User Experience of Green Building Certification Resources: EarthCraft Multifamily

Dwayne Jefferson, Frederick Paige, Philip Agee and France Jackson
Additional contact information
Dwayne Jefferson: Charles Edward Via, Jr., Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 114 Patton Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Frederick Paige: Charles Edward Via, Jr., Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 114 Patton Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Philip Agee: Department of Building Construction, Virginia Tech, 430 Bishop-Favrao Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
France Jackson: UX Research & Design Intel Corporation, 6380 NE Cherry Drive #309, Hillsboro, OR 97124, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 14, 1-23

Abstract: To improve the construction industry’s capacity to deliver sustainable infrastructure, guidance on delivering green building systems needs to be more usable. Green buildings have certifications and ratings in place that ensure that projects are environmentally responsible and meet standards in resource efficiency. EarthCraft Multifamily (ECMF), an evolving green building certification, has been successful in increasing the delivery of energy-efficient affordable housing, and this study leverages user experience (UX) methodologies to understand how to further improve ECMF and replicate its success. This study identifies the impact ECMF tools and resources, such as the program manual, worksheet, and technical guidelines, have on enhancing project delivery for architects. This study conducted data analysis on project specifications, heuristic evaluation data, and stakeholder interview data. As the strengths and weaknesses of ECMF were identified, knowledge on the usability of the green building certification program was unveiled. Heuristic evaluations data show that accessibility and usability issues are present in ECMF resources. Interview data show that architects’ experiences with ECMF resources were affected by some of the usability issues identified in the heuristic evaluation data. Coded interview transcripts show the most prominent participant-identified improvements represented within the data. Resources need appropriate visual representation such as readability and hierarchy to improve their usability. Understanding how ECMF resources are utilized during project delivery allows for the appropriate content and options to be strategically framed to improve accessibility and enhance user decision making. ECMF resources can allow for the inclusion of a broader set of stakeholders by lowering the level of expertise required for sustainable infrastructure delivery.

Keywords: user experience; usability; green building; EarthCraft Multifamily; EarthCraft; sustainability; affordable housing; behavior science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7871/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7871/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7871-:d:594152

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().