Green Building Rating Tools Research Articles

An Integrated Green Building Assessment Tool for Low-Cost Housing Development in Zambia

Green building rating tools developed to assess the impact of buildings on the environment may not have all the appropriate methods and criteria for different environmental, economic, social and cultural conditions in the world. Assessment tools should be developed to meet minimum green building standards and aspirations. The challenge in developing countries like Zambia is that there is limited access to green building rating tools and a lack of technology and resources to have local tools. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to select methods and criteria for assessing green low-cost housing in Zambia from literature review and interviews with building practitioners. The 11th Sustainable Development Goal was part of literature review and some strategies were adopted as part of the criteria for green building assessment. A sequential mixed-method design was used to collect and analyze data through interviews and an online AHP evaluation of preferred criteria and methods. The results from the study suggest that the most preferred method of green building assessment is a Local Based Assessment, with local strategies and materials. Energy, water, health and wellbeing were determined to be the most preferred criteria for green building assessment. The proposed criteria could be used for guiding designers and planners in housing projects and for reviewing current building bye-laws.

A Framework for Developing Green Building Rating Tools Based on Pakistan’s Local Context

Most countries have developed green building rating tools that are based on social, environmental, and economic dimensions. Pakistan followed a similar approach and has developed a rating tool known as Sustainability in Energy and Environmental Development (SEED). However, SEED is built on developed western countries’ rating tool standards which do not address Pakistan’s unique local context, especially from the cultural and governmental perspectives. This research aims to fill this research gap by developing a holistic framework of building rating tools that incorporates cultural and governmental dimensions. Based on an extensive literature review, a hypothetical framework, incorporating Pakistan’s unique local contexts and adding cultural and governmental dimensions to the widely adopted social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability, was proposed in this paper. This framework was further validated by in-depth interviews with multiple stakeholders in Pakistan. A qualitative analysis of the interview results was carried out, and the final framework was proposed with key indicators, reflecting all five dimensions of sustainability. The verified sustainability framework can be used to improve or develop green building rating tools for Pakistan, and it can also inform other developing countries’ rating tool development.

A Review of Aspects and Criteria of Daylighting and Visual Comfort in International Green Building Rating Tools

Architects and building owners are now focusing on how to make their buildings green. Many green councils around the world are currently experimenting with ingenious ways of introducing new energy-efficient buildings. They also implemented various principles and indicators to recognize buildings that contribute to sustainability, efficiency, and improve occupants' health. The paper aims to review the aspects and requirements that the Green Building Councils have recommended. This paper looks at seven of the rating systems available in terms of similarities and differences and presents new rigorous criteria for daylight performance and visual comfort. Keywords: Daylighting, Visual Comfort, Passive Design Strategy, Rating Tools. eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i15.2492.

From green buildings to living buildings? Rating schemes and waste management practices in Australian educational buildings

PurposeThere is an increasing level of recognition of the pressing issues associated with climate change and resource depletion. As a result, it is well recognised that higher education institutions bear responsibilities to promote “sustainable development”. Many universities have adopted green building practices in the construction of their building infrastructure. A variety of Green Building Rating Tools (GBRTs) have been designed to facilitate green building developments. Thus, the aim of this research is to identify mechanisms to improve current GBRTs in terms of waste management (WM) practices by using green star accredited educational buildings in Australia.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was adopted in this study to achieve the research aim by conducting three case studies of educational buildings in South Australia. Thirty three interviews were carried out in a face-to-face, semi-structured manner and project documentations were reviewed. The participants were asked to provide their expert opinions on the GS initiative and its ability to minimise waste generation, the impact of the GS initiative on solid WM practices and problems associated with the implementation process of the GS initiative. Data was analysed using code-based content analysis using the NVivo software package. Tables and figures were used as the visualization technique to present an expedient understanding in a holistic manner.FindingsFindings showed that the Green Star (GS) initiative drives change in the way current practices are performed in the Australian construction industry. However, this study revealed that WM targets outlined in the GS initiative are not challenging enough. Thus, suggestions are provided in this research to improve the WM aspects of GS initiatives by looking beyond a focus on “sustainability” and “waste minimisation” towards a focus on regenerative environments.Originality/valueThese findings are valuable for practitioners and policymakers seeking to improve WM practices and to address issues associated with climate change and resource depletion.

The role and contribution of green buildings on sustainable development goals

Efficient and productive buildings are considered a key factor in sustainable cities, and they can contribute to achieving regional and national Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, green buildings (GBs) have been constructed widely and rapidly, and green building rating tools (GBRTs) have played a considerable role in this process. However, the specific contribution of GBs to the 17 SDGs remains unclear. This study proposed a realistic mapping tool using GBRTs as the medium for evaluating the contribution of GBs to the SDGs. It then quantitatively analyzed this contribution using the analytic hierarchy process. Results showed that SDGs 3, 7, 11 and 12 are highly supported by GBRTs, and SDG 12 benefits the most. Meanwhile, SDG Target 7.3 is the most prominent because it provides the most important channel for GBRT contribution to the SDGs. Lastly, an actual case was used to demonstrate the identification system that integrates important information, including GBs' contribution to the SDGs. Furthermore, two effective methods for improving GBs’ contribution to the SDGs were proposed. This study presents an important practical tool that can scientifically quantify the contribution of GBs to the SDGs and provide the public with transparent and reliable information regarding the path and scope of this contribution.

Rectify the performance of Green Building Rating Tool (GBRT) in sustainability: Evidence from ISO 21929-1

Different countries have developed and extensively studied green building rating tools (GBRTs) to promote the sustainable development of the construction industry. The most important part of GBRTs is their weighting systems. However, previous studies are considered to be inadequate, especially their neglect of the multi-attribute characteristics of green building criteria (GBC). This paper proposes a reliable approach to bridge this research gap. The proposed approach includes equal comparison conditions, a unified GBC framework, a transparent GBC classification process, and the separation of multiple attributes of GBC. The sustainability performance of five GBRT samples was analyzed and compared with the previous studies to verify the proposed approach. The results showed that the performance of the GBRT samples, based on the three pillars of sustainability wherein the weightage obtained for environmental, social, and economy for each GBRTs, were almost similar. This study provides the theoretical and practical contributions to future GBRT-related research, thus avoiding the limitation of subjective classification of GBC by proposing a modified analytic hierarchy process method to deal with multiple attributes of GBC quantitatively based on the qualitative information provided by ISO 21929-1. It also deepens the understanding of institutional GBC by clearly defining and identifying them for the first time.

Incorporating biophilic criteria into green building rating tools: Case study of Green Mark and LEED

The integration of health and well-being into green building rating tools (GBRTs) has been increasingly advocated in recent years, moving beyond an energy efficiency focus. The proposed research responds to this movement by offering a multi-angle analysis of the process of incorporating biophilic strategies into the GBRTs—the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) V4 for Building Design and Construction, LEED V4 for Neighborhood Development, and Green Mark for Non-Residential Buildings (NRB): 2015. Based on a literature review, 42 categories of biophilic strategies are reformatted and reorganized in this paper. Moreover, four influencing factors are identified in this paper, including climate, policy, hydrology, and geography, which enable a correlative comparison through the categories of landscape, ventilation, interaction, mitigation, sense, and mobility. Based on comprehensive analysis, three findings are identified: (1) the correlations and divergences of biophilic strategies among the GBRTs are scrutinized; (2) policy and climate comprise the key influencing factors with high impacts for GM and LEED BD + C, while policy and geography are key factors for LEED ND, as the GBRTs shift from sustainability to well-being; and (3) corresponding to the identified key factors, suggestions are proposed for the stakeholders to support improvements to facilitate biophilic integration with GM and LEED (BD + C, ND).

Evolution of sustainability in global green building rating tools

Green building rating tools (GBRTs) are well-known and important instruments for assessing building sustainability. GBRTs constantly upgrade to meet rapid development, one of which is achieving a reasonable balance among the “three pillars” of sustainability, namely, environmental, social and economic sustainability. This study analyzes the changes and trends in the three sustainability pillars of GBRT and reinforces the previous GBRT longitudinal studies in terms of research sample, time span, equal terms, and research depth. Ten global GBRTs are selected by specific screening principles, and a unified criterion framework is presented to compare these selected GBRTs on equal terms. The changes of GBRTs are then analyzed on three levels, namely, categories, subcategories, and criteria. The results show that in the past three decades, there is a continuous decrease in the weight of the environmental category, an obvious increase in the weight of the social category and a little rise in the wight of the “economic” category. “Pollution,” “physical comfort,” and “flexibility” are identified as “sensitive criteria” of environmental, social, and economic categories, respectively, given their significant changes; they are also critical factors for the evolution of GBRT for the past three decades.

AT WHAT COST? AN ANALYSIS OF THE GREEN COST PREMIUM TO ACHIEVE 6-HOMESTAR IN NEW ZEALAND

ABSTRACT In the green building industry there is an implicit understanding that the use of a green building rating tool will attract additional capital cost. This phenomenon has been well studied in commercial buildings, with mixed results, but has received little focus in the residential, single family context. In New Zealand the local green building council advises the market that they have reduced the time and cost to implement their green building rating tool, Homestar, through modifications to version 4 of the rating tool, which include the use of a new 6-Homestar checklist. This research investigates this claim using a comparative cost methodology to determine the potential additional capital cost commitment that would be required to achieve a 6-Homestar certification, utilising ten standalone and terraced house designs from the Hobsonville Point development in Auckland, NZ. This research determines that there is an additional cost to achieve 6-Homestar of 3–5%. This is nearly double compared to previous research into Homestar and also finds that, for the houses reviewed, the use of the 6-Homestar checklist is less cost effective than other options. Therefore, in this instance the advice and guidance of the green building council is erroneous and misleading to the market.

Summertime comparative evaluation of indoor temperature and comfort in Auckland New Zealand: a survey of green certified, code and older homes

ABSTRACT A frequently stated hallmark of certified green homes is that they are ‘healthier’ and provide superior thermal comfort. This usually requires increasing insulation levels from code requirements on the understanding that this will provide a warmer, drier internal environment. However this solution to ‘cold and damp’ housing may have unintended consequences; while highly insulated dwellings may be warm over the winter, are they still comfortable during warmest months? This study analyses 29 dwellings in Auckland, New Zealand to determine if there is any difference in the temperature and thermal comfort between three types of dwellings: newly built green certified (6-Homestar), newly built non-certified and old dwellings (pre-1978). The results show large differences between dwelling categories with the certified 6-Homestar dwellings exceeding the World Health Organisation (WHO) healthy temperature threshold 75% of the time during the warmest months of the year, resulting in predicted occupant discomfort 16% of the time. These results have significant policy implications with it apparent that not only under-heating but also overheating require specific attention in government legislation, green building rating tools and building codes.

A more-than-human perspective on understanding the performance of the built environment

The ready availability and widespread deployment of IoT devices and sensors enable a high granularity of quantitative data to be collected to give a real-time appraisal of a building’s environmental performance. Rating and assessment frameworks are increasingly taking advantage of insights that can be derived from both new building technology and big data analytics. Yet, climate change action requires new perspectives that move towards a post-anthropocentric and more-than-human viewpoint. This paper makes a threefold contribution. In order to highlight a gap, we (1) critique select Green Building Rating Tools, (2) contrast current achievements and targets with what climate change action demands of the built environment’s performance; and (3) we discuss several causes for the disconnect between actual and aspirational ends of the performance measurement spectrum and offer some possible responses and actions with a view to stimulate scholarly debate and engagement to leapfrog the performance of the built environment.

Health and wellness in commercial buildings: Systematic review of sustainable building rating systems and alignment with contemporary research

While sustainability rating systems for buildings have been established for nearly 20 years, systems to specifically recognize healthy buildings are much more recent arrivals to the global scene. Building upon the health-related credits in sustainability rating systems, these new systems leverage academic research to prescribe interventions designed to create workspaces that enable wellness and productivity of their occupants. This paper presents a systematic review of these requirements in the global systems currently available in today's market– WELL, FITWEL, Living Building Challenge – and leading green building rating tools (BEAM Plus, BREEAM, DGNB, Green Globes, Green Mark, Green Star, HQE, and LEED) and aligns them with eight key topics related to health and productivity and recurrent in the academic literature: indoor air quality, thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort, ergonomics & movement, diet & clean water, social well-being, and psychological well-being. In the discussion, this research presents regional trends, points of commonality, and discrepancies, both within this set of standards as well as with the broader academic literature and industry guidance on developing healthy workplaces. The purpose and contribution of this paper is to situate the system approaches within the context of contemporaneous academic literature, thus providing new system developers and their users with insight from current research and to identify and address gaps in existing systems from a health and wellness perspective.

A Cross-Sectional Study of Utilization of Green Building Rating Tools by Selected Professionals in the Zambian Building Industry

Green building rating tools used for planning and assessing the impact of buildings on the environment are continually revised in line with user needs. The appropriateness of tools for the Zambian building industry depends on whether the tools adequately meet minimum green buildings standards and the country’s environmental aspirations. The utilization of green building rating tools is important if Zambia is to achieve the real benefits of green buildings, however very little is known about the levels of utilization in Zambia. A cross-sectional study of 115 professionals from the building industry in Zambia was undertaken using a sequential mixed method approach, to investigate the level of utilization, preferred criteria and, the barriers and drivers to the utilization of tools. The significance of the study was that it demonstrated the association between utilization of green building rating tools and environmental, technological, economic, and social green buildings practices by selected professionals in the Zambian building industry. There is a need to use materials and practices that are locally based and promote the local economy. The technical needs were met in tools, that were considered easy to use, interesting and comprehensive. Some of the green building rating tools were considered unsuitable due to the absence of appropriate criteria and the main economic challenge was the high cost of certification. The association was significant between utilization and those involved in a variety of projects than those who were involved in only residential buildings. Barriers to utilization were a lack of government regulations on green buildings designs and the high cost of certification. The drivers were environmental benefits, the interest of developers in green buildings, and having technical skills. The study recommends a review of the current building regulations to include green buildings practices and materials and adaptation of appropriate rating tools.

Current Situation and Development of Green Building Rating System in Myanmar

Since 2016 Myanmar has undergone political and economic reforms. A movement to develop the country with economic growth is a significant matter for the country. In Myanmar, the construction sector is a main driving force for the country’s economy in terms of investments and job opportunities of citizens. Electricity used for the construction industry leads to the insufficient energy output of the country. Moreover, waste and pollution are inevitable as a result of Myanmar’s economic growth. Green building development in Myanmar is in its initial stage but currently lacks governmental, or voluntary support to devise appropriate rules and regulations for green construction. In particular, the lack of awareness among developers, stakeholders, architects, engineers, contractors, employees and the public about green building has worsened the development progress. This paper reveals why green building development is needed in Myanmar and provides an overview of the current level of green growth in Myanmar. In addition, this paper compares widely used seven existing environmental assessment tools around the world – LEED, BREEAM, Green Mark, Green Star, Three Star – Chinese Green Building Label-3, CASBEE, and HQE as references for the development of green building rating tool with the view to identify aspects that are compatible with the local conditions of Myanmar.

Cost implications of obtaining construction waste management-related credits in green building

This research was motivated by the intriguing phenomena across several economies that green building clients/developers are observably lukewarm in pursuing construction waste management (CWM). Recent studies, most of them in a qualitative nature, reported that to obtain CWM-related credits is “costlier” than obtaining credits from other green building aspects such as sites, lighting, and so on. Yet, there is a clear lack of empirical analysis of such cost implications with a view to providing convincing explanation to the phenomena. This research aims to identify the cost implications of achieving CWM-related credits as stipulated in green building rating tools by focusing in Hong Kong. The costs for using materials required for green certification were calculated and compared against conventional materials by introducing a life cycle perspective. It is discovered that to obtain the CWM-related credits, one needs to pay a higher cost ranging from 0.4% to 6%.

Cold comfort: A post-completion evaluation of internal temperatures and thermal comfort in 6-Homestar dwellings

A minimum internal temperature of 18 °C is recommended by the World Health Organisation to prevent the poor health outcomes that have been associated with cold and damp homes. Green building councils advise that the use of their green building rating tools will achieve this guideline and provide a warmer, drier internal environment compared to code compliant dwellings, usually through the provision of increased insulation levels from code requirements.This study monitors the internal temperatures of 29 dwellings in the autumn and winter in Auckland, New Zealand. The recorded data is used to determine the amount of time three categories of dwellings (old, new and green certified) spent below the minimum temperature threshold of 18 °C, as well as the predicted thermal comfort of the occupants.Whilst the results confirm that certified green dwellings (6-Homestar) spend the least amount of time below 18 °C, there was no statistical difference in performance between the green certified and new code compliant dwellings. Instead both categories of newer housing stock provided a significantly warmer interior environment when compared to the older housing stock.This study provides unique insights into the actual performance of certified residential green dwellings and determines that policymakers may need to consider incorporating thermal comfort metrics, in addition to minimum temperature thresholds, in standards and rating tools.

REVIEW ON GREEN BUILDING RATING TOOLS WORLDWIDE: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AUSTRALIA

Buildings could be led to adverse impacts on environment, such as generation of construction and demolition waste, and emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Therefore, promotion on development of green buildings is in need. With the increasing awareness in sustainable development, various rating tools are promoted to evaluate the performance of green buildings. Nowadays, these tools function as a guideline for green building development. There are various green building rating tools developed worldwide, and various countries follow different rules, incentives and regulations. However, despite of promotion of green building rating tools, environmental issues from buildings are still significant in Australia. This research compared green building rating tools in Australia and other countries or regions around the world. This research found that rating tools in Australia lack of (1) mandatory criteria and (2) regulations and incentives. This paper recommended that governmental incentives should be promoted.

Influence of LCA procedure on the green building rating tools outcomes

Building energy performance has a key role in the international energy scenario. Labelling procedures have been developed in several countries for certifying the environmental sustainability of buildings, aiming at reducing energy consumptions and environmental impacts.In this study, the impacts of the insulating materials on the energy and environmental performance of a residential building have been analysed. From previous studies developed by the same authors, it emerged that the sustainability protocols LEED and ITACA take into account the thermal properties of the insulating materials but their impact on the environment is not adequately considered. Starting from these considerations, in this work a life cycle analysis was carried out on the four insulating materials in order to highlight if and to what extent they differ in terms of environmental impacts. What emerged from the results is that the balance between nature, origin and amount of input materials strongly influences the results and the natural materials are not always the most sustainable and eco-compatible.

Developing a strategic framework for adopting water-saving measures in construction projects.

The construction industry consumes substantial water resources. Thus, there is a necessity to adopt effective water-saving measures to reduce water consumption in construction projects. The aim of this paper is providing a strategic framework of water-saving measures for different phases of a construction project. To start with, the prevailing green building rating tools were investigated to explore the alternative water-saving measures. Then, a comparative analysis utilizing relative significance indexing was conducted to identify the foci of water-saving measures in various green building rating tools. Based on the derived results, ten water-saving measures, namely rainwater harvesting, usage of recycled water, NEWater, water-saving technologies, water-saving devices, water-saving efficiency, water monitoring system, monitoring of major water uses, leak detection, and continuous water monitoring, were identified. These measures were further categorized into three strategic aspects, such as water sources substitution, water consumption reduction, and water use monitoring. Based on the results, a strategic framework was developed for reducing water consumption and improving water use efficiency. The developed framework can serve as a systematic guideline for formulating water-saving schemes in different stages of construction projects.

Reaching for the stars: green construction cost premiums for Homestar certification

The assumption that undertaking certification, using a green building rating tool, will increase capital construction cost has been well studied in commercial buildings with mixed results, but less attention has been given to the much larger residential sector. This paper studies New Zealand’s Homestar residential green building rating tool and estimates the cost premium associated with 6-Homestar certification by analyzing the actual capital construction costs of 718 newly built homes in Auckland, New Zealand. To undertake this research, the authors contacted and collected actual capital construction costs from builders and developers of recently constructed single-family homes across Auckland. Given the sensitive nature of property-level construction cost data, this study marks the first development and application of hedonic cost modelling to analyses actual construction costs of single-family homes. The authors find a 12% cost premium for 6-Homestar certification, comprising an 11% hard cost premium and 1% in additional soft costs.