old Diyarbakır houses known to involve many successful solutions in terms of factors related to the environment and the user were assessed. The assessment revealed the fact that these houses, which are in harmony with the environment, are energy-efficient, use water and resources optimally, are successful in waste management, meet their users’ biological, psychological and social needs and do not cause health problems for their users’ and the environment scored low in LEED.

Integrating Green Building Approaches to Interior Architecture Education: A Cross-Cultural Study

The success of the efforts for green building depends largely on integrating such approaches with building design education. However, most of the existing studies on green building have focused on the technical issues, while its socio-cultural and educational aspects have been less examined. In order to alleviate the problem, this paper presents an international workshop that explores how green building design can be taught in a global teamwork project using a green building assessment system, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) checklist as a framework and examples of vernacular architecture as precedents. The results of an empirical survey reveals a gap between students' general learning about green building in a developing and a developed country and suggests that a collaborative project experience may facilitate bridging the gap and exchanging technical and cultural information related to sustainability.

Students’ environmental responsibility and their willingness to pay for green buildings

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to explore environmental attitudes and how such attitudes, when combined with a specific cost, can affect environmental behavior. Environmental attitudes are important to study due to the rising belief by building occupants that they are owed safe, healthy, environmentally responsible, and comfortable living environments. Universities around the world are responding to such demands as the majority of prospective college students and their parents claim that the environmental record is a determining factor in their selection of a university. Therefore, this study examines the environmental responsibility levels of a sample student population and to explore how these scores, along with gender, impact their willingness to pay for studying and living in green buildings.Design/methodology/approach– An online survey consisting of three parts was administered to undergraduate university students to measure environmental responsibility, willingness to pay and demographic variables. Statistical analyses including ANOVA,t-tests and correlation were conducted to explore relationships among variables.Findings– Results of statistical analyses show a direct correlation between environmental responsibility and willingness to pay for green buildings, as defined by a leading green building assessment system. Results also show that female students are more environmentally responsible than males.Practical implications– Successful generalizations of the findings of this research may lead to better marketing of green buildings to the general public.Originality/value– Findings present a unique opportunity for university administrations to develop more focused messages when communicating their environmental record with current and potential students.

The Comparative Analysis of Chinese Green Building Assessment System and Foreign Evaluation System

At present, China's economy is developing rapidly, urbanization level enhances increasingly, the energy consumption and environmental pollution problems are getting serious increasingly, and it is deviating from the concept of sustainable development. Green building is an important way to achieve the concept of sustainable development and green building assessment system is the important basis and key to its development. Through the comparative study on evaluation methods and objects of the main evaluation system in China and abroad, this article find out the deficiency of the evaluation system in our country, draw lessons from foreign assessment system, and make our country green building assessment system more perfect.

AN ANALYTICAL STUDY FOR EVALUATING THE GREEN PYRAMID RATING SYSTEM

To promote and encourage the concept of green architecture, many organizations and bodieshave agreed to establish building assessment standards and specifications. Today, manycountries use green architecture assessment systems that were already developed by severalcountries. Some of the expected benefits of implementing assessment standards andspecifications are: The move towards applying green building assessment systems in Egypt is aresult of dealing with climate related issues. Inefficient energy use and natural resourcesmanagement and ineffective management of liquid, gaseous, solid and agricultural wastes, aswell as sanitary and irrigation water wastes, have a very serious negative impact on theenvironment that affects all sectors of the State. This necessitated the development of a nationalEgyptian Green Building Rating System to ensure the realization of our developmentobjectives: to fulfill the needs of the present generation without jeopardizing those of thecoming generations, to reduce energy consumption and minimizing costs in the constructionsector, in addition to implementing different techniques and methodologies. This paper aims tointroduce the green architecture assessment system in Egypt through introducing the EgyptianGreen Building Council, the Green Pyramid Rating System [GPRS] and its assessment criteria.This is done in order to assessing this system through the principles of the other systems aroundthe world.

Study on the Evaluation Index System and Evaluation Method for the Building Energy-Saving and Green Building Demonstration Zone

this paper referred to the existing green building assessment system at home and abroad, and combined with China's specific national conditions, then constructed evaluation index system of energy-saving and green building demonstration zone from eight aspects including section, water saving, energy saving, material saving, environmental protection, renewable energy utilization, demonstration area planning and operational management. At the same time, the green building demonstration area three-star evaluation standard was put forward. Besides, this paper introduced analytic hierarchy process and grey comprehensive evaluation method, and combined with the instance su qian lakeside newtown to carry out a full green evaluation by using the proposed index system and evaluation method. Considering the research on green demonstration area in China is not yet mature, this paper research on the development and promotion of energy saving buildings in China has great reference value.

Application of Vertical Planting Technology in Green Building

In the Green Building assessment system, vertical planting technology and criterion problems are neglected. This paper compared with the existing standards, and summarized the key technology in the actual project, pointing out that projects should be classified, both in different structure conditions and the use of various materials. Maintenance management scores of vertical planting in Green Building evaluation should be strengthened. This method exceeds traditional standard, and focus more on technology and the management of vertical planting in Green Building.

The next wave of sustainable planning: green neighbourhood assessment systems

Since the 1970s, seeking solutions for global environmental problems have been on the agenda of both national and international debates where quantifying and measuring ‘sustainability’ have been an emerging foci. Within this perspective, analysis of areas through new methods and measurable parameters is among recent research fields in both academia and practice. To this end, in the literature, studies on ‘green building rating and assessment systems’ aiming more liveable places through less carbon emissions and more environmentally friendly construction materials gained significant importance. Among such rating systems, leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) and building research establishment environmental assessment method (BREEAM) are the two well-known ‘building’ rating systems both in the literature and practice. On the other hand, these parameters based on the ‘building’ scale are now on the pursuit of ‘neighbourhood’ or even ‘regional’ scale applications. The subject of re-questioning these rating systems with the focus of ‘neighbourhood’ level rather than only ‘building’ scale is a new research field in the literature with few cases in practice. Having started in the early 1990s, the UK-based BREEAM and US-based LEED systems have responded to these needs by formulating BREEAM-communities and LEED-ND (LEED-neighbourhood design) in 2007. This paper aims to perform a comparative analysis of the parameters covered by assessment systems (LEED-ND and BREEAM-communities) through literature survey and evaluate how they can contribute in urban planning studies with an emphasis on the state of these assessment systems in Turkey.