Evolution of sustainability in global green building rating tools. (20th June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wen, Baohua; Musa, Nurmaya; Onn, Chiu Chuen; Ramesh, S.; Liang, Lihua; Wang, Wei
• Is Part Of: Journal of cleaner production. Volume 259(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-06-20
• Subjects: Green building -- Rating tools -- Sustainability -- Development -- Trend -- Three pillars; Factory and trade waste -- Management -- Periodicals; Manufactures -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Usines -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; 628.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120912
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-6526

Abstract

Abstract: 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. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: This study analyzes the changes and trends of different GBRTs over the past 30 years. Changes based on three sustainability pillars on three levels of configuration, i.e., category, subcategory, and criteria. Results show the GBRTs have evolved and are moving toward the balance of three sustainability pillars. The environmental category that has the highest weightage at the early stage, decline in the recent developments. While, the social category is on the rise with significant growth trend especially in the recent years. Whereas, the economic category shows a slight growth trend. "Pollution, " "physical comfort, " and "flexibility" are identified as the "sensitive criteria". They are also critical factors for the evolution of GBRT in the recent years.