A REVIEW OF BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT METHODS

Abstract

Building sustainability assessment methods have been globally in use for more than two decades. Their use initially spread slowly through the larger developed countries, but in recent years we are seeing a rapid development of new, regionally adapted methods. The use of building assessment methods is limited because they developed on the basis of national legislation and local characteristics. In this article, the most important international building sustainability assessment methods BREEAM, LEED, DGNB and SBTool are investigated. With the help of content analysis we closely examine the aim, course and cost of the assessment, the number of certified projects, different assessment schemes, aspects of evaluation and the final certificate presentation. The result is a mutual comparison of individual assessment methods. In the discussion we present some predictions for the further development of building sustainability assessment methods. In the final part we review the situation and the possibilities for the implementation of these methods in Slovenia.

Keywords

• building assessment methods
• sustainable building
• green building
• BREEAM
• LEED
• DGNB
• SBTool