Economic and Technical Considerations in Pursuing Green Building Certification: A Case Study from Iran

Ali Amiri, Juudit Ottelin, Jaana Sorvari and Seppo Junnila
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Ali Amiri: Department of Built Environment/School of Engineering, Aalto University, 00076 Espoo, Finland
Juudit Ottelin: Department of Built Environment/School of Engineering, Aalto University, 00076 Espoo, Finland
Jaana Sorvari: Department of Built Environment/School of Engineering, Aalto University, 00076 Espoo, Finland
Seppo Junnila: Department of Built Environment/School of Engineering, Aalto University, 00076 Espoo, Finland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: Buildings use 30–40% of all energy resources and are thus the main consumers in modern society. Moreover, buildings require a vast amount of different raw materials. During the last two decades, several green building certifications have been created in order to consider the social, economic, and environmental aspects of the sustainability of buildings. One of the most famous and widely used of these certifications is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). So far, the use of LEED has concentrated in the US and other developed countries. One reason that restricts the use of this point-based system certification in developing countries is the limited data about its costs. In this study, the extra cost of the certification process were evaluated, besides the changes needed in the design of the building to reach the points required by LEED. At the first stage, the number of points the case study earns in its current format (Scenario 1) were assessed, then the cost difference of getting either the Certified (Scenario 2) or Silver (Scenario 3) level LEED certification for the building was studied. It was found that besides some technical considerations, filling the criteria of the Certified and Silver level increases the total costs of construction by 3.4% and 5.9%, respectively. Further improvement of the building’s energy efficiency would enable the attainment of a higher-level certification. The results of the study could help to promote the use of green building certifications in Western Asia.

Keywords: leadership in energy and environmental design; LEED; sustainable construction; cost; Iran (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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