Green Building Assessment System Research Articles

Development of a Green Building Assessment System at The Green Building Planning Stage in Indonesia

The fact that more people are living in cities is an important challenge for the construction industry in designing and developing cities. This industry emphasizes to have sustainable construction development principles, one of which is Green Building strategies. Because of this, several developed countries have implemented Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) to assess Green Building achievements. Green Building Rating Systems were developed to help professionals measure building performance, and meet the requirements of sustainable design and construction. In Indonesia, there are 2 assessment standards as a Green Building Rating System, namely PUPR Ministerial Regulation No. 21 of 2021 which is a regulation issued by the Ministry of PUPR as the Ministry in charge of Public Works and Public Housing Affairs in this case includes buildings and GREENSHIP as a product of the Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI), which is a independent institution. Different GBRS have similar objectives such as verifying the environmental performance of buildings, using natural resources efficiently, estimating the energy performance of buildings, and encouraging more energy-efficient building designs. The purpose of this research is to identify Green Building variables that are most suitable and relevant to the current conditions in Indonesia with a comparative analysis.

The Influence of Construction Project Management on the Planning and Design of Residential Green Buildings

<p>我國綠建築評估系統EEWH至今已有20年歷史，然而在住宿類建築當中綠建築標章案件數仍僅占總使用執照數量1%以下，標章案之總樓地板面積僅占總使用執照總樓地板面積20%以下，因此對於推廣綠建築之成果仍有進步空間。分析綠建築申請率低的原因，包含大眾認為綠建築之成本較高、綠建築標章之總建築專案期程較久、所需之審查資料繁多…等。再者，申請綠建築標章時之分數常少於申請候選綠建築證書時之分數，甚至有案件未申請綠建築標章。專案管理係指對於專案生命週期之各項工作項目予以妥善管理，以減少專案成果與預期目標的落差。於過往在建築業的案例與相關研究中，指出專案管理對於管控建築成本與工期具有實際績效，然而案例多為大型工程與廠辦類建築物，對於住宿類建築物之探討相對較少。故本研究先透過專家問卷探討建築專案管理管控綠建築指標項目之能力，以提出在專案管理思維下，設計住宿類綠建築時可優先考量採用之建築技術，以消除大眾對於綠建築在成本與時程上之顧慮。研究成果顯示，不同綠建築技術與設施設備之採用情形，對於建築專案的管控能力確實具有差異性。在EEWH-RS版本下之指標項目，以日常節能指標與二氧化碳減量指標下之指標項目，較能夠受專案管理管控。但綠化量指標、水資源指標以及汙水垃圾改善指標等，由於其技術已經成熟、成為標準配備或已規格化，致使專案管理對其無法具有較高的影響能力。研究成果係可協助建築設計師於住宿類綠建築規劃設計時，擬定出較易管控成本與時程之方案，進而提升業主採用綠建築技術與設施設備之意願。</p> <p> </p><p>Taiwan’s green building assessment system (EEWH) has a history of 20 years, but the number of green building label cases in residential buildings still accounts for less than 1% of the total number of Building Use permit, and the total floor area of the label cases are less than 20% of the total building which get Building Use permit. So there is still room for promoting the achievements of green buildings. Analyze the reasons for the low green building application rate, including the public’s view that the cost of green building is relatively high, the overall construction project period of the green building label is longer, and the amount of review information required is more than general building... Furthermore, the score for applying for a green building seal is often less than the score for applying for a candidate green building certificate. There are even cases where the green building seal is not applied. Project management refers to the proper management of various work items in the project life cycle to reduce the gap between project results and expected goals. In the past cases and related research in the construction industry, it was pointed out that project management has actual performance in controlling construction costs and duration. However, most of the cases are large-scale projects and factory buildings, and there is relatively little discussion on residential buildings. Therefore, in this study, an expert questionnaire will be used to discuss the ability of the construction project management to control the green building index project, in order to put forward the construction technology that can be considered first when designing residential-type green buildings under the project management thinking, so as to eliminate the public’s cost and schedule for green buildings Concerns. The research results show that the adoption of different green building technologies and facilities and equipment has indeed different management and control capabilities for construction projects. The indicators under the EEWH-RS version are more able to be controlled by the project management based on the daily energy saving indicators and the CO2 reduction indicators. However, the greenery indicators, water resource indicators and sewage and garbage improvement indicators, etc., because their technology has matured, become standard equipment or has been standardized, the project management cannot have a high influence on it. The research results can assist architects in the planning and design of residential-type green buildings, and draw up plans that are easier to control costs and schedules, thereby enhancing the owners’ willingness to adopt green building technologies and facilities.</p> <p> </p>

Obstacles to green building accreditation during operating phases: identifying Challenges and solutions for sustainable development

ABSTRACT Due to environmental benefits, green architecture has become increasingly popular, but many green building assessment systems predominantly evaluate design and construction rather than operational stage. This study seeks to identify the impediments to green building accreditation during the operational phases and investigate potential solutions to these issues. To reach this objective, the study compared international green building standards such as LEED, BREEAM, and Green Star with Chinese green building evaluation guidelines. The study also included functional case studies of certified buildings in order to investigate the obstacles encountered by green building initiatives in greater depth. According to the study, the greatest obstacles to green building accreditation during operating phases are inconsistencies in government regulations, market constraints that impede the developers’ interests, and difficulties in meeting technological criteria. These findings emphasize the imperative need for policymakers, market participants, and technology developers to collaborate and resolve the identified challenges in order to ensure the longevity of green buildings. Overall, this study contributes to the expanding corpus of knowledge on green building practices and offers stakeholders insights to facilitate the development of sustainable structures. By addressing the identified obstacles, the study can maximize the benefits of green buildings and promote eco-friendly building practices.

A Comparison of Typical Green Building Evaluation SystemsTaking China, UK and USA as Examples

The international investigation of green buildings is steadily transitioning from simple concepts to practice, and the assessment criteria for enhancing green buildings are conducive to enhancing the understanding of green buildings' healthy development. By following the green building movement, this research examines the fundamental meanings of green building systems in China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The paper analyzes a variety of potential new issues. For instance, the current green building assessment system has a small number of problems and limitations, and the formation of a system suitable for national conditions and flexible operation is currently a larger problem. Through analysis of the problem, the direction of work to implement the green building system and improve the fundamental concept of China's green building system will be suggested.

Sequencing the carbon emission cycle of green buildings in China based on an ecological city perspective

As people's basic material living standards continue to rise, the demand for a better living environment and a better life is becoming increasingly strong. Since the 18th and 19th National Congresses of the Party proposed to carry out ecological civilization construction and build a beautiful China, carrying out ecological city construction has become one of the effective ways to solve the current urban development problems. In this paper, we summarise the latest research on green building assessment systems, life-cycle carbon emissions and life-cycle costs of buildings. We find that China's green building assessment system still has many shortcomings compared to the world's advanced green building assessment systems. Based on this, we have conducted a sequencing analysis of the life cycle carbon emissions of green buildings in China, so that buildings can meet the green building rating and at the same time achieve energy and carbon savings. The results of the study show that the building use phase has the highest carbon emissions in the building life cycle, accounting for 77% of the life cycle carbon emissions.

Exploring the design risks affecting operation performance of green commercial buildings in China

Despite the number of new green commercial buildings (GCBs) increases rapidly over the last decade, its operation performance has not been improved simultaneously. Risk exploration is considered as an essential way to improve project performance. Design risks, which could have significant effects on the operation performance of GCBs, should be identified. However, little research has been done on the design risk factors of GCBs with interfere of system vulnerability. Therefore, the objective of this study is to detect the impact of the design risks on the operation performance of GCBs moderated by system vulnerability in the context of China. Through systematic literature review, four categories of design risks were initially identified (design technical risks, design management risks, design behavior risks and green certification risks) and three types of system vulnerability of GCBs were distinguished (exposure, resilience and sensitivity). Structural equation modeling was employed to test the theoretical hypothesis with 481 valid questionnaires. The research findings revealed that all four categories of design risks have significant negative impacts on the operational performance of GCBs with different influence levels and behavior risk is the most influential kind of risks. Additionally, the three sets of system vulnerability play positive moderating roles for the connection between the design risks and the operational performance of GCBs. The higher the system vulnerability, the greater the negative impact of the design risks on the operational performance. The positive moderating effect of resilience is the highest, meaning that the negative impact of the design risks on the operation performance of GCBs is much more significant in case of resilience factors. The research results could offer effective and valuable information not only for designers and owners to adjust strategies to improve the operation performance of GCBs, but also for related government departments to update green building assessment systems and set up regulations for improving the actual performance of green buildings.

A dialectical system framework for green building assessment in high-density cities

Urban areas afford 56% of the world population and the top 600 cities emit 70% of the world greenhouse gases, highlighting enormous challenges and potentials of carbon emission reduction and sustainability in high-density cities. Though vast research has reviewed the green building assessment (GBA) systems in different perspectives, little has explicitly examined the dialectics of GBA, particularly its complexity and dynamics. The assessment of green buildings, however, can be regarded as a complex dynamic system with multifaceted dialectics, particularly in high-density cities. Thus, this paper aims to examine the dialectics of GBA within the context of high-density cities by identifying 42 GBA systems and then comparing 12 widely adopted systems in depth. Dialectics denote the complex and dynamic interdependency among the elements of a system. A dialectical system framework is developed to guide the systematic comparison of the GBA systems in three dimensions: ‘concept’, ‘methodology’ and ‘value’. The results reveal that dialectics exist and encounter challenges in all three dimensions, including a multi-perspective but inconsistent concept of GBA, well-organised but oversimplified methodology for GBA, and value-laden but insufficient stakeholder engagement in GBA. The developed framework provides a new approach to understanding the complex and dynamic interdependency among the various elements of GBA systems. The findings should raise the awareness of green building developers, planners and designers about the dialectics in GBA and thus inform the associated decision making and design optimisation, making it possible to more effectively achieve green buildings.

Green building: A comprehensive solution to urban heat

Many cities are facing urban heat problems, the combined effect of heatwaves under global climate change, and local warming associated with urbanization, resulting in severe environmental, economic, social, and health impacts. It is urgent to address urban heat problems. Buildings are an important cause of urban heat, while buildings are favorable spaces to deal with urban heat problems through built environment decarbonization and the implementation of cooling strategies. Green building (GB) which has been recognized as an innovative philosophy and practice in the building sector, is proposed to address urban heat challenges. However, existing studies have offered a limited understanding of GB-based urban heat mitigation and adaptation (UHMA). Therefore, this study aims to examine how GBs can contribute to UHMA. In particular, this study analyses the contribution of buildings to urban heat problems in aspects of carbon emissions and the extensive modifications towards artificial landscapes, and discusses the possible impacts caused by urban heat problems. Afterwards, this study develops the framework of GB’s responses to urban heat in global warming mitigation, local warming mitigation, and urban heat adaptation. Based on this, such responses are analyzed in aspects of site planning, outdoor environments, transportation, building design, energy efficiency, water efficiency, material efficiency, indoor environmental quality, operation management, construction, and maintenance following the whole life cycle perspective. This paper helps understand how GB techniques contribute to UHMA and provides a reference to the revision of the GB assessment system for addressing urban heat problems.

Adoption of Green Building Assessment Systems to Existing Buildings under Kazakhstani Conditions

The construction industry is an enormous economic sector with a profound economic, social, and environmental impact. The building sector is responsible for one-third of total energy consumption and, notably, construction activities account for 39% of the total carbon emissions in the world. Therefore, nowadays, the promotion of green building concepts is essential for all countries. Typically, the sustainability level of a building is evaluated by specified certification systems through rating assessment tools. The development of national assessment tools is necessary for the developing world due to environmental, social, and economic issues; consequently, a national assessment tool adopted under specific local conditions would provide a more precise assessment. This paper analyzes the rating system of BREEAM, LEED, CASBEE, and Green Globes certification systems and discusses their adoption with assessment measures for the existing buildings in Kazakhstan’s reality. The following main criteria were discussed during six roundtable sessions: sustainable site and landscape, energy and carbon footprint reduction, water and wastewater management, indoor environmental quality, sustainable building materials, commissioning, and maintenance. A set of assessment criteria and measures were suggested, and 43 existing buildings were assessed. Only eight buildings reached a high rating level. The “sustainable site and landscape” and “indoor environmental air quality” categories were the categories with the highest scores; otherwise, “energy and carbon footprint reduction” with “water and wastewater management” had the lowest average scores. One of the buildings was evaluated separately by several experts to check the consistency of the suggested assessment measures. This evaluation also provided insight into how the assessors’ knowledge and experience may change the overall rating scores obtained. The most critical issues for the existing buildings in Kazakhstan’s reality were discussed. Despite the widespread adoption of green certification methodology, the application of global certification systems in Kazakhstan remains complicated due to the lack of knowledge and limited awareness.

Application of generalized Choquet fuzzy integral method in the sustainability rating of green buildings based on the BSAM scheme

The need to reduce the impact of building projects on the sustainability of the built environment and improve the use of resources necessitated several interventions such as the development of methods to assess building impacts and improve the sustainability performance of buildings. Using the BSAM scheme – a green building rating system developed specifically for the sub-Saharan region of Africa, the generalized Choquet fuzzy integral method was employed to determine the importance weights of the sustainability assessment criteria. Data collected from industry experts form the base inputs for the impact of the various sustainability criteria based on the local variations. Consequently, the building sustainability evaluation index and grading scheme were developed to measure and evaluate the sustainability performance of buildings. The developed sustainability rating model was validated in four real-world case studies to demonstrate its usefulness and robustness in practice. The findings revealed that the conventional approach of aggregation of points used by the existing green rating tools is less effective in dealing with criteria that have interactive characteristics. Also, assessment criteria such as sustainable construction practices, transportation, and energy have a significant impact on the sustainability of buildings. The study provides substantial contributions to the existing body of knowledge about green building assessment systems for built environment stakeholders, both from the theoretical and practical perspectives.

A Critical Research of Green Building Assessment Systems in Malaysia Context

Excessive development has led to main changes in world civilization, including the societal, natural environment, and economical. Construction industry is significant contributor towards numerous environmental effects. Therefore, the concept of implementation “green” has been concern. Green building has become a flagship for sustainable development that responsible for balancing long-term environmental, social health and social economic. Green building assessment systems have been introduced to evaluate the sustainability level of the green buildings such as GBI, PH JKR, GreenRE and MyCREST. Although green building assessment have been the study of many researchers over the past twenty years, it is still no systematic assessment of the detailed criteria for each assessment systems. Therefore, this research aimed to conduct critical review of green building assessment systems in Malaysia. This research is conducted through comparison analysis where the points allocated for each criteria is being measured and compared. It founds that energy efficiency criteria is the most widely used in green building assessment systems followed by water efficiency and innovations. This research showed that each green building assessment systems showed different culture and they used different criteria in evaluating the sustainability level of the green building projects. The outcomes of this research is expected to create awareness among construction industry players or decision makers to understand better and have a different perspective toward current green building assessment systems.

Comparison of Assessment Systems for Green Building and Green Civil Infrastructure

The assessment systems for green building have been developed and implemented for decades. Well-known systems include the U.S. system LEED, the U.K. system BREEAM, the Canadian system GB tools, and the Japanese system CASBEE. These systems will be discussed and compared together with Taiwan’s EEWH system. Each assessment system may contain a different set of evaluation items to evaluate the sustainability level of a building project. Contrarily, the assessment system for green civil infrastructure projects is rarely discussed and developed globally. In Taiwan, studies have been conducted to develop a new assessment system with some reasonable key indicators and evaluation items, serving as the tool to evaluate the sustainability level of a green civil infrastructure project. In this paper, the authors studied and summarized different key indicators and evaluation items, and made comparisons among some major assessment systems for both green building and green civil infrastructure projects. Based on the comparison of the various assessment systems, it is found that greenery, recycling of materials, water conservation, carbon emission reduction, and energy saving are considered in both green building and green civil infrastructure assessment systems. Nevertheless, external building structure, energy consumption, healthy air and temperature, illumination of the indoor environment, rainwater recycling, and underground reservoirs are considered only in green building assessments, but not in green civil infrastructure assessments. Moreover, durability, benefits, landscape, humanities, culture, and creativity, which are discussed adequately in green civil infrastructure assessments, are not highlighted in green building assessments. In addition, two construction projects in Taiwan, one green building project and one green civil infrastructure project, are presented to exemplify sustainability practices and assessments.

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.

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.

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.

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.