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Rating Systems for Sustainability

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Sustainable Built Environments

Definition of the Subject

Voluntary building environmental assessment methods have emerged as a legitimate means to evaluate the performance of buildings across a broad range of environmental considerations – most typically resource use, ecological loadings, and indoor environmental quality. An underlying premise of these voluntary assessments is that if the market is provided with improved information and mechanisms, a discerning client group can and will provide leadership in environmental responsibility, and that others will follow suit to remain competitive.

The increase in development and application of building environmental assessment methods over the past 20 years has provided considerable theoretical and practical experience on their contribution in furthering environmentally responsible building practices. An important indirect benefit is that the broad range of issues incorporated in environmental assessments require greater communication and interaction between members of...

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Abbreviations

Building Environmental Assessment Method (system or scheme):

Technique that has environmental assessment as one of its core functions but may be accompanied by third party verification before issuing an overall performance rating or label.

Assessment process:

Use of assessment methods, including deployment by the design team and engagement of other stakeholders as the basis for making informed decisions.

Certification:

Third party verification and scrutiny of a performance assessment that adds to the overall credibility of the assessment process but invariably brings additional layers of constraints, bureaucracy, and costs.

Environmental (or green) assessment:

Assessment of resource use, ecological loadings, and indoor environmental quality.

Framework:

Organization or classification of environmental performance criteria in a structured manner with assigned points or weightings.

Rating (labeling):

Extended output from the assessment process, typically in the form of a singular, easily recognizable designation, for example, “Gold” or “Excellent.”

Sustainability assessment:

Assessment that expands the range of performance criteria to include social and economic considerations.

Weighting:

Assigning the relative significance of the environmental criteria to permit their aggregation into an overall single score.

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Acknowledgments

In addition to the specific references, the content of this article draws on following previous published works:

Cole RJ (2005) Building Environmental Assessment Methods: Redefining Intentions and Roles, Building Research & Information, 35:5, pp 455–467

Cole RJ (2006) The Coexistence of Building Environmental Assessment Methods in Common Markets, Building Research & Information, 34:4, pp 357–371

Cole RJ (2009) Chapter 18: Environmental Assessment: Shifting Scales, IN: Designing High-Density Cities for Social & Environmental Sustainability, Ed: Edward Ng, Earthscan Press, pp 273–282

Cole RJ (2010) Building Environmental Assessment in a Global Market, International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development, 1:1, pp 11–14

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture, University of BC, 6333 Memorial Road, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Dr. Raymond J. Cole

Authors
  1. Dr. Raymond J. Cole
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Correspondence to Raymond J. Cole .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Vivian Loftness

  2. Department of Geography Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Dagmar Haase

  3. Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Dagmar Haase

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Cole, R.J. (2013). Rating Systems for Sustainability . In: Loftness, V., Haase, D. (eds) Sustainable Built Environments. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5828-9_417

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