Beyond the Certification Badge—How Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Tools Impact on Individual, Organizational, and Industry Practice

Griffiths, Kerry; Boyle, Carol; Henning, Theunis F. P.

doi:10.3390/su10041038

Cited by 21 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Green building certification systems promote sustainable construction activities by providing guidance and rewarding efforts to deliver sustainable, energy-efficient buildings [27]. Many countries have developed certification systems, including the United States (LEED; Green Building Council), the United Kingdom (BREEAM; Building Research Establishment), and France (HQE; Association pour la Haute Qualité Environnementale) [28][29][30]. Among these, LEED, which was first introduced in 1993, aims to minimize the adverse environmental impacts of construction activities and ensure energy/water efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing LEED v4 BD+C Projects in Vietnam: Contributions and Challenges for General Contractor

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sustainable construction addresses both rising housing demand and the need to reduce energy consumption, but is not yet widespread in Vietnam, although the number of Green Building Certified projects has increased significantly since 2015, especially those with LEED certification. Certification adds value to the project but also incurs additional costs and implementation challenges for general contractors (GCs) and other stakeholders. The growing popularity of LEED buildings requires GCs to understand their role in fulfilling the LEED requirements. We therefore conducted a thorough review of the previous research on LEED v4 guidelines and their local equivalents to determine what is expected of GCs working on LEED v4 BD + C projects in Vietnam. A survey of 72 experts, engineers, and architects working in the construction sector identified the LEED tasks where Vietnamese GCs lack experience and suggested solutions to address this shortfall were developed. In particular, Vietnamese GCs lacked experience in implementing their sustainable roles. These results provide a useful foundation for Vietnamese GCs seeking to expand the scope of their LEED work and identified necessary training. Our findings will also guide future research to help GCs in Vietnam adapt to LEED’s sustainability requirements and support sustainable construction in Vietnam.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing LEED v4 BD+C Projects in Vietnam: Contributions and Challenges for General Contractor

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For the development of a sustainable infrastructure, there is the possibility of applying the approach of a sustainability assessment (Griffiths et al 2018). Sustainability assessments have been used in the construction industry since the 1990s in the form of Green Building Rating Systems (GBRSs) (Doan et al 2017;Marjaba and Chidiac 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the past decade, attempts have been made to apply existing GBRSs to the infrastructure sector. As the infrastructure sector is not familiar with the use of sustainability tools and somewhat conservative, implementing these tools in the industry is a bit more difficult than the building sector (Chong et al 2009;Griffiths et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of LCA benchmarks for Austrian torrent control structures

Paratscha

Thannen

Smutny

et al. 2019

Int J Life Cycle Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose This study emerged from a research project that aimed to develop a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model for torrent control structures. This publication constitutes the last part of model development and shows the LCA results of the examined structure types considering the entire life cycle. These LCA results will be used in a further step to close the environmental knowledge gap within the area of sustainability assessment. The sustainability assessment of buildings is already widespread and standardised in Green Building Rating Systems (GBRSs), which use LCA benchmarks for the rating of environmental indicators. The development of GBRSs for infrastructure is somewhat younger than the developements in the building sector and the existing systems do not yet provide LCA benchmarks for the environmental rating of the structures. The study shows how to derive benchmarks from the LCA results and thus gives a quantitative basis for a future rating of environmental indicators of torrent control structures. Methods The methodological basics for the LCA of torrent control structures were created by screening LCAs of several construction projects. From these construction projects, different structure types could be identified and classified. Functional units were developed, which can be assigned to the structure types. Uncertainties arise because these structure types are not always built in the same way. It can be distinguished between five uncertainties. Uncertainties of material dataset modeling, variable material use and machine use have been identified. Furthermore, the variable material use influences the emissions of transport. The transport in turn demonstrates uncertainties in the transport distances. Last but not least, there are variable service life times that dictate the replacement cycles of the structures. LCA benchmarks can be derived by the elevation of the various uncertainty distributions and its application in a Monte Carlo simulation. Results and discussion By applying the method described above, it was possible to develop LCA benchmarks for different types of torrent control structures. These benchmarks show the range of LCA results for these structures. Furthermore, a sensitivity and uncertainty contribution analysis was carried out to investigate dependencies. Conclusions By determining the range of LCA results, an estimate of environmental impacts in early planning stages becomes possible. Furthermore, this allows decision-making in early planning stages and throughout the entire life cycle of the structures, taking into account environmental impacts. A further development of the benchmarks requires the analysis of additional structures to increase the accuracy and to reduce parameter uncertainties.

show abstract

“…The rationale being that although current assessment and measurement tools for SC exist, these are too complicated and take a great deal of time. However, support of these sustainability rating tools is quite evident in the literature with [58] arguing the assessment rating tools have strong influence on sustainability awareness and practice within the infrastructure industry. Likewise, some studies have also previously proposed assessment methods for infrastructure sustainability [59].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Sustainable Infrastructure Development: Drivers, Barriers, Strategies, and Coping Mechanisms

Munyasya

Chileshe

2018

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the advent of the new Sustainable Development Goals, and noted benefits around the social, economic, and environmental aspects, the sustainable infrastructure development (SID) implementation process faces a number of challenges. Moreover, while there is a plethora of studies around sustainable infrastructure, there are limited studies undertaken on the influencing drivers and barriers particularly within the South Australian construction industry. This paper is aimed at filling that knowledge gap by identifying and ranking the drivers and barriers of SID implementation in South Australian construction organizations. A sequential mixed methods approach comprising questionnaires and interviews was conducted among construction professionals. The highly ranked drivers were identified as innovation, standardization of the word ‘sustainability’ (knowledge improvement), and close interaction of all involved stakeholders. “Lack of steering mechanism”, “multi-disciplinary nature of the word “sustainability”, and “lack of cooperation and networking” were the critical barriers. Suggested strategies and coping mechanisms for overcoming these barriers include instilling sustainability awareness, sustainability specifications, and governance frameworks. Strong and positive relationships were evident amongst all the drivers. This paper provides further insights into the knowledge and awareness of these drivers, which are cardinal to increased uptake of SID by the stakeholders, and barriers to overcome.

show abstract

Beyond the Certification Badge—How Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Tools Impact on Individual, Organizational, and Industry Practice

Cited by 21 publications

References 36 publications

Implementing LEED v4 BD+C Projects in Vietnam: Contributions and Challenges for General Contractor

Implementing LEED v4 BD+C Projects in Vietnam: Contributions and Challenges for General Contractor

Development of LCA benchmarks for Austrian torrent control structures

Towards Sustainable Infrastructure Development: Drivers, Barriers, Strategies, and Coping Mechanisms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About